Ok, show of hands: Who’s done with holiday gift-wrapping already?

I’ve really barely begun (excuse: that whole moving-adventure-thing that’s been occupying all my time), but I love wrapping presents, so I’m not too worried. Today I wanted to share with you my favorite part of wrapping presents: homemade gift bows. There are a lot of great tutorials for these on Instructables, including this one and this one, but I wasn’t able to find the one I’ve used previously, so I winged it a little this time.

You can make these bows out of craft paper or wrapping paper–or my favorite, from a page of a magazine. It’s unexpected and colorful, and, if you have old magazines laying around, it’s also free. Since we’re in the process of moving, I didn’t have much in the way of magazines, so I took a page from the only one I had on hand–a photography magazine I picked up in Ukraine five years ago. In retrospect, I should have picked something brighter–this bow turned out just a little gloomy.

All you need to make your own gift bows is a sheet of paper (the size of the paper determines the size of the bow, but 8″x11″ is fine), a pair of scissors, a stapler, a ruler, and some clear tape.

Cut the page into strips about 1″ wide. I was toying with the size and shape of the bow, so I cut extra strips–you will need four full-length strips, three 3/4-length strips, and one short strip, about 3″ long (you’ll be able to cut it down to the perfect size later).

Start by folding your longest strips into figure-8s. This is the most difficult step to explain, but once you see how it’s done, it’s super easy. Twist one end of the strip toward the center, letting it wrap around itself to make a little loop. Twist the other end in the opposite direction until the ends meet in the center. It should look like a figure-8 (see image below). Tape (or glue) the ends in place at the center of the strip, and then repeat with all four long strips and the three 3/4-length strips. Yours should look like this, except that I made two (unnecessary) short figure-8s which I later discarded:

Now take the four large pieces and stack them so that the centers line up and the ends point out, like the petals of a flower. Staple once to keep them in place. Repeat with the three shorter pieces. You should have two little flower shapes:

Place the smaller bow inside the bigger one, securing it with a circle of tape (or a dab of glue, if you prefer). Finally, take your short strip (the 3″ one) and curl it up into a circle. Tape or glue it into the center of the bow. Here’s where you can adjust the length of that strip to make the circle fit nice and snugly into the center.

That’s it! Your bow is complete! Try making more from old maps, newsprint, or whatever pretty paper you have laying around–and enjoy never needing to buy gift bows again.