Do-It-Yourself: Make a gift bow from a magazine page

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by Crystal on December 3, 2010

Did you know you can skip buying bows and instead use magazines pages (or any paper of your choice) to make your own gift bows?

If you’d like a different look, Oh Amanda gives a tutorial for using wrapping paper to make a bow.

Do you have a fun and frugal Christmas DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

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{ 23 comments }

Shirley December 3, 2010 at 12:47 pm

What a great idea. I was just getting ready to take a stack of magazines to the library. What a great way to reuse!

Maria December 3, 2010 at 12:58 pm

It wont open the page for the magazine bows, all i can see is the one at Oh Amanda about the wraping paper bow, please help.

Crystal December 3, 2010 at 1:07 pm

It should work now, my apologies on the error!

Shannon Runnels December 3, 2010 at 12:58 pm

Your first link in this post needs fixing, as it doesn’t work. Thanks!

Crystal December 3, 2010 at 1:07 pm

Fixed, sorry about that!

Emily December 3, 2010 at 1:01 pm

First link just goes back to origional post…this is a great idea!!!!

Danette December 3, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Jenna December 3, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Sharon December 3, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Crystal December 3, 2010 at 1:21 pm

The link in that post doesn’t work anymore, unfortunately. :(

Allyson December 3, 2010 at 2:10 pm

@Crystal, It’s working for me.

Claudia Matei December 3, 2010 at 1:10 pm

What great way to reuse my magazines! Thanks!!

Kimberly December 3, 2010 at 1:25 pm

I made these last year and was really happy with the way they turned out. Very simple and therapeutic:) Unfortunately, my two little ones very nearly ripped the bows to shreds, so make sure you delay putting them on as long as possible. Also, they flatten easily, so if you’re traveling, use caution.

Allyson December 3, 2010 at 2:11 pm

Here’s the direct link to the homemade gift bow Crystal posted about last year.
http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/2008/12/handmade-gift-bow-tutorial.html

Enjoy!

Crystal December 3, 2010 at 2:32 pm

Argh! Last night I went to dig up the old link and it wasn’t working on ehow for me (I wonder if their site was down or something?). So I spent 20 minutes looking for another similar link and finally found the one I posted today. And duh, now today, the link is working just fine.

Angie December 3, 2010 at 3:50 pm

Great tutorial. I think I’m going to try making it out of fabric scraps.

oh amanda December 3, 2010 at 4:38 pm

Thanks for linking to my giftwrap bow tutorial, Crystal! :) I love the magazine one, too! I’ll have to try it this year!

Crystal December 3, 2010 at 6:09 pm

Thanks for sharing!

Peggy December 3, 2010 at 5:08 pm

My daughter made several of these last Christmas – they turned out very well – nice and colorful:)

Amanda December 3, 2010 at 6:05 pm

Thank you so much for this project… I always make other bows by hand out of ribbon but this was a very fun project for me and my niece who is 4 she wanted to use her baby stapler for something… I think I will have her wrap all my presents now!

Susan December 3, 2010 at 6:22 pm

Love it!! I was just thinking today about how much I hate plastic bows, financially and environmentally, lol.

nicole December 3, 2010 at 7:39 pm

I made a few of these last year. There was a learning curve on getting them to come out looking nice and my husband got very irritated with how much time I spent. Just a heads up that you might not want to count on this for all your bows!

Dana December 4, 2010 at 10:02 am

I made these last year and am making them again this year! They are so unique, and people love them! I find that full page pictures or covers work the best, with turning some of the strips over to show the text on the opposite side. Since I didn’t have brads, I used twist ties (from bread bags, etc.), and they still turned out wonderful! It only takes me a few hours all told to make all the bows I need (I grab spare moments here and there to make them).

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