Recycling Christmas cards into gift tags

When I was little, I remember my mum making gift tags out of of the previous year's Christmas cards, using pinking shears to create a lovely zig-zag edge. 

This is an old idea but a good one. As well as being a great way of recycling, this also means that you can select the gift tag to match the preferences of the recipient.

Following my mum's example, I have made gift tags in the same way this year.*

Here are some photos of my gift tags:

I'm linking up with Recycled Christmas at Lulastic and the Hippyshake. This is a great idea for a link-up. It is very easy to spend too much money at this time of the year, so it feels good to recycle instead of always buying new.

* Of course one thing that has changed since I was a child is that people send fewer Christmas cards. So instead of just using cards from last year I have used Christmas cards received over the past few years.

No-sew lavender sachets made from odd socks

How to turn odd socks into lovely lavender sachets:

1. Gather together all the odd socks* left over after you've had a clear out, and ensure they are all clean before you start.
2. Use a dessert spoon to fill each sock with dried lavender (or you could use mixture of lavender and dried rice). Ask your four-year-old to help you with this for extra fun and educational value!
3. Tightly tie up the top of the sock using narrow ribbon.

So there you go, low cost and almost instant lavender sachets made from otherwise useless odd socks - and no sewing machine required. 

These lavender sachets are particularly good for putting in shoes to freshen them up a bit. I've put two of them in my red sandals (see photo below) and now the hall cupboard smells lovely.

* Where do all the odd socks come from? No matter what I do, we always seem to end up with some lone socks!