DIY Outside Inside Door Swag

 

Have you seen the latest fad in decorating your front door for Christmas? It's an outside inside door swag! An adorable double sided door swag that provides a festive look for both the outside and inside of a home! 

Imagine two identical bow swags joined by a length of gorgeous ribbon that drapes beautifully over the top of your door! One side that greets your guest while the other side says goodbye! A balanced swag bow design that looks identical from both the front and back of the door ensuring a uniform, decorative bow arrangement for anyone entering or leaving the home. Sounds cool doesn't it?

Materials:

• 5" wide velvet wired ribbon - 50yd roll
• White pine sprays, berry & pinecone picks, gold frosted berries picks, berry & pinecone sprays
• Hot glue gun/glue sticks
• Bowdabra/wand
• Bowdabra bow wire

 This project was originally published on the Bowdabra.com site, where I am on the Design Team!

How To:

Begin by cutting a 72" length of velvet wire ribbon. Fold the ribbon evenly and loosely lay the ribbon on worksurface. 

Glue on the white pine sprays 6 inches from bottom of ribbon on both ends.

Then begin gluing on picks - first, gold frosted berries & pinecone picks .  .  .

then red berries picks .  .  .

one on each side.

Make sure the arrangements look the same on each ribbon tail.

Time to make the Bowdabra Bows!  

Cut an 18″ piece of Bowdabra wire, fold together and place in the Bowdabra, tucking the ends under. Then cut a 28" piece of 5" wide ribbon, creasing the center and placing it down into the Bowdabra for the bow tails

                                                      

Next, leave the ribbon on the roll and crease about an inch from the end of the ribbon and insert down into the Bowdabra. 

                             
Since the velvet is on one side of this ribbon, fold a 7” loop, creasing, and twisting the center of ribbon down into the Bowdabra.     

Fold and twist ribbon to make a matching loop on the opposite side, down into the Bowdabra. Hold loops up along the Bowdabra tower to make sure the loops are equal in size.

Then make one additional 7” loop on either side for a total of four loops.

Use the Bowdabra Wand to scrunch all the loops down. 

To finish the bow, make a button loop to cover the bow wire, cutting off excess ribbon.

 While the bow is still in the Bowdabra, thread the loose ends of the bow wire through the loop and pull tight while gently pulling the bow out.

Take the bow wire around to the back, tying the wire in two or three tight knots - cutting off excess bow wire.

Dovetail the ends of the ribbon by folding the ribbon together and cutting at an angle from the corner tip up to the fold. 

Add hot glue to the center back of the bows and .  .  .

attach the bows at the bottom of the picks. An after design thought to the ribbon ends was to add white pine sprays to cover the ribbon in between the bow tails.

How gorgeous is this!

On both sides of the door.

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Handcrafted Christmas Ornamental Flower DIY

                  

 Handcrafted Christmas ornamental flowers are an easy way to add a warm personal touch to your holiday tree. But not just on your tree! They can be displayed as a table centerpiece grouped together or flaunted anywhere in your home for the holidays! A gorgeous, festive addition to any holiday decor! And the cool part is that there's something undeniably special about making your very own Christmas ornamental flowers! Making some is the perfect way to celebrate the season with creativity and a special touch!

Hello and Welcome to this month's Creative Craft Hop co-hosted by Sara @Birdz of a Feather  and Donna @Modern on  Monticello  who take turns every other month! The lovely and creative Sara is our host for this month!

If you're coming over from Cecilia @ My Thrift Store Addiction, wasn't her crochet Christmas wreath gorgeous! I've always admired anyone who crochets! Go Cecilia!

Supplies:

• 6" wide Purple Glitter Mesh Wired Christmas Ribbon
• Super Fabri-Tac Glue
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Parchment paper
• Wire
• Iridescent Beads

Disclosure: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! Plus Google Adsense provides a platform for me to monetize my content by hosting ads from Google's network of advertisers. The money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

I've made a few Christmas ornamental flowers throughout the years. And for all of them, I've used some sort of decorative trims on the edges - chenille, glitter, rhinestone, and different types of rope to glue around the flower images. But not this time. I'm going to show you how to make a handcrafted Christmas flower using just wired ribbon (purple, of course) and glue! But you can use any color of wired ribbon you like! Sounds interesting doesn't it, so let's get started!

How To:

Since we are using glue and a mesh type ribbon, lay parchment paper on your work surface first. It's a great way to prevent sticking and works as a protective work surface, too! Then cut four 12" long pieces of 6" wide ribbon. Let's start with the first cut piece.

Since the ribbon is six inches wide, cut half of the width (3") plus a little bit longer (1/4") along the side wires (right, left sides)

Bend the cut edges up .  .  .

and apply the glue along the bottom of the cut edges.

Press the glued edges down on the ribbon making a finished edge - either a V shape or round shape, your choice. Use a piece of parchment paper to secure the cut edges down. Let glue dry.

Repeat the above process for the other three pieces. Once the glued edges are dry, cut off excess ribbon for a finish edge on both ends.

Next, line up all four ribbons together on work surface .  .  .

and begin gathering each one in the middle .  .  .

Once you're finished gathering the first one .  .  .

use your fingers to gather the next one and .  .  .

the next until .  .  .

all four are gathered together.

Then place a piece of wire around the middle and .  .  .

twist the wire ends around as tightly as you can to hold the petals together.

Then adjust, shape, and fluff the petals into a flower. You can twist on more wire to make a stem or leave as is depending on your decor needs.

Add glue to the center and .  .  .

begin placing the beads down, one at a time .  .  .

adding more glue, if needed, until .  .  .

all beads are .  .  .

glued on!

 How gorgeous is this!

Thanks for joining us at our Creative Craft Hop! Up next is Donna, one of our awesome co-host, sharing her cool mixed ornament shapes stringer hack! And be sure to check out all of our super talented bloggers and their amazing creations:

How to Crochet an Evergreen Christmas Wreath

Handcrafted Christmas Ornamental Flower DIY

Mixed Ornament Shapes Stringer Hack for Clusters

Soda Tab Necklace

Red and White Decoupage Christmas Ornaments Tutorial 

Upcycled Christmas Tree Pillow

DIY Ruffled Ribbon and Bow Lighted Cone Tree

 Christmas time can be quite overwhelming - and one way to help overcome this is to start early with an adorable easy to make  ruffled ribbon and bow lighted cone tree!  Here's a simple, creative craft idea to get you started that looks impressive but uses only a few items and little time to make!

 

I originally published this project on the Bowdabra.com site, where I am on the Design Team!

Supplies Needed:

• Clear Plastic Cone Tree - 15"
• Wired Ribbon - 2.5" wide
• Measuring tape, straight pins/hot glue/scissors
• Remote Control Base Light - 4"
• Mini Bowdabra/Wand
• Bowdabra Bow Wire

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! Plus Google Adsense provides a platform for me to monetize my content by hosting ads from Google's network of advertisers. The money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How To:

I'm starting with a 15" clear plastic cone tree that I had in my stash. Before the craft store ACMoore went out of business, I picked up several plastic cone trees for fifty cents apiece. They were in the doll section and was suppose to be a doll's body but I haven't a clue how. I love using the clear plastic cones since you can add a light at the bottom to add color lighting which I think is so cool!

To Make the Ruffle Ribbon: 

For the first row, cut off approximately 54 inches of wired ribbon. You want the ruffle to be very curvy so don't skimp on the amount of ribbon used. Since the ribbon's design is on one side, make sure the pattern is upright and not upside down. Then gently pull out a little bit of wire from the top side of one end of ribbon and then the other end. Secure one side by crimping the wire around and together a few times. Do this so, while you're pulling out the wire to gather the ribbon, wire on one side will not disappear into the fabric which will make it almost impossible to gather the fabric on that end. 

 Continue pulling the wire out, gathering into ruffles. Then measure the ruffle around the base of the plastic cone to fit, adjusting ruffles and pinning the ribbon fabric in place. Wrap excess wire into a tiny pile, squeezing together. Then glue ruffle in place with a dab of glue

 Place ruffle on plastic cone for the first layer.

Continue making additional ruffle layers, gathering the ribbon by pulling the wire out .  .  .

adding ruffle ribbon layers, to cover the cone.

 Be sure to continue to cut the ribbon in long lengths despite the narrowing of the tree to get the curvy effect of ruffles for each layer. I used at least 24 inches of ribbon for each of the last few layers.

Twelve ruffled layers in total. 

To Make the Mini Bowdabra Bow Top: 

Cut an 18" piece of Bowdabra bow wire, and fold it in half. Lay the folded bow wire in the Mini Bowdabra, tucking loop and ends under. Pinch one end of a 26" strip of ribbon, and place faced down into the Mini Bowdabra.

 

Then take the other ribbon end up and over the Mini Bowdabra tower, creating a large loop across and squeezing the ribbon down into the slot, smoothing out. 

 

Pinch the center of the ribbon and inserting down into the Mini Bowdabra, creating three inch loops on each side.

 Continue taking the ribbon over the tower and down into the Mini Bowdabra to create loops since the design on the ribbon is on one side and upright.

 

Scrunch down the loops with the Mini Bowdabra wand as you continue to make more loops .  .  .

 for a total of eight loops - four on each side.

 

While the bow is still in the Mini Bowdabra, thread the two loose ends of the bow wire through the loop, pulling tightly while gently pulling the bow out. Tie bow wire around to the back and cut off excess wire.

Attach the Mini Bowdabra bow to the top of the tree using a dab of hot glue.

 Have fun using the colorful remote control lighting placed in the base to create special holiday lighting moods .  .  .

and of course I had to show it in purple, too! 

Great for decorating your home for holidays!

                      

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!