How to Make a Floral Bow Door Swag

 This tutorial first appeared on Bowdabrablog where I'm on the design team. The floral bow swag is quite unique in its' design and gives off such a warm, welcoming feel for summer! A beautiful floral bow design with pink wispy flower stems surrounding a gorgeous Bowdabra summer bow! And the best part, you wouldn't believe how easy it is to create using your Bowdabra!

Let’s get started by gathering the following materials:
Bowdabra
Bowdabra Wand
Bowdabra Bow Wire 
Wired 2.5" Ribbon (9ft)
Wispy Flower Stems
Floral Foam/Floral Wire/Pins
Hot glue
Decorative Butterfly Clip 

Then fold a 36″ piece of Bowdabra wire in half and lay in the Bowdabra, You’ll have a loop at one end and two loose pieces at the opposite end and tuck end under.

Let's begin making the swag by bending the stem ends of the wispy flowers left or right to spread the branches around the Bowdabra as you insert them.  Then place different lengths of flower stems down into the Bowdabra with shorter branches on top and sides, and larger stems hanging down towards the bottom.  

Next, crease the end of the wired ribbon and place down into the Bowdabra.

Make  a 5" loop on one side and place the ribbon down into the Bowdabra!

 Since the plaid design is on both sides, fold the other side at the same 5" width for the next loop, creasing the ribbon down into the Bowdabra.  

Continue to make loops on each side until you're satisfied with the look. I made a total of ten loops, five on each side. Then scrunch down the ribbon using the Bowdabra Wand.

Make a slip knot by taking the loose ends of the bow wire through the wire loop, pulling tight while gently pulling the bow out. Separate the wires around to the back, tying in a double knot.

 Next, pull the bow wire through floral foam using floral wire shaped into a "U." Make a loop for hanging and secure with a floral pin and seal with hot glue.

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!

Flower Bath Foam Scrubbies

Welcome to the June Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop hosted by Erlene @ My Pinterventures.  If you aren't familiar with the Pinterest Challenge, it's a monthly event that challenges us to not just be pin hoarders, but to make it happen! 

We all love participating in Pinterest Challenges! You just never know what you might find and inspire you on Pinterest! While searching for hostess gift ideas, imagine my surprise to see an Eva Sponge included in a Spa Gift Basket!  

For those of you who don't know what "eva" means in the crafting world - they're referring to those "foam sheets" you find in the kiddie section of craft stores! Yep, that's right, foam sheets! Oh boy was I excited!!! I've made lots of crafts using foam sheets so I knew right away I could easily make something like this! Heck, yeah! 




Materials Needed:
Foam Sheets - 12" x 18"
Template
White Twine
Scissors
Rubber Band (large,thin)
You will also need the ball point of a pen that doesn't work.

Instructions:
Begin by creating a template of petals. I drew a larger petal first and copied that five times next to each other and then drew a smaller one to copy five times, combining all the petals into a strip. The larger petal is 2 1/4" tall x 1 1/4" wide and the smaller one is half that width. You can copy and paste this to Word and adjust the size, if you want. But, you'll probably be able to draw a much neater looking template! Lol!

Next, use the ball point tip of a pen that no longer writes to outline the petals on the foam sheets. I used the entire length of the sheets (18") and outlined three rows to cut out. 

Once the rows of petals are cut out, it's time to make the hanging rope by braiding four strands of 15" white twine.

Here's how:

  

1.  Tape down the ends of four white twine strands 15" long to your work surface.

2. Take the strand on the far right and pass it over the strand next to it and group the two strands in the middle. 

3.  Then take the far left strand over the two strands next to it.

4. And, as in the beginning, continue on by taking the far right strand over the strand next to it (grouping the two strands in the middle)  Continue on!

5. Then take the far left strand over the two strands next to it and continue braiding following the same steps over and over .  .  .

until reaching the end.

And finally, tie the braided ends together in a loop, cutting off excess twine.

For the scrubbie, place the strips of foam petals on top of each other, staggering the pieces so that the longer length end is on the outside, then the next length and the shortest on top. *Don't follow the picture below. The hanging rope goes on top of the smaller petals. You want the smaller petals in the center of the scrubbie after rolling. I realized my mistake after I took the picture. Sorry I didn't take a corrected picture.

Begin rolling the foam sheets together starting with the smaller petals. Be sure to roll tight while keeping the edges straight. Notice how the strips are staggered near the end as you roll.

Once you've reached the end, hold tight while .  .  .

wrapping a large, thin rubber band around about a 1/4 inch away from the edge  

as many times as you can for tightness and to hold the foam in place.

Next, tie a strand of white twine as tight as you can over the rubber band, tying  in two or three knots to secure. Then cut off the rubber band. 

Also, cut off the excess twine close to the tied knots.

Push the outside petals down and out and it's done!

Easy peasy, right!

How cute is this for bath or shower! And great as a gift, too!

Now on to the Blog Hop!

LET’S MEET THIS MONTH’S Co-Hosts! 

My Pinterventures •  Cookies Coffee and Crafts 

Sew Crafty Crochet •  Sum of their Stories   

Eye Love Knots  •   This Autoimmune Life 

Love My Little Cottage  •   Across the Boulevard 

Suzerspace •  My Sweet Things   

Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After 

Purple Hues and Me  • Decorate and More with Tip

Mom Home Guide •  Our Unschooling Journey 

Our Good Life  •   Intelligent Domestications  

Craftify My Love   •  Life Beyond the Kitchen 

K's Olympic Nest •  Teadoddles 

Our Crafty Mom  •  My Family Thyme 

  Farm Girl Reformed

To join next month's #pinterestchallenge, click here to sign-up ⇒ July Pinterest Challenge

 Let's see what the other hosts have created ⇓⇓

An InLinkz Link-up

Dollar Store Craft Link Party Features

A big THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for our Dollar Store Crafts Link Party! There were so many wonderful projects, ideas, creations and inspirations shared!

Today the co-hosts are featuring their favorite posts from the party! And we hope you'll visit each one to check out all of their awesome features, too!

Across the Blvd | Purple Hues and Me

Coastal Bohemian | Sew Crafty Crochet

Intelligent Domestications | Cookies, Coffee, and Crafts

Can you imagine a milk bottle vase and a candle holder transformed into a lovely vintage looking cake stand! That's the charm of dollar store items and chalk paint as created by Michelle @Michelle James Designs! What a lovely and inexpensive way to display your delicious looking baked goods! Be sure to check out Michelle's tutorial!

Dollar Store Cake Stands

Morena @Morena's Corner shares how she used bird figures from the dollar store as decorative toppers to transform glass containers for gift giving or organizing items! How cool are these! The possibilities are unlimited as to what you can use these for! I know you'll want to stop by and see how they're made!

Recycled Decorative Jars 

Thanks again to everyone who linked up! We’ll be co-hosting a Summer Link Party in July and hope you’ll all join us for that!

Twine Altered Tuna Can

Welcome again to our Monthly Challenge Blog Hop! I've joined a group of creative bloggers to bring you a themed monthly challenge blog hop on the 2nd Monday of each month!

 For the month of June, it's my favorite Destash Challenge! And for this challenge we're to create a project using only items currently found in our craft stash! And that means making something with crafty supplies we already have or re-making an item we've been holding on to for a while. It's always fun and cost next to nothing to make things out of what we already have! 

Take cans for example! I save lots of cans of all sizes! You just never know when you might need a can for a project! Some time ago I saw a video in Russian that showed a can wrapped in twine, including a top, along with a few other items that were being made. I didn't have a clue as to what was being said and I couldn't find the original video, but I did take a screenshot of the piece when I first saw it for inspiration. 

I was inspired with how unusual the can looked especially with the top, so I thought I would try my hand at re-creating something similar with items from my stash!

So I gathered:

Tuna Can

Jute Twine

Baker's Twine

Aileene's Tacky Glue

Styrofoam Ball (1/2 of 4")

Magic Marker

Plastic Wrap

Parchment Paper

Hot Glue

Floral Stem Wire/Bead

Start by placing a line of tacky glue at the can's edge and begin wrapping jute twine around the can,

adding glue along the way while wrapping until reaching the end. Then, cut off excess twine.

To make the top, take half of a 4" styrofoam ball and place the round portion in the can, making sure it sits straight and level. Next, draw a line with a magic marker around ball where top of can meets. 

Next, wrap the styrofoam in plastic wrap, securing it at bottom and then add tacky glue following the drawn-on line. Place jute twine on glue and begin wrapping around styrofoam, 

adding tacky glue to twine as you wrap and keeping the rows straight and together until reaching top center. Cut off excess twine and .  .  .

let glue dry, becoming clear.

To make a decorative criss-cross look on top, separate the threads of baker's twine,

then slather tacky glue all over individual pieces to make the threads straight and firm. Let dry on parchment paper.

Begin the design by running a line of tacky glue across the top .  .  .

and placing the thread on top of the glue,  smoothing it down into the glue for a good connection. Next, continue spacing out lines of glue down on top and placing threads on glue making sure the threads are saturated into the glue until 

the top is covered. Next, add glue across the threads in a slanted pattern at the center top and continue placing the threads down in a cross-cross effect until the top is covered in a criss-cross design. Let dry.

Once dry, cut off excess threads around the base.  Then braid the baker's twine

to add to the bottom of the top and can.

Measure braided twine around the base and saturate the braid with tacky glue where it starts and ends so the braid won't unravel when cut. Let dry.  Glue on the braid at the base of top using hot glue and also on the base of the can.

Loosen plastic wrap from styrofoam and remove top.

Remove plastic wrap from inside the top and .  .  .

cut off stuck-on plastic around edges. 

To make a decorative top handle in the shape of a flower, twist 5 floral stem wires around a magic marker to make petals,

then glue all stems together, and cut off excess wires. Hot glue bead in the center of the petals and glue onto middle of top.

Isn't this adorable for keeping trinkets and what-knots in!

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This post also contains affiliate links.  I may receive a very small commission.  It does NOT result in additional charges to you or cost you anything extra.  The affiliate money I earn per month helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

Now on to our Blog Hop!

Check out my creative co-hosts to see their de-stash craft creations: 

Across the Blvd | Purple Hues and Me

Stone Cottage Adventures | This Autoimmune Life

Our Unschooling Journey | Sew Crafty Crochet | Cookies, Coffee, and Crafts

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter