Never Out of Style: Tags and Labels

Have you seen the ever changing ‘Still Trending’ category of the store? It’s a great way to rediscover some products from the depths of the store that change seasonally but I’m going to highlight some different products that I feel like defy trends. Trends come and go in every facet of life. Some things come back in to style after the trend cycle turns but there are some things that are timeless and so I’m going to share some of those today and in the coming months. I feel like tags and labels don’t date (unless you literally put a date on them) and are a staple that can stand alone or act as a functional or aesthetic element so that’s what I’m looking at today. And this post was inspired by Polly Gaelle’s recent tags you may have seen in the Gallery for each of the Love Our Designers event days!

I don’t think tags or labels are ever ‘out’ of fashion, they’re too functional to be done away with. I used to keep cool fashion tags from new clothes to my IRL scrap stash to upcycle or repurpose for paper scrapping. Tags from luggage is ephemera from a trip to me and my Dymo labeller is one of my OCD home organisation essentials and after seeing Gaelle’s recent tags I was reminded of how overlooked but useful this basic group of elements can be on a digi layout. Let me show you some of hers in case you missed them before we move on – they’re each a work of art!

Now let’s have a look at some packs that can be versatile stash staples and some that can give an instant lift to your page:

Here’s a generic pack by Pixel Giraffe with a variety of basic tags you can personalise like Gaelle’s and these are some decorative tags by Rachel Jefferies, Amy Wolffe and Rebecca McMeen that are ready to go or make for a half-way there base for something even more artistic and dramatic!

I love the interactive pull tabs on these tags by Lynn Grieveson that can hint to hidden journalling and give a quick layered look. And this pack by Mommyish is marketed as a keychains but same difference to me – these could make for very cool date tags or way to make wordart or title a bit more special!

To make dates a feature, you can’t go wrong with tags and labels. There are some good and versatile sets in the Document Your December every year like these from ninigoesdigi and Sahlin Studio; and outside that, Kim Jensen does date tags so well- check out the rest of the Debossed Date Tag series for other colours and styles but these are a ‘goes with everything’ neutral pack! And this pack by Amy Wolffe is a stash essential to me for it’s combo of colours, styles and shapes of labels.

Don’t get me started on how cool these can look all layered even if they are considered a boring, basic element, they can definitely be functional and aesthetically awesome like on these pages by Gaelle & Roxanna

Still not sure how to use tags in your page design? They are great substitutes for pocket cards or photo spot fillers in any template, look awesome used en masse or as part of clusters but also check out some of these specific template examples:

Here’s 2 pages from me. I started this first page back during Anita Design’s Love Our Designs day but didn’t finish it in time so I’m sharing here instead. I modified one of her Hello February templates to add more photos and tags, and used different Going Places tags as both a decorative layer tucked behind some photos & a functional and themed element (a la airport tags on a suitcase ready for transit)

And this uses one of Just Jaimee’s ready to go March Story Teller tag & die-cut packs. I thought the idea of the hanging tags went with us hanging in the air in the air cabin/gondolas on this trip.

So tell me are you a tag or label hoarder? Are they sitting neglected in your stash or being utilised? Have you got a fave pack or hidden gem to share?

I’m enjoying rediscovering tags again! I even went back to the MOC from in 2022 to January 3 to revisit the Dangles challenge and there’s some good tag inspo there but also MOC 2020, the January 10 Challenge featuring sets of altered tags – amazing DIY tags then and they amazed me again now because they’re never really out of style!