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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Make a Beautiful Bow Ribbon Woven Basket

A decorated wire basket can easily add interest to any space in your home! If you love making decorative items using ribbon and bows, here's a delightful and easy way to make a beautiful bow ribbon woven basket using a metal basket from the Dollar Tree! 

This post first appeared on Bowdabra.com/blog where I'm on the Design Team!

The fun part about weaving ribbon throughout the wire basket is that you can use any color combination you desire! How cool is that!

So let's get started!

Materials:

• Wire Basket - Dollar Tree
• Ribbon - 3/8" wide - three colors
• Scissors
• Fabri-Tac Fabric Glue
• Mini Bowdabra, Measuring Tool, Wand
• Bowdabra Bow Wire

How To:

Take the end of one of the 3/8" ribbons and begin weaving it in and out around the first bottom row. 

Once you've reached where you began weaving, insert the ends into the inside of the basket, overlapping the ends. 

Cut off excess ribbon and add a bit of fabric glue to seal the ribbon ends.

Continue with another color of ribbon for the next row, weaving it in and out .  .  .

until reaching where you began, cutting off excess ribbon and gluing in place inside the basket.

Continue weaving different color ribbon - inside and out until

the entire basket is woven with colorful ribbon.

To Make the Bow:

 Insert an 18″ length of bow wire folded in half into the Mini Bowdabra, tucking ends under. Take the ends of the three different color 3/8" ribbons  creasing the ends of the ribbon and placing into the Mini Bowdabra.

             

Fold the ribbons into loops at the 2" mark and press into the Mini Bowdabra. 

Next, fold the other side at the same 2" loop. Continue folding the group ribbons into two inch loops for a total of . . .

six groups of three loops or 18 single loops.

Scrunch down the loops with the Mini Bowdabra Wand.  

While the bow is still in the Mini Bowdabra, thread the two loose ends of the bow wire through the loop at the other end pulling tightly, tie in a knot and gently pull bow out.

Tie the bow onto the top of the basket with the Bowdabra bow wire fluffing loops and cutting off excess bow wire.

Stand back and admire your beautiful bow ribbon woven basket!

Perfect for any occasion!

DIY Mesh Tube Bows Centerpiece or Wreath for Fall or Halloween

Have I got a cool centerpiece or wreath to make for Halloween or Fall using bows made out of colorful mesh tubes! And the best part, you can easily change the colors of the mesh and types of centers for any holiday or season! Wow your family and friends with this adorable craft!

 

This post first appeared on Bowdabra.com where I'm on the design team.

Supplies:
Mesh Tubes - 4Pkgs. (dollar store)
Craft Foam Wreath - 10"
Hot Glue/Scissors
Mini Bowdabra/Measuring Tool/Wand

How To:
Let's begin by wrapping a craft foam wreath with mesh tubes. Use hot glue to attach to attach to the foam at the beginning and at the end.

This looks cool already!

To Make the Mesh Tube Bows:

Insert an 8" strip of mesh tube into the Mini Bowdabra. Straighten the mesh tubes and gather the ends of four assorted colors, inserting them down into the Mini Bowdabra.

Then fold the tubes together into loops at the 3" mark on the measuring tool,  inserting all into the slot in the Mini Bowdabra.

Continue folding the tubes into loops on each side until satisfied with the fullness of the bow. Use the Bowdabra Wand to scrunch down and hold the mesh tubes in place.

While the wand is holding down the tubes, cut off the excess tubes using scissors.

Then use the 8" strip of mesh tube to tie a couple of knots to tighten and hold the bow together.

Apply a dab of hot glue to the tube wrapped wreath and hold the bow in place until the glue sets. It will take a couple of minutes for the glue to firm up and secure the mesh bow.

Continue making more mesh tube bows to cover the wreath, gluing them on and around the mesh tube wrapped wreath. 

Don't you just love how adorable this looks!

Have fun decorating the wreath .  .  .

or centerpiece for Halloween! The cool thing about this centerpiece or wreath is that you can easily change the colors of the mesh and types of centers for any holiday or season! Making this creation very versatile!

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!