Got Cardboard & Twigs? Make Halloween Owl Tags!

Need a sweet and easy way to dress up your Halloween treats this year?  If you have cardboard boxes, twigs, and a die-cutting machine you can make these adorable tags up in a flash.

I made a bunch of these assembly-line style for my own neighborhood kiddos and made another bunch with my crafty group to sell for charity.  They were such a hit, we needed to get back into production for a second run.

The supplies are easy to find and substitutions can be made:
cardboard boxes
twigs
black cardstock
yellow round bling
various scraps of fall patterned paper
brown ink
eyelets (optional)
twine
Jenni Bowlin Studio @ JessicaSprague.com Halloween Merry digital kit

Here's how they were made:

1.  The cardboard boxes and twigs were gathered.

2.  The boxes are ripped down to an irregular shape approximately 4-1/2 inches x 3 inches.  This will form the "tree trunk".  Expose the cardboard ribs by ripping and peeling the top layer of the cardboard.  Imperfection is the key here!  There is no need to be perfect, nor to have each piece look the same!

3.  The ribs are inked with any brown ink.

4.  The Halloween Merry digital kit contains two owl images as .svg and .dxf for cutting in most die-cutting machines.  Load the one labelled "Halloween Owl" into your cutting canvas.  This image will have both owl's eyes attached so the image can be removed from the mat with both eyes in place.

Digitally erase the branch on the owl image, so just the owl remains.  I also erased his detail feathers for the cutting to go faster, but you can leave them if desired.  Resize the image to about 3.25 inches and copy and paste as many as can fit onto your canvas.  Cut the owls out onto black cardstock.  Using a swiss dotted black cardstock looks so stinkin' cute, but any black cardstock will do.

5.  After your owls are cut, you can give their eyes that spooky nighttime look with round yellow bling.

6.  To create your banner, print Happy Halloween multiple times from your word processor program, cut them out, add quick notches to make a banner, and ink the edges.  I used the font: Bleeding Cowboys.

7.  Punch or cut leaves from scraps of autumn patterned paper.

8.  Glue all your pieces together, using a pop-dot under the owl's body and fitting the twig and leaves underneath his "bum".  Wrap the banner around the twig and glue in place.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere everything.

9.  Last, punch a hole in the top of the tag, add an eyelet if desired, and string with twine.

Even though these are so easy to make assembly-line style, each owl tag will be different!  Tie these around goodie bags, candy bars, or display on tree branches.  They are sure to be a hit at your house like they have been around here!