How to Make Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags
Whenever someone says ‘Thank You’ to me, I always get a nice warm feeling inside. Don’t you?
It is good to be on the receiving end but what
about being the ‘Thank You’ giver? Unfortunately, many people never give a second
thought to saying ‘Thank You’ to others who have helped them in some small or
big way. Even Jesus found this failure to give thanks quite distasteful and he
openly expressed his disappointment when he healed ten lepers on his way to
Jerusalem and only one of them returned to express gratitude to him.
As unbelievable as it sounds, when we read that Bible story, it is still true today that far too many people never think of or remember to say ‘Thank You’ to a stranger, acquaintance, teacher, health care worker, garbage collector, friend, colleague or family member.
I made a promise to myself, many years ago, to always be that one person who says ‘Thank You’. You too can make a promise today to give thanks more often and teach your children or children under your influence to do so.
One very simple, classy and inexpensive way to express thanks is with ‘Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags' (see Figure 1 above). These tiny, diy gift tags can be used as standalone tokens of appreciation or they can be attached to gifts such as, chocolate or flowers.
So, here’s your next arts and craft project. Today, I will show you how to make those 'Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags'. You can make them as your personal, hobby craft project or as a fun, diy craft project with children at home, school, summer camp, kindergarten, etc.
First, I'll start with a list of all the material and tools that you will need for this do-it-yourself handicraft project. Then I will break down the actual process for making the gift tags into five easy to follow steps.
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(A) Material for Making Thank You Gift Tags
1 sheet of Laid paper (8 ½ inch x 11 inch)
6 feet of Curling Ribbon (4½ inches per tag)
1 pack of Scripture labels (alternatively you can use fun labels or stickers)
(B) Tools for Making Thank You Gift Tags
1 Single-hole paper punch
1 Pair of Scissors
1 Printer
1 Pencil (optional)
(C) Steps for Making Thank You Gift Tags
Step 1 - Set up and save the page layout
§ Open up a blank Word document, on your computer or laptop, by clicking on your Microsoft Word programme app. A Word document will appear with a default page layout.
§ Click on the ‘File’ tab to the top of the screen. Select ‘New’ and then select ‘Blank document’.
§ In the new Word document, click on the ‘File’ tab and select ‘Save As’.
§ Choose a folder in which to save the document. Then type in the file name that you want to use to save the Word document; for example, ‘Spiritual Thank You Tags’.
§ Click on the ‘Save’ button in order to save the document, with your chosen file name, on your computer or laptop.
Step 2 - Design the front of the ‘Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags’
§ To the top and left-hand side of your Microsoft Word document you will see online rulers (see Figure 5 above and Figure 6 below). These rulers give an indication of what the width and length of the actual sheet of paper that you will be printing on would be (8 ½ inches wide by 11 inches long).
§ To make a total of 16 gift tags, as per my example, adjust the document to leave a ¼ inch margin on the left, the right, the top and the bottom of the page.
a. Use your mouse cursor to drag the left indent marker on the top ruler further left until you get a ¼ inch indent. Then use your mouse cursor to drag the right indent marker on the top ruler further right until you get a ¼ inch indent. This will adjust the printable width of your document to 8 inches.
b. Use your mouse cursor to drag the top margin marker on the left-hand side ruler upwards until you get a ¼ inch margin to the top of the page. Then use your mouse cursor to drag the bottom margin marker on the left-hand side ruler downwards until you get a ¼ inch margin to the bottom of the page. This will adjust the printable length of your document to 10 ½ inches.
§ To insert your border design, for the gift tags, clicking on the ‘Insert’ tab to the top of the page and then select ‘Shapes’. In the drop-down menu, under ‘shapes’, select the first rectangle under the heading ‘Rectangles’. The cursor will change to a cross.
§ Move the cross-shaped cursor to the body of the page and click. A rectangular shape will appear on the page. Click and drag the rectangular shape to adjust it to your desired size.
§ To adjust the SIZE of the rectangular shape: In my example, each tag is 2 inches wide and approximately 2½ to 2¾ inches long, thereby yielding a total of sixteen gift tags. Use the ruler to the top and left-hand side of the page to help you measure and create four rows and four columns of gift tags (see Figure 5 above).
§ To adjust the DESIGN of the rectangular shape: Place the cursor on the rectangular shape and click on the ‘Shape Format’ tab to the top of the page. Then select ‘Shape Fill’ and choose your desired colour to paint the inside of the rectangle. Finally, select ‘Shape Outline’ and choose your desired colour to paint the outside border of the rectangle. You can click on ‘Shape Styles’ to make any additional adjustments to the shape design.
§ Once you have created one rectangular shape that is the ideal size and design, copy it and paste it fifteen more times onto the same page (see Figure 6 below). As you copy and paste the rectangular shapes onto the page, these will all be piled one on top of the other. Do not worry. Simply drag the rectangular shapes, one at a time, and arrange them side by side so that they form four neat rows and four neat columns. Consequently, there should be four rectangular shapes in each row and four rectangular shapes in each column.
Step 3 - Design the back of the ‘Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags’
§ Click on the ‘Insert’ tab to the top of the page and then select ‘Page Break’ to go to the next page on the document (page 2). This second page will become the back of your gift tags when printed in duplex printing mode.
§ Copy one of the rectangular shapes from page 1 and paste it sixteen times onto page 2 of the document.
§ Drag the rectangular shapes, one at a time, and arrange them side by side so that they form four neat rows and four neat columns. Once completed, there should be four rectangular shapes in each row and four rectangular shapes in each column.
§ Click on the ‘Home’ tab and then go to the ‘Font’ group section.
§ Place the mouse cursor on the inside middle of each rectangular shape and type the phrase ‘THANK YOU!’ in bold, capital letters, using your desired font colour and size (see Figure 7 below). You can make all of these customizations in the ‘Font’ group section, under the ‘Home’ tab.
§ To customize the phrase ‘THANK YOU!’, select it with your cursor in order to highlight it. Then customize it by clicking the appropriate buttons in the ‘Font’ group section. For the font type, I selected ‘Calibri’. For the font size, I selected ‘14’. To make the text in the phrase bold, I clicked on the letter ‘B’. In my example, I used green as my font colour for the phrase. To choose the font colour, I clicked on the drop-down arrow to the right of the capital letter ‘A’ with a black rectangle underneath it.
Figure 7: Back view of the 'Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags' with the written phrase ‘Thank You!’
Step 4 - Print the Gift Tags
Power on your printer, which should be connected to your computer or laptop. Then use the following printing properties on your computer or laptop to print the ‘Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags’. I used a Canon Wireless All-in-One Printer for printing because it is user-friendly, durable and the printer ink colours are vivid. I bought my Canon Printer thirteen years ago and I have not had a single problem with it.
§ Click on the ‘File’ tab and then select ‘Print’.
§ Select ‘Printer Properties’ and then tick the following additional features:
o Duplex Printing (to have the 2 pages printed on one page back and front)
o Fast (speed priority) (to use less printer ink but still get great print quality)
o Preview before Printing (to get a sneak peek of what your gift tags will look like when printed and to ensure that there are no errors).
Figure 8: A pack of scripture labels for attaching to the front of the gift tags
Step 5 - Collate the ‘Spiritual Thank You Gift Tags’
§ Stick a ready-made scripture label, like the ones shown in Section 8 above, on the front of each gift tag frame on the printed sheet or page.
§ Using a pair of scissors, cut out each of the sixteen gift tags from the printed page.
§ Using a single-hole paper punch, punch a hole in your preferred location on each gift tag (top middle; top left-hand; top right-hand corner, etc.). I punched my hole in the top-left hand corner of each gift tag (see Figure 9 below).
§ Cut the coloured curling ribbon(s) into 16 pieces of about 4 ½ inches each.
§ Pass one 4 ½ inch piece of curling ribbon through the punched hole in a gift tag and tie a double knot to secure the curling ribbon.
§ Repeat the process for the remaining 15 gift tags.
§ You can write a personal note at the back of the gift tag, underneath the printed ‘Thank You!’ phrase.
§ Then present a ‘Spiritual Thank You Gift Tag’, by itself or attached to a small, medium or large gift, to the deserving student, friend, family member, acquaintance or colleague!
Output per Sheet of Paper: 16
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from any qualifying purchases that you make through this blog post. If you purchase anything, I thank you for your support.
***Photo Credit & Copyright: All photos belong to the author of this blog, Heidi Vincent a.k.a. The Catholic Contributor and should not be copied or used without permission.
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Share with us, in the COMMENT section below: (1) Where or when you will attempt this craft project or (2) After you have attempted this paper craft project, how it went.
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