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Monday, December 2, 2013

A Vintage Christmas ♥ Comfort & Joy # 4 ...

The books I use in my crafting are found at Garage Sales and more often than not, are free.
They have scribbled in and crayoned on with missing and torn pages and perfect
for using in crafts all year.
Instead of buying toss away bows at Christmas, I like to make paper & cardboard bows that can be easily removed from the top of the package and kept as a Christmas tree ornament.
To create a paper bow
you will need:
~ discarded book pages
~glue
~twine
~embellishments such as snow flakes & pine cones/acorns (optional)
~ Christmas tag
***
Tear out a few pages from discarded book.
 
I count every three lines in the book as my guide & cut across the page into strips.
 
Fold strips into a loop and add a tiny bit of glue to hold.
 
12 strips makes a nice size bow. 
 
Attach a small gift tag to the front & if you want to embellish your bow, attach pine cones and/or acorns to a strip of twine and small snowflake.
To create a
Paper cone bow
you will need:
~discarded book pages
~glue
~gift tag
~pine cones (optional)
***
Tear pages from discarded book.
 
Cut each page in half and roll each half into a cone shape. For an even smaller cone bow, fold each page into quarters and cut.
 
Attach a small amount of glue to tip of cone adding cones this way as you go.
 
Add small gift tag to top of cone bow.
 
Cut out words from your discarded book pages to create a sweet Christmas sentiment and glue to tag.
 
You can embellish the bow with small pine cones around the entire bow, or add a few to the side.
Discarded paper towel rolls also make beautiful bows.
 
To create a cardboard bow
you will need:
~paper towel roll (or roll from Christmas wrapping paper)
~twine
~pine cones
~embellishments (optional)
~Christmas tag
***
Snip across each roll to make a ring;
 
Bend ring gently and add a small amount of glue to bottom of ring to attach another ring.
 
Continue doing this to 6 rings (or more depending on the size bow you want).
 
Attach Christmas tag to front of rings.
 
Add a small amount of glue to pine cones and attach to twine.  Add this to your bow. 
 
~sweet & simple, nature inspired bows to grace your parcels~
xo D

9 comments:

Country Gal said...

All so very pretty and creative ! Thanks for sharing ! Have a good week !

Blondie's Journal said...

Thank you, Deb! These are all cute ideas, I really love the first one and it's neat that you are reusing old books. The second one looks great, too, but for the life of me I can't make a cone! lol! I need someone to show me properly in person.

I see that your Christmas preparations are underway! Joy to you!

XO,
Jane

Deb said...

thank you country gal ~ wishing you a wonderful week too ♥

Deb said...

thank you Jane ~ oh the cones are super easy ... I hold my left index finger about a 1/2" or so along the side of the paper and then with my right hand fold the paper over my index finger - catch the paper with the left middle finger and then begin to tightly roll. Hope you try this & let me know if it helps. If not, I'll try and show it on my blog xo

Jeanne said...

Beautiful my lovely friend.
You are always so very creative
Love Jeanne

Mereknits said...

Deb, you are so talented my friend.
Hugs,
Meredith

Deb said...

thank you Jeanne for your kindness xo

Deb said...

thank you Meredith ♥

Lynda said...

These are great ideas! Thanks for sharing, Deb! xo