back-to-school backpack tags & toy organization tags {tutorial}

Yes, I'm still on a back-to-school kick. Only 3 more days until school starts for us! Hallelujah! Today I made backpack name tags for my boys, and the idea spread to their toy baskets in their room. A little back-to-school organization never hurt anyone, right?

I shouldn't have been surprised when my boys picked the exact same Mario Bros. backpack for school. They're obsessed. But I knew there would be fights over which backpack belonged to whom (at least until school started). I was right. I was inspired by Emily's darling beach bag tags and decided to make them name tags to tell their backpacks apart! I think this will also come in handy at school, because I'm sure there will be a few more of these backpacks in their classes.

I found these plastic badge holders while back-to-school shopping and thought they would be easier than dealing with the self-sealing laminating pouches (which are pretty easy to begin with). I found these for about $2.50 at Walmart.

You could easily cut patterned paper to the size of the badge holder, but I have been loving all the digital papers I've been finding on Jessica Sprague's site lately (she has tons of Cosmo Cricket and Echo Park!). I watch out for my favorites to go on sale on One Buck Wednesdays each week. This is Cosmo's Joy Ride collection. I used Photoshop to size the paper to fit the badge holder, then added a text layer with "this belongs to:" and their names. Easy peasy! You could also stamp the name like Emily did, or use alphabet stickers.

 

 

 

I couldn't help myself--I added a coordinating piece of paper from the set on the back! It was all I could do to stop myself from tying them on with a cute gray ribbon. I went with orange and white baker's twine instead, to preserve the boys' dignity at school.

Once I figured out how easy these were to make, I decided to make a few for the boys' baskets on their bookshelf. I recently found these drawer/box/basket things at Target (on sale!). We use them to keep stuffed animals, electronics, and random toys off the floor. Their playroom is in the basement, but a few things always seem to end up in their room anyway. I tied them on with a little ribbon and voila! No more excuses for a dirty room!