Condo Blues: Make Gift Bows from Magazines Without Staples or Tape

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Make Gift Bows from Magazines Without Staples or Tape

I had the Christmas crafting itch but no time to get involved in a huge project since I was leaving town for Thanksgiving.What’s a creative, crafty girl to do? 

As I was about to put a bunch of travel magazines that a friend had given me into the recycling bin I saw that I was out of gift bows in my gift wrapping supply box. 
I just found my quickie Christmas craft!

I recycled those old magazines to make Christmas gift bows from old magazines. You can also make Christmas gift bows from potato chip bags but I didn’t have any of those at the time.

I used How About Orange’s gift bow tutorial but instead of using glue, staples or tape like she did I used metal paper fasteners, which made the project a lot less messy.

How to Recycle Magazines into Gift Bows

You will need:

1 magazine page or clean empty chip bag
Pair of scissors or exacto knife (I think using the exacto is easier)
1 1-inch metal paper fastener
Ruler
Cutting mat (if you have it and are using the exacto knife)

Make it:

1. Cut three 3/4" wide by 10 ½” tall strips from the magazine or empty chip bag. 

2. Cut three 3/4" wide by 9 ½” tall strips.

3. Cut two 3/4" wide by 7 ½” tall strips.

4. Cut one 3/4" wide by 3 1/2” tall strip.  You should have nine strips total.


5. Twist each end of a 10 ½” tall strip into a figure 8.

6. Push the figure 8 strip onto the paper fastener. I found that making a small hole with a pair of scissors in the center of my figure 8 made it easier to pierce the figure 8 with the 1-inch fastener.


7. Twist the remaining 10 ½” tall strips into figure 8s and add them to the paper fastener.

8. Twist each of the 9 ½” tall strips into figure 8s and add them to the paper fastener.


9. Twist each of the 7½” tall strips into figure 8s and add them to the paper fastener.

10. Make a loop with the 3 1/2” tall strip and add it to the paper fastener.


11. Bend the ends of the paper fastener to hold the loops in place.

12.  Slap that bad boy on a gift and gaze in wonder!

WARNING: Magazine bow making can be addictive!

The first few bows I made were a little wonky. The more I made, the more store bought bow-like they became. You can adjust the overall size of the bow by using longer or shorter strips to make it.

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21 comments :

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage said...

This is great! I've never seen this recycle project before. You just opened up all kinds of possibilities for decorating Christmas packages this year.

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com

Jennifer said...

ooh, Lisa, these are amazing!! Now I know what to do with the stacks and stacks of my Cosmos and Vogues!

the cape on the corner said...

such a great idea! love it!

Judy @ In His Grip said...

These are so cute and great how-to as well. Thanks for stopping by "In His Grip". If you paint your wreath let me know and send pics too.

Robj98168 said...

No Crap This is addictive! I had to try it after reading your post. LOL

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Robj98168 - Ha ha! Got you hooked! :)

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

I absolutely love this idea. I actually like them better than store-bought bows.

Thanks for linking up to Dare to DIY. Really appreciate it.

Unknown said...

Wow, that's amazing! Thanks for sharing!

Jana said...

So creative! Love this idea!

Come link up at Giggles, Glitz & Glam!

http://gigglesglitzandglam.blogspot.com/2010/12/glam-party-5.html

Kristen Mintz said...

wow- I have so many magazines around the house- Thank you for this! My husband thanks you, too!

Ginger said...

How cool!? Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!

Nikki said...

Thats awesome! What a "green" project :)
Thanks so much for linking it up to gettin' crafty on hump day!

maggy, red ted art said...

These are simply too clever, I love them (and featured them on Get Crafty last week), such an awesome Recycled idea for Christmas!

Thank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty, great to see you there!

Maggy

Remodelaholic said...

This is totally amazing! And I have SO many old magazine to use up! I wanted to let you know I am featuring this party link on my Polly want a crafter blog today @ 12:30. HOpe you get some new readers! Thank you so much for linking up to the party!

Traci Best said...

Love it!!! They are so pretty!! :)

Unknown said...

I saw these on the orange blog too; you've done a great job, they look amazing

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Erica Louise - How About Orange came up with the idea to use magazines to make gift bows. I came up with the metal fastener idea on my because I'm low on staples and tape. I also thought my readers who like to go plastic free might like to read about how I made the bows without plastic tape.

AllieMakes! said...

That is AWESOME! I am impresssed! Thanks for sharing! Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

malia said...

Hello! LOVE this and am featuring you tomorrow at A Crafty Soiree
www.yesterdayontuesday.com
XO Malia

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage said...

Thanks for linking this terrific idea to my party. Hope to see you each week.

Please be sure to come by and enter my fantastic year-end giveaway. Click the picture in my sidebar for details.

Blessings and a very Merry Christmas!
Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

The Pilot's Wife said...

Those were really cool!

Stopping by from Marketing Monday!

Anna, The Pilot's Wife
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