Being different... (and how to make easy and unique bag tags)

I enjoy being different. A long time ago I realised I was never going to be exactly like everyone else and decided I could *sometimes* wear uniqueness as a badge of honour. Life gives you lemons and all that. Lots of times I wished I could be like everyone else but mostly I was happy not to have the pressure of looking/being/thinking like everyone else.

So.... when I went to Kmart to get school bags for my little munchkins and discovered all the bags were all very alike, I decided that would never do :) Mr Z had wanted a 'cool' bag that was uniquely his, so there was nothing for it but to bedazzle it a bit! Unfortunately buying the smallest (easiest to carry) backpack meant I was also buying the shoddiest cheapest one there... so I knew I couldn't get away with sewing something directly onto the bag. That's when I decided to make these tags:

First we found and printed some pictures. Then we carefully cut them out and covered them (front and back) in clear contact. I trimmed the contact to leave a 0.5cm allowance around the edge. Next we laid the covered pictures onto felt pieces and then stitched around their outsides using the sewing machine. After trimming the felt down, we added a felt loop to the top and then tied them onto the bag. We used the rope handle from some old crushed giftbags to tie them. It took around 20 minutes to do each one and cost less than a dollar all up. Now Mr Z has no trouble identifying his generic bag amongst the other bags - he just looks for his special swing tags :)

I think that when he is a big bigger (and can carry a bigger, heavier bag) we might redo these, but instead of stitching to felt, we might stitch them directly onto a better quality bag.