Add some whimsy to your presents this year with these simple cross stitch gift tags. Personalize each gift using the recipients initials and tailor the gift tag to the colors you are decorating with.
Christmas is fast approaching, have you wrapped all your presents yet? I still have some to get wrapped but am feeling pretty good about where I am sitting. I made up these cute cross stitch gift tags this year and wanted to share them with you all.
These initial gift tags are reminiscent of my simple hand embroidered gift tags that I made up a couple years ago. I used the same idea but thought it would be fun to make some initials to personalize the presents.
I made up these free printable gift tags for you to download, that way you can make some too! You can get the printable below in the supplies list.
Of course, the colors I chose coordinate with my colorful decor this year but you can use whatever colors you want. There are endless choices of embroidery thread colors available!
Supplies to make cross stitch gift tags
*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself.
- Embroidery thread colors of your choice & needle
- Free printable gift tags
- White or Confetti card stock
- Scissors
- Floral foam
- 1/8″ Hole punch
- Twine or gold/silver cording
Preparing the initial gift tags
The first thing you need to do is download the printable gift tags to your computer. You can print off all three pages or just the letters you need. Print them on a piece of white cardstock, or you can use a fun card stock like the confetti card stock I used.
Next cut the letters into squares and punch out the hole with your 1/8 inch hole punch. To make things easier, you will want to pre-poke some holes in the tags where you will be doing the cross stich.
Place the letter on a piece of floral foam to decrease the chances of bending or creasing your tag. This time I used a smaller diameter needle to poke the holes so they were not as visible on the end product. Poke holes at the ends of every X of the cross stitch pattern.
Continue until you have all the holes poked. Looks like I missed one. Oops! 🙂 I caught it later when I was doing the cross stitch.
How to cross stitch the gift tags
To start the cross stitching, run your embroidery thread through the first hole and tie a knot in the back. I used all six strands of the embroidery floss so I had to use a little bigger diameter needle for this part.
On each letter, I tried to work it so I would not have a lot of thread going across the back of the tag. Not that the back makes that much of a difference but I tried to keep it as clean as possible. I worked it line by line, going in one direction, then on the way back I went the opposite direction.
Sometimes I would not cross the X’s until I worked a whole area, again to decrease the chances of having a long thread on the back.
After you have finished cross stitching the letter, cut around the circle. I left the black outline on the tags, but you could cut on the inside of the outline if you don’t want the black outline.
That is it, easy peasy! These are simple to make and don’t take very long. As usual, I made them while watching a TV show to be more productive. 😉
Add pizzazz to your presents
Now all that is left is to add them to your presents! I just used some twine or gold & silver cording to add them. If you want to write names on the back, you can still do that.
I love the texture of the tags and think they are adorable! What do you think?
These cross stitch gift tags with initials were a fun and simple little project. They would be great to do with your kids! They would love it!
I have one last post to share with you before Christmas and that is my vintage inspired Christmas tree!! You have seen bits and pieces of my decor this year, but I am excited to show you how everything comes together. Talk soon!
Hello! I am so glad you came to visit my site today. I hope you can take something from here to inspire you or just make you smile.
I think my great grandaughters would like this alphabet tag project.. Thank you.