Tutorial: Quick and Pretty Junk Mail Gift Bow

It's that time! Yes, indeed. Time to get those gifts dressed up to the nines and pretty as petunias. Now, there's no need to go out and spend good money on fancy papers or frilly bows! Goodness no. People will be ripping this stuff to shreds. No, what you do is head on over to your friendly household recycling bin, grab some of that Christmas flavoured junk mail and follow me!

Let's do this thing. Time's a wastin'!

Tutorial: Quick and Pretty Junk Mail Bow

You will need:

• Christmas flavoured junkmail or any not-too-heavy weight paper from the recycling bin
• String
• Glue
• Pair of scissors
• Clothes pins or clips for clamping

1. Gather supplies.

2. Cut out 2 rectangular pieces of junk mail of the exact same size. Take one of these.

3. Fold in half lengthwise.

4. Fold up in quarters.

5. Fold up in eighths.

6. Make 2 cuts starting from the raw edge and diagonally toward the center fold.

7. Unfold the piece. It should look as mine does in #7.

8. Fold up like an accordion.

9. Pinch the accordion in the middle.

10. Fold in half.

11. Tie a piece of string around your accordion at the half-way point.

12. Fan out one edge of the accordion towards the other edge. This creates a half flower. Glue the two edges together. Use a clamp to hold it in place. Repeat steps 1 through 12 with the second piece of junk mail. These two halves glued together create the full flower.

13. Once you've glued both halves together, flatten the petals out between your fingers.

14. This way the petals will stay open.

15. Create a little coil of paper with a folded strip of junk mail.

16. Fasten the coil with glue to the center of your flower bow.

And you are done! Attach junk mail bow to the gift!

Quick. Pretty. And the price ain't bad either.

Here's a white poinsettia I made with telephone book pages. For the center, I balled up some little pieces and glued them to a tiny circle of paper. Once dry, I glued this circle to the flower (or leaves, for you poinsettia purists) center.

If you don't want your gift recipient to rip up your beautiful handiwork, attach a little piece of gold cord to the bow and tell them it doubles as a Christmas ornament! See, now you're thinking of all the angles.

Enjoy enjoy!

And please, have yourself a lovely day!