By Nancy Buchanan, for Office at home

I am blessed with a large extended family full of creative people; even minor holidays warrant a greeting card, and gift-giving occasions result in packages looking like they could grace the pages of a magazine. In this article I will show you how to turn office supplies into enhancements for your gift packages saving you time and money while making you look like a super star: personalized gift tags for large packages, custom metal-rimmed tags for small packages, and note cards and envelopes.

Create personalized gift tags for large packages

We have a family of 6, so finding ready-made gift tags that are big enough to fit all of our names can be challenging. Plus, it is always hard to estimate how many tags you will need and to coordinate the tags to look good with the wrapping paper you use. That’s why I no longer purchase ready-made gift tags. Instead I buy a supply of “clean edge” or “smooth edge” business card sheets for my inkjet printer and make my own.


^{Uncle Kirk’s gift tag made from a business card template}

• Start at the Template Gallery on Office Online.
• Most business card sheets made for printing have a model number or template number on the package. I usually search for the template number on Office Online first to see if there are any templates already available for my brand of business card sheets. If I have choices, I usually look for a very plain design since I delete whatever is already there and replace it with my own text and clip art from Office Online. For Uncle Kirk’s gift tag as shown above I used the Engineering professional business cards template.

   Note   If a template isn’t available specifically for the business card sheets you have, look for one that is the same size and has the same number of cards per sheet. You can also look on the Web site for the maker of the business cards; they usually have templates for Word available for download.

• The template opens in the program for which it was created, such as Word.
• Replace the business card text with your favorite combination of text and clip art. You can download the sheet of gift tags that I created at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC300035621033.aspx. They work with Avery Clean Edge Business Card sheets (number 8869) that I purchased at Office Max.
• Print your custom tags on your business card sheets and then tear them apart.
• Use a hole punch to punch a hole in the card and then attach it to your package with ribbon or string. In my example I used a star punch from my scrapbooking supplies to dress the tag up even more that I purchased from Creative Memories.

Turn metal-rimmed tags into gift tags for small packages

Sometimes your gifts are too small to comfortably fit a large gift tag or you know the recipient so well that a card or a large tag seems to be too much. That’s why I like to create inexpensive gift tags from the metal-rimmed key tags you can purchase from your office supply store. The tags are too small to print on, so I print clip art and text on clear sticker sheets and then apply them to the tags.


^{Kim’s gift tag made from a metal-rimmed key tag}

I took advantage of the fact that the stickers were clear by printing the graphics separate from the text and then applying more than one sticker to each tag. For example, in the “Happy Birthday Kim” tag shown above, I applied a sticker with the balloons first, and then the “Happy Birthday Kim” sticker on top of it. The ability to layer the clear stickers means that you can pre-print stickers with a variety of holiday graphics and text so you are ready for whatever gift-giving event comes up next.

• In Word, start with a blank document and then change it to use narrow margins and 6 columns if your metal-rimmed tags are 1.25 inches wide like mine are. You can download the sheet of text and clip art I created in Word 2007 and use on key tags here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC300035591033.aspx. I purchased the key tags from GreenLightOffice.com.

   Note   If your tags are a different size you can use the Word ruler to make sure that each tag is smaller than the actual size of the tag so it will fit.

• Add clip art and text to fill the columns with graphics or text you might want to use on the tags. I fill the columns so that I can use every available inch of the sticker sheets.
• Print the file on blank clear sticker sheets, then cut the stickers out and apply them to the metal-rimmed tags. I used sticker sheets that I purchased from Avery.
• Tie ribbon around your package, then insert the metal ring on the tag into one of the loose ends, and then tie the bow. That will ensure that the tag is secured to the base of the bow.

Produce note cards and envelopes

A greeting card can be your opportunity to enhance your packages in addition to sending sentiment. With the wide variety of greeting card templates that are available on Office Online, it is easy to find one that coordinates with package’s wrapping and ribbons.


^{Suzanne’s package with a greeting card and envelope produced in Word}

For Suzanne’s gift as shown above, I printed a greeting card from a template and printed her name in the same color as the wrapping paper on a clear sticker sheet to apply to the envelope. (I would have printed directly from my printer onto the envelope but the envelope was too small to fit the standard Word envelope wizard and I didn’t want to have to experiment with where to put the text in Word in order for it to print in just the right spot.) I used blank note card from Avery that I purchased at Office Max.
Sometimes the envelope is the gift, and that’s why I never miss an opportunity to give cash in style by printing a personalized money envelope from an Office Online template.



For Alec’s gift envelope above, I searched the Template Gallery on Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/FX100595491033.aspx for “money envelope,” and after the template I chose was downloaded I just typed his name and then printed the envelope. The money envelope templates include guide lines to tell you where to cut, and guide lines to tell you where to fold.

Make friends with office supplies

Browse the office supply aisles at your merchandise retailer and you will probably think of even more creative ways to turn mundane business supplies into embellishments for your own packages. After all, when you combine inexpensive supplies with your home printer and templates from Office Online you can get fantastic personalized results at a price you can afford.