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Bowdabra. All opinions are 100% mine.
I can't believe malls and stores are putting up Christmas decorations already. It does seem a bit early but I actually don't mind. I love the holiday season and all the holiday decorations just get me excited for the holiday festivities that are to come. When I see the holiday decorations at the stores I always am amazed at all the pretty bows that adorn the wreaths, Christmas Trees and presents. I have always wanted to have those big puffy bows for my wreaths and presents but never knew how to make them. This year I'm happy to say that my presents and Chirstmas decor are all going to be adorned with beautiful bows. I received a
Bowdabra and am amazed at how easy it is to make these bows.
I'm going to show you how to use these bows and a little bit of burlap to create simple elegant rustic looking wrapping. All you need is wired ribbon, bow wire, Bowdabra, burlap and craft paper.
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| Take 16 inches of bow wire folded in half and place in the horizontal slot of the Bowdabra. Next take your wire ribbon and place in vertical slot. |
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| There is a handy chart in the Bowdabra manual on how long to make each loop depending on the thickness of your ribbon. I find that making smaller loops helps in making prettier bows. |
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| Fold ribbon back and forth onto the center slot of the Bowdabra. Be sure to keep your loops even. This is very important to make a uniform bow. The manual also lets you know how many loops to create. For my 1.5 inch wire ribbon bow my loops are about 7 inches and I looped around 9 times. The more loops the better, so I added one to the recommended amount. |
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| When all the loops are done, loop through the bow wire like image above (I know this is different ribbon, I didn't have a focused picture of the other ribbon). |
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| Remove bow from Bowdabra and start to fluff. I start turning the ribbon right sides out here. In the instructions it tells you to turn it as you are placing it on the Bowdabra, but I find that turning the ribbon here works way better, |
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| Fluff the ribbon into a half sphere shape. I like to do three of four loops on the top, and then work the side ones in a circle. |
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| This is the view from the side of the ribbon. |
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| Use craft paper and wrap the gift, then cut a piece of burlap to place around the box. I then attached the bow wire around the burlap. The blue bow above was also made with the bowdabra. That one is a simple bow which works better with satin ribbon. The large poofy bows work better with wire ribbon (something that they don't tell you in the manual). |
Be sure to visit Bowdabra on
Facebook and
Twitter. Or to see some video tutorials visit their
YouTube channel. Bowdabras and accessories are available at most craft retailers, such as Jo-Ann
Fabric and Craft Stores, Michaels, AC Moore.
And now for the giveaway. One lucky reader will
win a Bowdabra prize pack of their own. Just enter through the Raffelcopter below.
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