I love to wrap gifts.  It combines two of my loves – creating beautiful things, and making people feel special.  But, admittedly I’ve always dropped the ball when the gift tag portion of wrapping comes up.  Last year I cut up wrapping paper and wrote on the back with blue pen.  Does it get any lazier than that? 

It doesn’t seem to matter how much ribbon you curl or cellophane you gather, if there isn’t a grand declaration of “this if for you, because you’re loved and appreciated” a gift just doesn’t seem complete.  

So this year I pulled up my gift tagging socks. 

I scoured my computer for pictures (I sifted through 15,000 of them – no joke) that would make appropriate gift tags.  Once I decided on the images I wanted to use I edited and added text to them in Picasa.  Picasa is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me.  It’s easy to learn, simple to use, and it’s free!  If you’re looking for a photo editing platform and you don’t have the patience for a complicated editing program (I sure don’t)  you should check it out! 

For a few of the gift receivers, I had images that I knew would mean something so I worked with those.

Bob, has a soft spot for our little guy so I thought this was an appropriate image for his gift.

Sue, was with me when I took this picture just before Christmas last year and the building is right around the corner from her house, so I’m sure she will recognize and appreciate the thought.

And this picture (which you may remember from this post) is perfect for my Mom, considering she put together the urn at the top of the stairs.  Also, I have a soft spot for it because it’s a tribute to our first Christmas in our new home.

Of course there were a few people I couldn’t find a really meaningful image for, so I set up a little photo studio in front of my Christmas tree and captured a few festive images.

I printed these out at the self serve machine at Wal-Mart for 30 cents a piece.  Which, if you ask me isn’t too much to spend, to make a grand declaration of love and appreciation.  I will post a follow up to this with pictures of these tags printed and dangling from beautiful presents, so stay tuned for that.

How are you preparing for the holidays this week?  Or are you one of those smart people that are finished holiday prep and are now relaxing and enjoying the most wonderful time of the year?