Handmade Paper Bow Tutorial

Hi, Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! Since a special someone's birthday is coming up soon, I've been looking for some cute gift wrapping ideas, and one of my favorite things I found were handmade paper bows! I tried a couple different ways of making them, and finally came up with this, so I'm sharing the tutorial with you today! I love nicely wrapped gifts, it just makes what's inside the gift even more special! These bows may look a little complicated at first, but they are actually really easy to make, and once I started making a lot of them it only took me a couple of minutes to make each! All you need is a sheet of paper (you can use anything from brown paper bags and magazine pages to scrapbook paper and felt!), a hot glue gun and a good pair of scissors! Later on in the week, I will show you how I used these and other recycled materials for cute gift wrapping ideas, so be sure to come back! Here is a tutorial for my paper bows...

HANDMADE PAPER BOW TUTORIAL

1. First, cut your paper into 7 strips, each 3/4 inch wide. Cut the first three strips to be 10 inches long, the next three strips 9 inches long, and the last one to be 4.5 inches long.

2. Next, begin twisting each of the 6 long strips so that they have a loop at each end (see picture below). Secure with hot glue in the center. Make a loop out of the last strip (the 4.5 inch one).

This is what all all the loops will look like when you are done! Now you are ready to start layering and sticking them down to make your bows!

3. Layer and stick the three largest pieces, then layer and stick the next three pieces, and finally stick the loop in the center.

This is what the bow looks like when the first layer of the longest three strips (now loops) is done:

This is what the bow looks like once you've stuck the second layer of loops down:

This is what the bow looks like when it's done, once you've attached the ring into the center:

And that's it! I told you this was super easy! These bows are so much fun to make and make for really cute additions to plain wrapping paper! I hope you try this out! And make sure you come back later on in the week to see some cute recycled gift wrapping ideas! Happy Crafting, Everyone!

I will be linking to:

Skip to My Lou, Tip Junkie, Cozy Home Scenes, The Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Tatertots and Jello, Six Sisters' Stuff and Bubbly Nature Creations.