Between activities to keep the kids occupied during lockdown, and keeping up with PepperPot I have been pretty busy with crafts lately. However sometimes its nice to take some time for a little craft activity for me. So this week I have been making junk tags.

Junk tags is not a particularly nice name for something that is supposed to be pretty. It comes from the same idea as junk journals which can be like works of art. The ‘junk’ is just bits that you have lying around.

Gathering junk

I already had a set of plain brown kraft tags – no doubt left over from a craft fair I’ve attended. If you don’t have tags you can buy them easily online or in bookshops / supermarkets / stationery shops. Alternatively you can cut out rectangles of card and punch a hole at one end to make your own tags.

Part of the enjoyment of this task was the bit where I got to go into my craft room and rifle through all the stuff I have acquired and never used. I love having my own proper craft room. However, anyone who has a craft room or space will admit it’s full of things they bought for no reason.

So I got to look through my boxes and drawers and find paper and fabric pieces to turn my plain tags into something special.

Memories

In my defence, not all my random supplies were bought. Being the daughter of a very creative mother means I regularly inherit bits that she no longer wants. I found some sheets of handmade paper that she had made. This reminds me that I must try making handmade paper with the kids some time…

I found a few pieces of silk embroidery my mum had done for a project and then given to me. They are far too beautiful to cut up and stick onto tags but it was nice to find them again.

Making the junk tags

If you are making your own junk tags then quite what you do is entirely up to you. I used brown kraft tags as a base and then added a layer to each. Then I built up with additional layers until I was happy they were decorative enough.

I used a mix of paper (old sheet music and maps) and fabric off cuts as well as buttons. Use whatever you have. This is a great zero waste project. A chance to turn paper and fabric scraps you might have thrown away into something new.

Remembering back to how much fun the kids and I had when we made Harry Potter potions with burnt edge labels, I tried burning the edges of the map pieces for one tag. I stitched the paper and fabric on with my sewing machine. It could be sewn on by hand or even glued for a no-sew version.

So, layer one was complete – each tag had something on it.

I then played around with other pieces to add additional layers to them. There is no right or wrong with any of this, which is what makes it quite an enjoyable easy project. It depends on what you have and how you want to arrange it. I kept to muted cream and white colours with this set. I would like to try some more colourful ones next time.

Finished – ready to go onto a parcel or present some time. They could even make pretty cool price tags for a craft market one day.

I find these simple craft activities relaxing. I love to disappear off into my craft room, put on some music and try things out. This was really nice to do as a craft project by myself but it is so easy and adaptable it would make a great kids craft project too.

Have you made any junk tags, or even a junk journal? Share some photos in the comments.