Magazine Bow - Tutorial

Well it's that time of the year ya'll!!!  What time, you ask?  Time to start wrapping presents and spending large amounts of money on wrapping paper and bows that are going to be destroyed by those excited little hands!!!  So why not use this time to be frugal and green at the same time!!! 

We all get magazines in the mail and if you don't there are plenty of places online that you can request magazine's from for FREE!!! This is a list of places I have compiled for ya'll of some of those places.....

Land of Nod

Ballard Designs

Through The Country Door

The Home Marketplace 

There are many many more you just have to do some looking online to find them.

Ok, now onto the tutorial!

First I want to show you what we'll be making

Isn't it pretty and doesn't it look like a store bought bow?!  And not to mention, it was free because everything you need to make this you probably already have!!!  The best part about these is you can decide what color you want it to be and how you want it to look.

Ok enough chatting let's get to it.

Supplies:  Self healing cutting mat, rotarty cutter/or exacto knife, Magazine, a glue stick, and a ruler or something else to use as a straight edge to cut along.

Step 1:  First you want to decide which page you're going to make your bow out of and either rip it out or cut it out.

Step 2: We're going to cut the magazine page into 3/4 inch strips width wise.  Ok did I loose you?  We are not going to cut from the bottom to the top of the page, we're are going to cut from one side to the other width wise. 

You will end up with an entire page of strips.  You will only need 7 strips for each bow. So set your other strips aside becuase you can use them later for another bow!!!


Step 3: We are going to be making the bow loops for our bow.  You are going to add some glue to one end of your paper and loop it around to the middle inside of your paper strip, and then rotate and do the same to the other end.  You will do this to 6 of your strips.

First loop

Second loop

 Keep in mind that you are making a figure 8 shape with your loops.  You don't want to end up with something that looks like wings on a butterfly!! 


Step 4: We are going to make our center loop for our bow.  With your 7th strip of paper you're going to cut it down to 4 inches.  We're going to make a circle out of it by adding glue to one end and gluing the 2 ends together.

At the end of this step this is what you should have.

Step 5:  Now it's time to actually start layering and putting our bow together.  You are going to take one or your loops and use it as the bottom and take the next loop, add a bit of glue to the middle of the back of the loop and start layering adding your middle cirlce at the very end.

Isn't it pretty?!  I know that this seems like it's a long process but it only takes maybe 10 minutes from start to end and once you've made 1 you'll want to keep going.  I've made about 20 or so because they are so easy!!  All you'll need to stick them to your package is either 2 sided tape or you can just use the same glue stick and glue them in place.  I hope ya'll enjoyed my second ever tutorial!!!! 

Don't forget to pat yourself on the back because you just saved yourself a little money by making these cute little bows yourself!!! So until next time..........

Happy Crafting!!!