Making Christmas decorations is a fun activity for creative people, children, or anyone. Try these simple homemade Christmas bows and festive card strings.
A lovely, old-fashioned way to make Christmas decor is with colorful bows and strings of Christmas cards. Bows can be used on a Christmas tree, doors, wreaths, and even furniture. Try these methods for making perfect Christmas bows and card strings.
Homemade Christmas Bows
Pull out the ribbon from the roll without cutting it. Cutting it before measuring it can result in an insufficient amount of ribbon to complete the bow. To measure how much ribbon needed for the bow, make two loops out of the ribbon as though to tie them together like shoelaces. Be sure to leave a length of ribbon hanging from the end.
Instead of tying the loops like shoelaces, simply cross them over each other, forming an X. Measure the length of the end of the ribbon up to the remaining roll on the other side and cut the ribbon. This will ensure that there is enough to complete the bow. The ends of the bow can be as long as desired, but measuring this way will make sure that there is enough to make a good bow without wasting ribbon.
Next, cut a piece of ribbon long enough to wrap around the middle of the two loops forming the bow. For wide ribbon, this may be three to four inches long. For thinner ribbons, this piece can be shorter.
Holding your fingers between the two loops, pinch the centre point where the two ribbon loops meet. With wider ribbons, consider also bunching the small piece that you cut for the middle before wrapping it around.
Hold the pinched centre point of the bow. Place a bit of hot glue at that point and wrap the small piece of ribbon around the two loops. Apply pressure to be sure that the ribbon sticks in place and be careful not to touch the hot glue itself as it can burn your fingers. If you chose to bunch up the middle piece, keep it bunched as you glue it. The bunching gives the bow a tied-up look.
Festive Christmas Card String
Christmas card strings are great for card collectors, are easy to make, and give a festive look to your home. The simplest way to make a string of cards is to cut a long piece of string or thin wrapping ribbon and tack both ends to a wall. For a stronger string or ribbon, be sure to knot both ends and push the tacks through the knots. Then simply hang your Christmas cards on the string.
You may wish to suspend your string between two walls across a room rather than against the wall. Or for a creative look, consider hot glueing several loops of strings along your card string and hanging one card in each loop. A card string like this one could be suspended against the wall, across the room, or by one end, from the ceiling.
Christmas bows and card strings add old-fashioned charm to Christmas decorating. Give your home a festive look with these simple homemade Christmas decorating ideas and Try vouchers on UseVoucher for your Christmas.