The Blissful Bovine is a riot to personalize between options for udders, five horns to choose from, adding a cow bell, nose ring or even a dress and yes…an ear tag. Below I will show you how easy it is to make a fun ear tag for your bovine!
What You'll Need:
- A plastic lid to repurpose (from food items, etc) OR a scrap of cotton fabric and medium interfacing
- Ear tag template (link at the bottom of this page)
- Ear ring and awl OR needle and thread
- Optional: clear mailing labels OR paint pen OR permanent markers, etc.
Step 1: Trace the ear tag template onto the plastic lid. Cut the tag from the plastic and use a small hole punch or awl to punch a whole where marked on the template.
FABRIC OPTION: (not pictured) If you would like to make your ear tag using cotton scraps, cut two tags from fabric by tracing the tag on the wrong side of the fabric and cutting oversize to give yourself a seam allowance that can be trimmed after being sewn. You may want to add a little interfacing on the inside before you sew to make it more stiff (optional). Place fabric right sides together and sew along the traced line for the tag, leaving the bottom straight edge open. Trim away the excess fabric to leave a 1/8+ inch seam allowance. Turn right side out. Turn the edge of the open end inward and topstitch all the way around the tag.
Step 2: Decide what you’d like to write on your tag. There are different ways to accomplish this. I used Photoshop to create the lettering and then put that into a word document of formatted Avery clear mailing labels, which I printed them on. Then I placed the label onto the tag and trimmed the excess label away.
If you are good at hand lettering, I am not, write something using permanent marker. This works best on the matte side of the plastic.
If you have a Cricut (or other vinyl cutting machine) cut the letters/numbers from vinyl and adhere them to the plastic.
FABRIC OPTION: If you’re making your tag from fabric and have an embroidery machine…embroidery the letters/number onto the fabric before cutting and sewing the tag. Other options include machine applique (although it would be quite small to work with), hand embroidery or lettering with a paint pen, etc.
Step 3 – Earring Option: Grab an old earring, perhaps one that you no longer have a match for. Poke the smallest hole possible into the ear where you want the tag to be placed, use the very tip of an awl. (this method should only be used on fabrics such as minky and fleece that will not easily tear or fray). Place the earring through the tag and into the ear and secure on the back. This method should not be used if the bovine will be given to a small child.
Step 3 -Needle and Thread Option: Place the tag where you would like it to sit on the ear and sew it to just the inside panel of fabric. Do so in a manner like you would a button. Tie a knot and secure the end of the thread in between the two fabric ear panels.
All done! Unless you want to add a tag to the other ear too.
