DIY: Jumbo Gift Bow

Welcome back, or to you first time visitors, welcome! For those of you who have not yet entered, take the opportunity to check out my Happy Haulidays post and comment for your chance to win $500 in books from Chronicle Books. I think I put together a pretty great list of crafting, baking and children's books to make anyone's holidays brighter!


With holiday shopping season well upon us, I thought I would break out some DIY tutorials on gift wrap! This Jumbo Gift Bow is made from wrapping paper (about 28 inches wide, yours may be slightly wider or skinnier depending on the roll you use). These bows are great for larger packages, or those large oddly shaped presents that often times a large bow is good enough to use as wrapping all on it's own (things like wagons, bikes, etc.).

To start, select your wrapping paper. I am using some wrapping paper I got last year at IKEA. I think my husband and I bought it because we had never seen such "busy" and hideously gorgeous wrapping paper before in our lives. Blue snowflake background with bright red reindeer? Yes, please.

Next, cut your paper into 7 strips. Mine are all 3 inches wide. You will want 3 strips that are the same length as your roll of wrapping paper, 3 that all have the last 4 inches removed, and finally one strip that is about 12 inches long.

Once your strips are cut, you may use tape or glue (I used scotch tape for this tutorial, but I generally like to use glue sticks as they dry quickly and don't crinkle the paper like liquid glues can) to make "loops". Make sure that you have the same amount of overlap on each loop, to ensure they stay the same length. Each one of my loops has about 2 inches of overlap. I keep my taped/glued edge on the bottom of my loop, in the middle where they will all finally be glued together.

Arrange your 3 largest loops, spaced evenly, on the bottom of your final bow. If you like you can cut out a circle of card stock to use as a base, but that isn't necessary. Once you have your bottom layer arranged and glued the way you like, do the same with your 3 smaller loops. Glue these on top of the larger loops, and finish by placing your one small loop in the center and gluing it down. Attach your bow to some ribbon and tie it to your present, or use glue to attach to wrapping paper. :)


I will have more tutorials coming up for other styles of bows, tags and methods of gift wrapping so come back and check it out all this week/weekend!