craft night: upcycled paper bows

I'm always excited to find good uses for old magazines and miscellaneous scrap papers. I was overjoyed when I found a tutorial for making your very own scrap paper bows. I found it here at How About Orange. I'm sure she does a better job at demonstrating this craft, but I'll take a stab at it, too.

A word from the wise. This project takes a couple of goes at it until you get it just right. Don't get discouraged! It gets a lot easier and a ton more fun as you get a few under your belt.

What you'll need:

8.5 in x 10 in scrap of paper

Hot glue gun (as always)

Stapler

Scissors

1. Cut 9 strips of paper 3/4 inches thick.

Make 3 of them 9 inches long.

The next 3 should be 8 inches long.

The next 2 should be 7 inches long.

The very last one should be 3.5 inches long.

2. Take one end and wrap the outside so that it touches roughly the middle of the inside and creates a pointy little loop, like so.

3. Do the same with the other side and staple it in the center. I found that the pointier you made the loop, the better the end result. Yes, this is a piece from a different bow. I need to spend less time chatting with my girlfriends, and more time taking pictures.

4. Do the same to all the strips, with the exception of the shortest one. Make that one a little circle, secured by a dab of glue.

5. Layer those loops, one on top of each other, securing each layer down with a dot of hot glue.

6. keep on layering until all loops are used. Glue the circle-loop down in the very center. Just like that, you're done!

Tip: Now, maybe you're the observant type, and you've noticed that there aren't all 9 pieces used in this specific bow. Okay, you caught me! You might have trouble fitting all those loops in, just like I did here. This is the part where I realized my loops weren't pointy enough. But never fear! Just use as many of them as you can fit, and don't worry about it. This one looks perfectly fine with only seven loops.

Here's a couple of finished bows. These utilize all 9 pieces, as we finally got the hang of this bow-making business. The one on the left uses double-sided scrap paper. Mrs. Maria J. so cleverly alternated patterns on each side to create the two-toned effect. The one on the right is a magazine page. I love the subtle punch of yellow on the inside of the bow.

Happy crafting!