Whenever I don’t know what to get someone as a gift I tend to go to one of my two standby ideas. A nice mug stuffed with bars of chocolate or a glass jar full of themed little gifts.

At this time of year we start to think of all things Autumn or Fall, today I’m joining the Fall Crafts and Decor Blog Hop with this gift jar and scrap fabric gift tag.

I’ve had this nice striped jar with a lid for a while, I’ve used it to store cotton wool in the bathroom and ribbon in my craft space over the years. A quick wash and it was ready to be filled with treats and given as a gift, once it had a nice gift tag of course!

Let’s start with making the scrap fabric gift tag:

You will need:

• A kraft card luggage label OR a piece of kraft card and a label punch

• Scraps of fabric

• Sewing Machine and thread

If you are not using a pre made luggage label, trim your kraft card to the size you want, use a label punch to create the tag shape. If you have a cutting machine you can cut a tag shape from card. Any method is fine, as long as you end up with a card gift tag shape that you are happy with. I have some strips of leftover kraft card that are about 2” wide so this was a perfect chance to use one.

Take some scraps of fabric that coordinate and lay them out on top of the gift tag. Play around until you get a pleasing arrangement. I picked fabric that had orange and brown tones to fit my autumn theme.

Apply a quick smudge (technically term) of glue stick to the gift tag and lay the fabric pieces on. This is just to hold them for a second until you stitch so don’t be too fussy about glueing every single bit.

Now change your sewing machine needle to one that you keep for stitching paper and card. This can be any old needle, so it can be the one you’ve been using that will now become your “paper needle” or one that you keep especially for this. I have one that I’ve been using for several years for stitching paper. I keep it in a bit of bright blue felt so I know which one it is. Stitching through card is not great for your needle, it will blunt it so it’s good to keep one just for this purpose.

Next adjust the stitch length on your machine to a nice long stitch. I put mine somewhere between 3 and 4. A long stitch is best so there is no risk of perforating your card too much and it tearing.

Using a thread that coordinates or contrasts - your choice - stitch all around the patch of fabric on the tag, and then stitch in a few different directions, in a criss cross manner.

Thread a long thin length of fabric (or ribbon or twine if your prefer) through the hole in the tag and it’s ready to use.

For my autumn gift jar I collected together a selection of orange treats. Toiletry miniatures, meant for summer holiday travel are often on offer at this time of year. I picked up a mango scented shower gel, a lip balm, an orange nail varnish, a packet of tissues and a couple of Sanctuary products (as all their packaging is orange)

I added some orange wrapped chewy sweets to fill in any gaps, added the scrappy fabric gift tag and my Autumn Gift Jar was ready to give.

You are not restricted to orange of course, I was just going for that autumnal Fall look. I like the idea of colour theming a gift like this, it just adds an extra fun element to it, but you could theme a gift jar in a million different ways and then create a scrap fabric gift tag that coordinates with the contents.

Julie

Now let’s check out the other Fall Crafts and Decor ideas that my fellow creative bloggers have for you:

I have a few other gift wrap ideas here at Sum of their Stories, most of them involving upcycling, recycling or using up leftover craft supplies which you might find interesting: