Free printable Christmas gift tags

It's december now and Christmas is already here. Everybody is thinking about gifts for friends, parents, family. Or mayby you already bought it, like me and made a beautiful package after searching in Pinterest wrapping boards)) 
Just the last touch - print small gift tags with letter and attach to the gift bags, so everybody can known its gift: "N" for Nando, "K" for Katrin, "F" for Francesco etc. You can put also whole name of the person because of course can be persons with the names began from the same letter. In this case you can hang "NANDO" on the thread and Nando will recognize his gift immediately.
You can use these letters also in your scrapbooking project.

You can print it easily on home printer. Make right click and save the image. You can download it here in good quality: 300dpi and 8.5x11" paper size with 1" circles.

Use common 1" circle puncher and cut out letters you need. You can create in photo redactor a sheet with personalizzed letter (in case you need to letters H for exemple). Hand the tag on the nice Christmas ribbon or simple red or green ribbon.

Please, be aware that the digital collage sheet is not to be sold as digital or printed collage sheet.

Free printable Christmas gift tags

Only a few days left before Christmas. In Italy Christmas is a big family holiday when all family band together usually in the hous of granparents. At midnight we open gifts and It's often difficult to find your gift becaise all packages and bags seem equal. Thats why this idea suggested itself to me - to print gift tags and write on the back side the name of person whose gift is, and maybe some words.  The tags are also a great way to personalize any gift.
Save and print these tags is a really easy way to save money at the holidays .
You can use these tags also in your scrapbooking project. I made them from vintage greeting cards that's why these Christmas gift tags looks so amazing and cute.

The size of the tags is 2x1.25 inch 48x32 mm and it's for standart 2" puncher. 

Make right click and save the image. Print it easily on home printer.  I recommend to print the tags on laser printer on 100 lb card stock. It's 8.5x11inch digital file which is standard letter size. Then cut off with scissors or puncher and make a hole. Then take nice atlas or organza ribbon, or maybe red yarn (like me) and pass it through the hole. With this ribbon you can attach the tag to the gift and make a beautiful bow)

Please, be aware that the digital collage sheet is not be sold as digital or printed collage sheet.

Happy holidays!

Holidays season in Italy

It's finished Holiday season and I want to write about Christmas and New Year’s traditions in Italy. As we all know already Italy is a country of traditions! They differ a bit from region to region or town to town just like the dialects, but some are common all over Italy and those are the ones I’d like to share.


Christmas is well loved and celebrated in Italy as all over the World and by the end of November most of the shops are decked out for the season.

On Christmas Eve the whole family gathers at the table laden with goods with Presepe in the center. Presepe is Nativity Scene in Italy - Joseph, Mary and animals in the stable. Just a few figures or all the table taken by scenes of local life. At Christmas time a lot of towns hold Presepe exhibitions and artists compete to make the best one. 

At midnight the youngest in the family holds the statuette of baby Jesus and leads the „train” of a sort where everybody follows holding the person before by the shoulders all around the house as they sing «tu scendi dalle stelle» - You come down from the stars. At the end of the song baby Jesus is put into Presepe and unwrapping of gifts starts.

One more Christmas tradition is Italian Christmas cakes that grace every table - panettone and pan d'oro.

There are other traditional sweets of this period. In our region they called purcedduzzi and carteddati. Purcedduzzi are small, funny, fried gnocchi with a sweet flavour and  an orange aroma, carteddati in dialect means bent, curved. Both can be decorated with almonds or cedar nuts (the almond tree is the most common in Puglia) and covered with honey. They can be covered also with "vincotto" - wine boiled until it becomes syrup.


Right after Christmas on the 26th is St.Stephen’s Day - Santo Stefano. He is the patron saint of Italy. I can’t remember any particular traditions of that day besides getting the whole family together one more time to feast from the heart and stomach!

Let’s move on from Christmas to New Years.


Traditionally it’s not a family holiday like Christmas, but a celebration with friends, usually a noisy and fun party. Often Italians go skiing for a few days over the New Years or just to get away to the mountains. One of the holy traditions of New Year’s Eve is cooking lentils and then eating them at midnight, of course without utensils, just with hands! Lentils are followed by meat delicacy called cotechino. It is a fresh sausage made from pork, fatback, and pork rind. Eaten with hands of course  Tradition says eating lentils at New Year’s will bring you lots of money in that year. As long as I remember, and especially since the crisis, it didn’t bring us any, but we still do it every year.

Last holiday of the season is Epafania - Epiphany, that is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on the 6th of January. Gift giving for Christmas is a novelty in Italy, that tradition isn’t older than 30 years. Before that the gifts were brought by Befana – old, ugly but kind witch that comes on her broom at the night of the 6th and places the gift into the stocking hung at the window or fireplace. Traditionally you have to leave Befana a snack. If the child was good for the year he or she will find stocking full of sweets, dry and fresh fruit, but if he or she was bad the stocking will be filled with coal. This tradition is getting forgotten now but my husband always leaves a sockful of chocolates and a tiny witch figure under my pillow.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas

I want to wish you Merry Christmas!  Thank you for reading my blog and Ihope you enjoyed the posts. I hope that your Christmas would be enjoyable & may the essence of Christmas remains always with you.

This vintage greeting card is my gift for you.

Katrin

Christmas gift tags

It's december now ans Christmas is around a corner. Every of us is search gifts for friends, parents, family. In Italy Christmas is a big family holiday when all family band together usually in the hous of granparents. At midnight we open gifts and It's often difficult to find your gift becaise all packages and bags seem equal. Thats why this idea suggested itself to me - to print small gift tags with letter and attach to the gift bags: "N" for Nando, "K" for Katrin, "F" for Francesco etc. You can put also whole name of the person because of course can be persons with the name began from the same letter. In this case you can hang "NANDO" on the thread and Nando will recognize his gift immediately.
You can use these letters also in your scrapbooking project.

 You can print it easily on home printer. Make right click and save the image.

Please, be aware that the digital collage sheet is not be sold as digital or printed collage sheet.

In graphic shop  KarisaGraphics you can find many collages for all you craft and scrapbooking needs.

Crochet snowflakes

Sorry, that I write very ocassionally now, but I really don't have a time. Holiday season is began) But I found a time today to show these crochet snowflakes. 
In south Italy here we don't have snow, so I decided to make my own snowflakes and decorate my house and christmas tree with them. Maybe I will attache one to the gift for my friends or decorate window or reefer. It's a great idea to also use them for custom holiday cards. 
I found many patterns in internet and choose 12 most beautiful for me.
They are so delicate and beautiful! Some people wrote me that these snowflakes the same like granmather made) and for these people it's like return to childhood.
If you know crochet it will be easy for you to make a pair of crochet snowflakes for Chrostmas tree. The design possibilities are endless, each one unique. There are many patterns in Internet perfect also for begginers. Depending on which crochet thread you use, the size of snowflakes can vary anywhere from 2-4 inches in diameter to as much as 5 inches. I advice to use thin thread - they will be like lace!
It's important - when you finish them you should stiffen snowflakes well and use pins to stretch and shape them.

On this image there are more difficult to make snowflakes: