WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Plain white luggage tags
Embroidery thread in vintage tones
An embroidery needle
Scissors
Wooden beads
A pencil
A print out of the cross stitch style letters you like
Perforated card (ours was by Paper Poetry)

1. Gather all of your materials together. Use a white luggage tag without its string attached to use as a template. Draw round this onto your perforated card and cut out the tag shape so that you have one plain white tag and one perforated one.

2. Using a cross stitch letter guide (we did an internet search for ‘cross stitch alphabets’), gently sketch onto your perforated tag where you are going to put your stitches. Make sure you know where the centre is so that the letter is central. Don’t worry if you need to rub it out and start again, this is the hard bit and worth taking time over!

3. Using a length of around 30cm of your embroidery thread, put a knot in one end and the needle on the other. Start from the back of your tag so the knot is at the back and stitch your letter using your pencil guide. Once finished, ensure any loose threads are snipped off at the back, it needs to be really neat and tidy.

4. Now, add glue to your plain white tag and stick this to the back of your embroidered tag. Once dry, feed some more embroidery thread into the tag’s top hole and before tying off, add 2 or 3 small wooden beads to add the final handcrafted touch.

These can now be used as present tags or place cards for a true handmade, nostalgic Christmas feel.