No More Ugly Bows! ... or Lack of Bows for That Matter!

Thanks to Pinterest and being at home on partial bed rest due to my pregnancy, I have really been on a DIY kick lately... from baby items to household decorations.  As mentioned in my previous post I went to Micheal's on Black Friday to pick up some door busters, including beautiful holiday ribbon at 70% off.  Was in and out of Micheal's with my fantastic door busters in under 30 minutes! (Unfortunately standing in long lines and taking the chance of getting trampled is not on the doctor's orders when you are 32 weeks pregnant and on partial bed rest.  Next year!)  I didn't know how to make bow's yet but I figured someone out there in cyber space could teach me, so oh I dunno 10 or 12 rolls of ribbon later, I sat with my iPad in hopes google could teach me.  I watched and read 10 or 15 tutorials and this one is by FAR the best, easiest and makes the most beautiful bows.


http://www.howdini.com/howdini-video-8675485.html

Some helpful tips after you have watched the video.

1.  It does NOT take a whole spool of ribbon.  Most of the ribbon I found in the 1.5 inch, 2 inch and 2.5 inch spools was 10 and 15 yards.  I got several ribbons out of these spools.  Some of the thinner ribbons are only 3 yards and when I used them on small gifts I was able to get 2 bows out of them. 

2.  I used the short side of a DVD case I had lying around for the 1.5 inch ribbon, the long side of a DVD case for the 2.5 inch ribbon and the long side of my iPhone for anything less than 1.5.

3.  I tried this with 7/8" UN-wired ribbon and it worked- you get a small poofy bow- not quite as defined but still pretty, I was pleased it worked.  

4.  In the video he uses an unwired ribbon to first "wrap" the present then attaches his bow to that.  I used the same wired ribbon that I used on the bow to wrap the present and it worked fine, just reshape the ribbon as needed after you have tied it. 

5.  If you want to make the bow and not have it be attached to anything right away, use a pretty pipe cleaner to tie the center and leave the ends hanging out the back to attach it somewhere... like the pretty garland from last weeks blog. 

I know my presents will be more beautiful than they ever have been this year- and I hope your's are too!  I can't wait for the girls to get home from their mom's tonight and see all the pretty presents under the tree!

Christmas Garland.... Why does it have to be so expensive?

As I realized that Christmas was sneaking up on me again, I got excited.  Not only did we move into a new house this past May, but we moved into a BIGGER house.  Now I have room to decorate and really enjoy my house during the holiday season.  I have a really pretty fireplace, and the first thing I wanted to do was get some garland to really dress up the fireplace... and hide the command hooks I used to hang our 6 stockings.  I headed down to Hobby Lobby and Micheal's (both of which are 1/4 mile from my house... lucky me) and quickly realized how EXPENSIVE pretty garland is!  Even at half off it would have been a minimum of $40 to decorate the fireplace like I wanted.  Sadly I went home empty handed. 


Around rolls Thanksgiving.... Micheal's has a doorbuster sale... plain green garland for $1.99.  Sweet! It's a start.  Black Friday I rolled out of bed at oh 8 am.... drank some tea... ate some breakfast... decided to head over around 10 am.  Walked right in bought my $1.99 garland (bought several) and my holiday ribbon (again several) at 70% off... no lines at the register... and got home in 30 minutes.  Best Black Friday shopping ever. 

Using $3.98 worth of my doorbuster garland, $2.40 roll of gold ribbon, 3 glittery poinsettia's that conveniently came on clips at $1.50 each and a strand of white lights I found in the garage.... I decorated my fireplace to perfection! Not bad for $10.88... and I like it better than the $40 designer garland!

Enjoy!