gift tags

With the holiday season upon us I'm definitely on a gift tag making kick. As soon as I saw this leather case I thought it would be a great point to take off for another tag idea. This involves some digital work at the beginning and then a bit of cutting and construction at the end. These would be great for Secret Santa gifts where you want the "From" part of your tag hidden.

The ingredients for this piece are really simple. I selected a photo (top left) that inspired me to create a pattern that is not holiday related and can be used at any time during the year. I used Adobe Illustrator to create a similar pattern by using solid rectangles and a the more subtle option of outlined shapes.

I originally selected red and gray as my colors but I ended up only working with the red.

I printed an entire letter sized sheet with the pattern I created.

I then proceeded to cut out a shape shown at the top. Measurements aren't necessarily important here, but proportions are. Just make sure that the two large rectangles are exactly the same size and make sure that you have two tabs as indicated in the diagram. Add a bit of glue to the tabs and close the envelope. Cut out a curve centered at the top (that goes through front and back) and you're done with the envelope.

Cut out a gift card and punch a hole at the top for ribbon. Make sure that the card is snug inside the envelope, so that the latter doesn't fall off.

While making the top envelope and tag I thought of a simpler option—a matchbox type card. This only involves cutting out a shape that is like the bottom diagram. Make sure that the added lengths of side A and side C are at least 1/8" longer than side B. That will allow for the matchbox side A to tuck under side C, when folded and closed. A bit of glue or a staple should be used to hold side C attached to side B. Make sure that a small edge is left unattached so that the cover can tuck under it.

So here are the two tags. Now you can give your gifts and tuck your name safely away until it is time for the big reveal.

Remember that the pattern you just created can be used for printing out matching gift wrap, suitable for small items.

White Balance

No standard recipes today. I'm sharing with you how to quickly adjust white balance to your photos so they look top notch!

Here's what the image looks like when I'm all done. Hope this helps with your photo editing!

Cheers,

www.melissaesplin.com

Enviable Envelopes

I love getting mail. No, not junk mail, but letters, cards, personal things. I fell in love with these custom rubber stamps and decided to create some designs of my own to make my own correspondence a bit more lovely.

For this recipe, you'll need lots of varieties of my very favorite thing: fonts! There are lots of varieties that can really change the look of any of the address labels/stamps you create.

• frilly script font: Natalya
• bold extended font: Blackoak
• bold condensed font: Clarendon
• stylish font: Lemon Chicken
• sans serif font (Arial, Helvetica, something you already have is fine!)
• decorative borders, frames, ornaments: IM Fell Flowers




I just started by typing my name and address using each of the fonts, then I played around with different combinations of names, addresses and arrangements. Contrast is an important element here—combining large with small, decorative with plain, bold with condensed, heavy with delicate—the differences make the end results beautiful and elegant.

I printed these on some envelopes I have so they are ready to use, but I like the
added texture that you get when you actually make an impression from a rubber stamp, so I plan to order rubber stamps that I can use in the future. I'm excited about how these turned out! They make me want to send something to myself.

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Designer. Typography geek. Entrepreneur.
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