A Recycled Holiday- Magazine Bows

I am not going to claim that I came up with this idea all by myself. I had the idea to make bows using scrap paper or magazine pages. So I googled it and sure enough I found this video. She uses a brad to hold the bow together. Since I didn't have any brads and did not want to buy any, I searched a little further and found this tutorial. She uses staples and glue dots. She also cuts the strips to different lengths. Here's another one that uses a brad. If you scroll down there is also another tutorial that shows a different type of bow.

In an effort to use as few materials as possible and keep it simple, I tried several different ways and this is what I came up with. I ended up using one staple and a little bit of double sticky tape. It is a little tricky so you can staple more if you like. If you are really good you may be able to get away with just one staple.

What you will need:
scissors
magazine or scrap paper
stapler
double sided tape

I put several sheets together so that I could make several bows. Cut the paper into strips.

I ended up with 9 strips per sheet.

Take one strip and make a loop at one end. It took me few tries to figure out which way to loop it, but it didn't take long to get the hang of it.

Loop the other side so that you have a figure eight shape.

Grab another strip and place it on the bottom.

Loop both sides. This is where it gets tricky. You have to make sure you are holding all the pieces together so that you don't lose a loop.

Do it again.

Make the loops.

My front was looking a little bare so I started adding strips to the front.

Make your loops.

Keeping adding loops until you are happy with it.

I think that looks pretty good.

Now staple it in the middle. Don't worry if it gets smooshed a little. You can fluff it back out.

Take one of your strips and cut it into 3 pieces. You will have two left over for the other bows you will make. Trust me you will make more than one.

Make a loop. I taped mine together leaving a bit of the tape exposed so that I could just stick it to the inside of the bow.

Stick that loop in the middle. Stand back and admire your handiwork.

So pretty.

Now you don't have an excuse to buy bows this year.