Today, I have a tutorial for you. I love pretty bows, but I am bow challenged. A Month or so ago, I got to thinking. My embellishments don’t need to be functional. They just need to be purty. We’re not securing a weeks worth of camp supplies to the top of the car, it’s a decoration for heaven’s sake. Yes, I know there are some people who can tie perfectly beautiful bows with little effort, the old fashioned way. They probably look good in a bikini and have their Christmas tree neatly packed away by Martin Luther King’s birthday, too. I like to tell myself that I must be a much happier person than they, with no bleeding ulcers to contend with. So……. I came up with a cheater bow. After some trial and error, this is how it works.
For this particular bow, you will need 3 pieces of ribbon just under 6 inches long and a tape runner like our Snail adhesive. In the very center of the first length of ribbon, run a very short strip of adhesive (about 1/4 of an inch). Too much tape will cause your bow to smoosh down where you might not want it to.
Fold half of the ribbon to the center and secure it over the adhesive. Add another bit of adhesive over the raw edge at the center and fold the other edge in.
Your first piece should look like this.
Add tape to the center of the second piece of ribbon.
Attach the folded piece to the second length of ribbon. Make sure the raw edges are to the center and the smooth side is showing. Flip this piece over and to the back of the longer section, add another bit of adhesive.
From the front of the shorter piece, fold the ribbon in the center and pinch as shown. The tape you just applied to the back will hold the fold for you.
Now take the third piece of ribbon and tie it loosely around the pinched area so that you have two tails hanging down. Tighten and arrange the tails until you have them looking the way you would like.
Perhaps, something like this. Trim the ends to your liking.
Now you can add adhesive to the back of the ribbon strip and attach it to your card stock.
Actually, this picture was taken from an earlier version, before my cheater bow was perfected. It is just laying over another strip of ribbon, but I like the way the one above looks like it was tied that way. I know, Bikini woman would have gotten the camera back out and taken a new, corrected photo, but that would have caused me too much stress. Bikini woman is at the doctor inquiring about a hives outbreak, so she couldn’t do it either.
I hope this takes some of the stress out of your stamping sessions that require a bow!
Happy Stampin’
