Gift Bow Roundup

The holidays are fast approaching, and there is no better time to start making a batch of your very own handmade gift bows! I found the awesome sweater patterned paper above in a photorealistic package of papers and had to make some snuggly bows of my own. Below you will find a big list of options to choose from (and many can be completed by using fabric, felt or Ribbon instead of cutting paper). Settle down with a great holiday movie and some paper and whip up a stack of ribbons this week!

Paper Bows from How About Orange

Accordion Fold(Snowflake)Bows

Small Gift Bows

Jumbo Gift Bows

If flowers are more your style, you can check out these paper flowers or some easy tissue paper flowers. Happy Wrapping!

Embroidered Ribbon Tulips

Embroidery doesn't have to be done using specific patterns. This tutorial shows you how a few simple stitches, combined with ribbon instead of thread or embroidery floss, can quickly create some flowers. For this tulip I used ribbon about 1/4" wide, and made 3 straight stitches. I finished by back stitching some quick stems.

Start a single tulip by pulling your ribbon through the fabric from back to front.

After completing the first stitch, you will start the second stitch by passing back through your starting hole (again back to front). You will want to make this stitch about as long as the first, you will want to complete your second stitch to make a "V" shape on your fabric.

You complete the tulip by again stitching through your original hole and ending your stitch between the other 2 stitches. I generally make this center stitch a little longer than the other two.

Once your flowers are done, add in some simple stems. You can draw out your stems beforehand if you need a guide or try to freehand them.

Paint Chip Gift Tags

I'm always looking for clever crafts, that can be done easily and inexpensively. These paint chip gift tags fit the bill perfectly. So many companies are making bigger paint chips now that you can use them for quite a bit without people even realizing it is a paint chip sample! The best part: the cost! I happened to have a bunch of paint chips laying around from several painting projects, but if you don't just go to a local hardware or paint supply store and select the colors you wish to use, they are free* (I recommend asking if you may take some if you do not plan on buying any paint). If you fall in love with a color, there are often small sample size paints you can buy for a larger project as well (I recently found a recipe online to mix your own chalkboard paint-- once I finish my project I'll be sharing that with you as well!).

So, back to the gift tags. I used various colors of paint chips, got a fancy hole punch, some white ribbon, and a regular hole punch and what you see here is the result. Just punch out your fancy shape, in my case a leafless tree, from your top paint chip, and overlay it onto a contrasting color chip. Then using a regular hole punch, punch a hole through both paint chips, insert your ribbon and you have a cute little gift tag. These also double as great bookmarks, and you can make them as large as your paint sample chips allow. It is your choice if you want to make them recognizable as paint chips, or do as I have here and just let it look like fancy colored paper (I love paint chips because they are very close in quality to Color Aid, a super expensive item you might be familiar with if you ever took a color theory class in art school--and I have, ouch!).

Another great thing about this project, is that there is little to no waste. I am saving all of my little punch out trees as confetti. These would be adorable at an Autumnal Equinox party later in the year! These hole punches come in a huge variety of shapes, also, so you could easily find one to fit your occasion and I have seen them on sale at almost any time of year at various paper and craft stores around town, as well as online.

More fun crafts are on the way, so check back again soon!