no-cost gift bow tutorial

once i saw how easy these bows are, i thought, "i am NEVER paying for a gift ow again! tutorial on the lovely blog How About Orange.

start by taking a magazine picture and cutting it into 9 strips of 3/4 inch width paper.

leave 3 full size, cut one an inch off of three of them, and two inches off of 2 of them. then 1 of them should be 3 1/2 inches long.

the next step is to make loops with the strips and staple the ends in the center. the one short piece just makes a little circle.

very important: make sure your loops are at an angle where there's more space in the middle. where the tips get more pointy. i made the mistake of not putting enough space in mine and they wouldn't fit together. had to take them apart and redo them. :(

next, put them together with glue dots. start with the bigger ones and the little circle piece goes in the center. BEAUTIFUL! 

you can use any kind of paper for this really. ive seen it done with old maps and i think that looks really cool. :D if anyone tries this project on their own, please show me! i would love to see. :]