Birthday Bow Holder Present

Continuing on my adventure into the DIY crafting world, I decided to make a bow holder. I have been busy making bows for my daughters and even created some as an inexpensive and unique birthday present for my daughter’s classmate. My newfound tolerance of crafting has turned into a new hobby and my very own blog about my adventures in the craft world. I got the idea to make bows, hairclips and a bow holder from a friend, Leah Mims, in Tucson, who has turned her hobby into a little business. She gave my daughters each a bow holder and bows at their Adoption Day party in April 2009. She has talent I can only aspire to.

My 1st crafts, A.D. (after dependents), were hair clips. I started by just covering hair clips with ribbon, getting used to using a hot glue gun, and attaching all the ribbon and non-slip grips. Another one of my friends, Amanda, is the one who told me about using the shelf liner as non-slip grips for hair clip. I use some purple shelf liner I found on clearance.

Still learning not 2 use so much glue.

Anywho, I thought I'd make the birthday girl a bow holder for all the hair clips I made for her. When I called to RSVP for the party, I found out from the birthday girl's Mom that her favorite color is purple. I chose a butterfly theme since most little girls like butterflies. Hence, why my current craft table cover has butterflies.

Supplies Needed:

• wood plaque
• wooden ‘smile’ - these would be fun as personalized name holders too!
• large butterfly for the corner and/or other embellishments of choice
• butterfly ribbon or ribbon complementary to your theme
• acrylic paint
• glitter paint - I found the purple one in the clearance section at Wal-Mart!
• Optional: staple gun
• Optional: I bought a purple brush and comb with holes on the end to hang from nails on the holder.

Did I mention that Michael’s has become my new favorite store?! I purchased most of the above supplies from there. It has become habit to always check the clearance aisle at Michael’s for frugal & fun finds. The dew drop stickers I used for the end of the nails were found there. They were marked 49 cents, but they rang up as 1 cent- Woo Hoo, gotta love a bargain!

How to make this Bow Holder:

1. Paint the whole wood base the color of your choice as well as on the edges. Ours is a lilac color. Let that dry thoroughly.
2. Paint the top with the purple glitter paint or another color of choice.
3. Repeat with as many coats of the glitter paint needed in order to get an even color.
4. Nail or hot glue the word on. We chose 'smile.' I did both because I wasn't sure how secure it would be with just glue.
5. Glued 2 pieces of 10 inches of the butterfly ribbon together, back to back, so that the pattern was on both sides.
6. With the ribbon, created a loop, like those 'awareness' ribbons and glued it to the back of the plaque.
7. Cut three more pieces of ribbon to hang from the back of the plaque, approx. 2 ft. in length. Glued them to the back of the board with the pattern facing out.
8. Optional: Once the glue for the ribbons on the back were dry, stapled the ribbons on the plaque. I wasn't going to let dried out glue ruin the holder months or years from now. 
9. Optional: Printed out a 2 X 4 label that said, "Handmade for you from Hey May 2012" with my daughter's picture. I adhered it to the back.
10. Optional: Measured equal distance from the ends and hammered two nails on the front of the plaque. Took dew drop stickers and adhered them to the nail heads.
11. Adhere any embellishments you would like to decorate the plaque with.
12. At the bottom of the 3 hanging ribbons I used the butterfly embellishments to weigh down the ends. 

There certainly should be plenty of room for bows! 

Additional Notes:

• The one thing I would have changed was how I nailed the ‘smile’ to the plaque. I wanted it secure, but should have used finishing nails. I also should have placed the nails where they wouldn’t be so obvious. Each time I make one of these I am sure I will get better at it.
• When I make hangers for bow holders in the future, I plan to use either a regular picture holder, two-sided ribbon, or solid colored ribbon; the ribbon I used only had print on one side. I ended up gluing two pieces together so the pattern would be on both sides. Since this wood was larger and heavier, I should have used a regular picture hanger. Next time around I will be better prepared!
• I don’t think I would use such a large heavy piece of wood for the base next time unless I was prepared to do wooden dowels for hooks and use a picture hanger. I wanted to put a wooden butterfly on the base, but due to the size and shape couldn’t find a reasonable priced base for it. I didn’t want to spend a fortune. I have some ideas for my next bow holder that I think I will like better.

It was quite the adventure and learning experience. I learned there is a Hobby Lobby store opening in our town soon and am so excited to see what journey that store may bring!