Hello to all and Happy Holidays!

I have a quick project to share with you before the holiday season is officially over. This DIY is perfect for last minute gifts, ornaments, place settings… anything! This year I bought new stockings for the family since we have our new addition. <3 They are knit and fuzzy, but don’t exactly have a convenient place to put our names on to them. My solution? Embossed Wood Name Tags!

 Embossing is a simple but beautiful way to personalize your holiday decorations. Maybe you have some wood slice ornaments for the tree that need some sparkle, or you would like some show stopping place settings for the holiday table. With only a few supplies you can create your own personalized wood tags, and those supplies will last you for many more projects to come!

If you are a newbie to the world of heat embossing, or want to learn more, I absolutely suggest you watch this heat embossing basics video from Simon Says Stamp. It will give you a great start for this project!

First you’ll need to gather a few supplies. 

• Wood tags or slices- even scrap wood pieces!

• An alphabet clear stamp set

• An acrylic block

• Versamark Ink Pad

• Embossing powder color of your choice

• Heat tool

To gather all of my supplies I shopped with coupons at my local craft stores. Stamping supplies are regularly on sale and these items will last you forever! And here’s a tip- the best thrifty finds are often in grab bins or dollar bins. Recently at Jo-Ann’s I found my small clear stamp alphabet set in those bins for $1.99! That’s an awesome price for something you can reuse so often!

Make sure your alpha set is the right size for your project! In this case they are perfect- I highly recommend this $1.99 Ms. Sparkle & Co. set at Jo-ann’s!!! 

 

Start by laying out your tags and stamp letters on them to make sure your names will fit. Since the alphabet set only comes with 1 of each letter, you’ll probably have to stamp a few times for each name, so space out your letters accordingly…Or buy two of those super cheap stamp sets! 😉 Arrange as many letters as you can on your acrylic block. Don’t have room for the whole name? Monograms or initials can work too!

Then, take your block with the letters adhered and stamp it into the sticky, clear, Versamark Ink. This ink is perfect for holding embossing powder on a variety of surfaces! When you first stamp your letters with even pressure, you may not see them! That’s ok! Take the tag with letters you have stamped over to your powder and heat tool.

Finally, sprinkle your embossing powder liberally over the letters, tap off the excess onto a scrap piece of paper, and like magic they will appear on your tag! I chose sparkly white embossing powder so the letters would stand out against the wood. You should carefully brush any stray powder outside of your stamped area.

Then holding your tag, (preferably with tweezers so your fingers avoid the heat) use your heat gun to melt the powder on to the wood. When it melts, the letters will become shiny and will be permanently adhered to the wood. If you have blank spaces and need to add more letters, now is the time to repeat the process to fill in the rest of your name. I also added stamped tiny snowflakes to my tags with I set I already had! Be creative- use what you have!

 

You’re finished! If you are making gift tags or ornaments, add some twine or ribbon that fits your project! I added some shimmery yarn to tie my tags to our stockings! The next time I do this project- I’m going to use gold embossing powder on wood slices for place settings! 

If this project looked daunting, I hope my quick tutorial shows you just how quick and simple it can be. With a little bit of effort, and a handful of supplies, you can make gorgeous personalized embossed wood name tags for your holiday projects, gifts, place settings, or any kind of get together!

Thanks for reading! If you would like more inspiration for holiday crafts check out my Everything Winter Pinterest board. Be sure to follow me on Pinterest and sign up for emails notifications when I post new craft ideas!