A 'Colleen Bow' Tutorial

Last week I was featured for Whoo Hoo Wednesday on the  Inspired By Stamping blog but was only allowed to show you a sneak peek of my project here.  Now, I can share the whole thing with you!  

Hello there!  Today, I'm showing you "How To Make A Colleen Bow."  There's no great magic trick, but I'd love to share my technique with you anyway.  ;-)

First, get your card base ready.  I used two patterns from the Vintage Digital Paper pack.  Sigh!  Love them.

Seam binding is my favorite ribbon for making my 'special brand' of bow.  It's very flexible and soft and drapes well.  Cut enough ribbon to go around the front of your card and begin to tie a bow, then STOP.   Set it aside.

Cut another length of ribbon (I used approximately 8-10") and make a bow using the Bunny Ears method.  Make two loops.....

Action shot here!  Sorry for the blur.  The camera was set on a timer.  Fold one loop over the other, and pull through the resulting hole.

Tighten the loops and adjust each one until they are a length you like.  Now, take this bow over to your card and......

....lay it on top of the half-tied bow.  Hold the Bunny Ear bow in place until you can grab the ends from the half-tied bow.

Finish tying that first bow, right on top of the Bunny Ears bow.

The tails are pretty long at this point, and will need trimming.

The four tails are visible best in this photo below.  Trim each one as needed, and place a small dab of craft glue under the bow's center to adhere to card base.

Here's the finished bow, on a Christmas card.

Because the papers and colors are so non-traditional for Christmas, I added some snowflakes -- with pearls -- to make it feel more festive.  Snowflakes and roses?  Sure, why not!

For my sentiment panel:  on a piece of white cardstock, I stamped a frame from Festive Frames in kraft ink, then laid a Fancy Labels 2 die over top of it.  Pink Gingham Washi Tape helped hold my die in place while I ran it through my Big Shot.

The sentiment is also from Festive Frames.  I used shiny gold foil cardstock with the next largest die to create a panel behind it.  Love how that turned out!

And that's it!  Thanks for your visit!