After having Jasper, I didn’t think I’d want to bother with traveling with an infant but turns out, NOW IS THE TIME to travel with kids! I learned this first hand after a successful first trip to LA in May for a conference I spoke at. I realized that I might as well take advantage of my time with an infant and get some trips in while I can. Especially since I thought that having a baby would impede my natural quench to constantly be moving. Not that it’s a walk in the park (NOPE!) at all, but it’s a bit more freeing than I thought (I’m on the edge of my seat for when he starts walking!). With that in mind, I’m thrilled to partner with Alaska Airlines in the coming months on some exciting excursions including a family trip, a work trip, and an inspiration trip–all with Baby J. First up? My trip to visit my family in Southern California last month.
My sister, Caitlin, is having a baby next month and as you can imagine, I’m SO excited. Baby J is going to have a cousin so close in age and I’m on a mission to give them all the experiences they can together, including one in the womb 😉 Plus, as you know by now, I’m all about celebrations, so I couldn’t help but get my hands on some DIY projects for it (stay tuned for the how-tos and printables!).
Additionally, I was recently given some cute luggage (thanks, Oh Joy!) that have made traveling with so many moving parts MUCH simpler and they needed some adorable luggage tags to go with. Today we’re showing you how to make a cute leather DIY luggage tag that takes about 15 minutes MAX to create. It also comes complete with a printable insert.
Find out how to make you own DIY Luggage Tag below!
Partnering with Alaska Airlines was a no-brainer because they offer the most nonstop flights from the West Coast. PLUS, and this is a major plus because it’s the only time I sit down to watch anything these days, it comes with free movies. SCORE! Because I had a bit of work to do on the plane and I rarely come with a full battery charged, I was pleasantly surprised to find that each seat has an outlet so everyone can charge their devices! Genius.
“Smell ya later, SLC! I’ve got bigger fish to fry!”
This was Jasper’s second airplane experience and he did great! He’s a pretty happy baby in general, which helps, though he does have his understandably “baby” moments. He charmed the pants off the attendants.
There’s no better way to see the Great Salt Lake than from air! And baby agrees. Look at that little head.
Baby was in hog heaven getting his first wings from the pilot.
We made it!
We flew into LAX where we were greeted by traffic and sunny skies.
This was the second time that my niece met Jasper and it was a total love fest the whole time.
DIY Luggage Tag
Now! Onto the luggage tag. We purposefully made these simple, but in really stunning colors because it’s very likely that they will get a bit bashed. I found a great leather company on Etsy (here!) and the colors were beautiful and the quality was great.
Materials:
- leather in the color of your choice (we got ours from here. Specifically, bubble gum soft pink, orange, canary yellow, Newark blue)
- scissors
- craft knife
- hot glue gun
- embroidery floss
- Templates and labels HERE
Instructions:
- Using the templates provided trace them onto the backside (or the fuzzy side) of the leather.
- Cut out the pieces with scissors. For the flap, make an incision with the craft knife and cut the rest with scissors so you have more control. We found that scissors make a cleaner cut and line
- Glue the front and the back piece together, raw sides touching, by hot gluing them only around the outer side and bottom edges. Leave the top portion unglued so you can slide in your label.
- Thread the long skinny piece of leather through the holes at the top of the tag and hot glue the ends together.
- Wrap a contrasting embroidery floss around the top portion of the long piece of leather, securing the ends with hot glue. We wrapped about a 3/4-inch portion.
- Print out the label, fill out your personal information, and slide into your new DIY luggage tag!
Alaska Airlines is one of the most consistently affordable, so it’s great for traveling with my family, meaning that you’ll soon be spotting us even more out and about than I thought we would be otherwise with a baby. They even have a generous loyalty program where a mile flown is a mile earned, and you can even earn/redeem on flights around the world with Alaska Airlines’ Global Partners. That’s exactly how I intend to save up my miles!
This post is sponsored by Alaska Airlines. Thanks for supporting the brands that allow us to create stellar original content!
DIY Photography by Jane Merritt | Lifestyle photos by Elise Capener and some from my iPhone
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