The Perfect Bow

My mother-in-law told me that I made beautiful bows.  I think I learned the art of a perfect bow while living in the South for a couple a years.   It wasn't officially Christmas until every mailbox in our neighborhood was adorned with it's own velvet bow.  I got roped into the neighborhood bow making committee one year.  We all met down at the pool house and spent a fun evening talking and making velvet bows.  After about ten or so bows, I was convinced I could make them in my sleep.

Bows are easy and no fancy guides or tools are needed.  I used an entire three yard spool of ribbon for each of my sleigh bell arrangement bows.  Have a length of floral wire handy.

First, fold then edges in so they don't show.

 Next, form that center loop covering up the raw edges that were folded in.

Twist the ribbon 180 degrees at the back-side of the center loop before making the next loop.  These twists make the individual loops easier to fluff and direct.  Plus, if the ribbon has a right and a wrong side, this ensures the right side will always be to the outside of the loop.

Continue this process of twisting the ribbon 180 degrees on the back side of the center loop before making the next loop as shown in the photos.  (Please pardon the bright orange sweatshirt, it's cold in the workshop today.)

When there is an equal amount of odd number loops on each side... that sounded like a bad, math story problem...  Let me try that again... when several loops on each side of the bow have been formed, secure the bow with the length of floral wire.  For this bow, there are 5 loops on each side.  See, odd number of loops but an equal amount.  I'm really not sure how it is that odd just seems to be better.  It tends to look prettier.

 To cover up the floral wire, I bring the length of extra ribbon through the center loop.

But great, it's still a lopsided bow because it only has one tail.  Bring up the end of the tail to the back of the loop and secure alone with the bit of ribbon that was just brought through the center of the loop.  This can be done with a twist of the floral wire.  I will even put a full knot in my floral wire at this point because I don't want it to come loose.  Now you have a pretty bow with one giant loop. 

Find the exact opposite end of the loop from the bow and cut diagonally as shown and like magic... TWO tails now.

 It would be magic if my picture were better.  Trust me, both tails are there.

This is what the finished bow looks like.  Right sides out and easy to fluff.  Oh, and visually pleasing because each side has an odd number of loops.  This is wired ribbon so the final curl is fairly easy and stays.  I simply rolled the ribbon back up from the bottom of the tail and then let it fall.  Easy!

The Last of the Sleigh Bells

I promise, this is the last of my sleigh bell harnesses. I purchased the brown sleigh bells last year after Christmas.  I knew they'd be perfect for a hanging Christmas arrangement.  Everything for this project came out of my stash of Post-Christmas-Clearance shopping from numerous prior years.

The poinsettia and the holly leaves were part of a larger bush I cut apart.  The pine cone with the bit of evergreen and berries was part of a larger swag.  Yup, I cut that puppy apart too.  The rustic snowmen were in a box with metal snowflakes that didn't even match.  The snowflakes have clips on the back and these snowmen have a metal loop. 

I think they were designed to go on Christmas lights.  Who knows how they ended up in the box of snowflakes?  In to my shopping cart it went.  I think they've been stashed here for about three years waiting for the perfect project.


The base is made from a three foot section of garland. Form a loop and connect the ends to each other.

Stretch it out flat as shown in the photograph of the base. Since the harness will go down the center of the arrangement, all of the little evergreen branches should be bent to go towards the outside except for a few which get tied into the inside. This maintains the shape of the base and gives the sleigh bell harness something to rest on.

Place the largest item, which in this case is the pine cone grouping from the other style of swag I cut apart.

Floral wire works out great to hold it in place.

 The flowers are next. Secure with wire as well.

And the holly berries with leaves. More wire.

Work the various items up around the harness for a nice effect.

 The snowman accent really can go anywhere.  For this arrangement, he sits at the top.


 All that's left is to add a bow and hang it up. Or make up several more as gifts.

These were fun to make up and really cleared out my stash.  I guess that means I need to hit the clearance bins next week.

Yes, Another Sleigh Bell Harness

Today's craft includes a second sparkly gold sleigh bell harness I purchased at JoAnn's, a few findings from my stash, and more of my mother-in-law's decorating items.  (JoAnn Fabric & Crafts is one of my favorite places to shop.)

I put together this particular flower arrangement several years back with the intent that it would be attached to the front cover of a scrapbook I wanted to put together for my in-laws. I had hoped that the album would become sort of a coffee table book to be enjoyed by all. Well it turns out I'm horrible scrapbooker, especially when it comes to paper scrapping. It also took several more years to get the information needed to tell the story of each picture. Maybe one of these days I will finally get around to telling their story in digital form.  So this floral arrangement was really without a true purpose.  So sad.

So the first thing I'd did was take it apart.

There's a lot of good stuff there but not all of it is right for this particular craft.

First, I needed to make up a base. A few years back I got a heck of a deal on some Christmas tree garland. I think these were sold in 9 or 10 foot lengths. Each length of Garland can make three bases for these sleigh bell arrangements. Using wire cutters I cut each Garland into three somewhat equal lengths. This is crafting so we don't have to be precise.  Only one section is needed per arrangement.  The rest will be used for more sleigh bell arrangements.

With the (approximately) 3 foot section of garland, I formed a loop and connected the ends to each other. I stretched it out flat as shown in the photograph of the base. Since the harness will go down the center of the arrangement, all of the little evergreen branches should be bent to go towards the outside. However a few need to be bent towards the inside forming a ladder effect as shown in the base picture.  This maintains the shape of the base and gives the sleigh bell harness something to rest on.

Here's the rest of the materials I used for this arrangement. Notice in the picture that I've already placed the sleigh bell as well as a few gold sparkly twigs with berries that were in my stash of goodies. I'm certain those came from my mother-in-law as well.

The gold pick containing a nice assortment of sparkly stars, gold lame leaves, gold painted sticks and  festive balls was probably in the bottom of a clearance bin at JoAnn's after Christmas one year. Yes I am a faithful clearance bin shopper. Unfortunately I only had one of these picks so I took it apart.

I knew it would look good at the top of the sleigh bell harness. Matching pairs of wired items, I went about re-creating this pack to better suit my needs.

When all that remained were unmatched single items, I simply worked them in to where they look nice.

The wire stems make this super easy to twist together for this project.

Using floral wire, I attached my new gold sparkly "double-pick" as well as the harness to the top of my base. This is the only place I attached the harness to my base. I utilize the loop of the harness where the ring is attached mostly because I only have green florist wire and it would look really tacky if it showed.

The next step is placing the various items on the arrangement. I started with the bigger items. These pine cones were easy to secure because they came with their own wire already.  I like pre-wired items.

The cream flowers went on next. That soft cream color looks lovely next to the gold of the harness and the brown of the pine cones.

This soft cream color was working so well I decided to slip in those smaller flowers which were saved from the original arrangement.  The stems of these flowers have no wire in them at all making them difficult to arrange in just the right spot. Without wire, the flowers tended to bunch together thus creating a larger visual effect than desired. 

Wrapping wire around the individual stems allows for more flexibility in the arrangement.

I did this with the leaves that came off of the original arrangement as well. The gold tone of these leaves is a pleasing subtle accent in this arrangement. (To achieve this look on leaves take gold metallic spray paint, spray it directly to a paper towel, and work it into just the bristle tips of a dry brush. Give the leaves a couple of soft and quick swipes with the brush.)

Here's a close-up of a single group of the small flowers attached  using florist wire. Of course after this picture is taken I went back and added wire to each of those stems so I could spread the flowers out.

Here's the finished arrangement on the wall. I utilized the loops of ribbon from the original arrangement as well, even fashioning a bowl out of three of them to give this arrangement a final bit of dressy flair. One of the nice things about this style of arrangement is that it can be attached to existing wall art. In this case the arrangement is attached to all wrought iron cross that was purchased from Hobby Lobby and permanently adorns in my great room.  I'm a huge fan of not having to undo a room just to decorate it for Christmas.

The unused dusty pink rose as well as the three sparkly gold tone pairs wait their turn in the bin of wonderful treasures.  Back on the shelf it goes until the next wave of inspiration hits.

There are more sleigh bells to come so watch for yet another sleigh bell post.

Recycled Christmas Decorations- Sleigh Bells

I am all for recycling and reusing. Two years ago, my stash of craft crap swelled to include many holiday decorations  which once belonged to my in-laws.  After my father-in-law's passing, my husband and two of his siblings had the daunting task of cleaning out a condo. The spouses helped and thankfully the job was completed in only a couple of weeks. That is how I came to own a bunch of bows, silk flowers, various evergreens, Christmas lights, and plenty of craft crap to keep my creativity buzzing for a long time.

Some days it seems as though my mother-in-law is visiting. She like to decorate and she loved bows and flowers. So when I find myself with the sudden urge to create a floral arrangement, I know my mother-in-law is visiting for the day.

For this arrangement, in addition to the gold sleigh bells that I purchased this year,  I gathered up three pieces of plastic spruce or whatever it is. It looks quite real but I can't remember what she used to use it for. I also grabbed some of her poinsettias and holly leaves as well as a giant ribbon bow. I remember making this bow for her for the top of small tree that was set up in her bedroom just before she passed away. We all knew she wouldn't make it to Christmas that year so without letting her know, we moved Christmas up about three weeks. Oh how she loved Christmas and what a treat it was to give her one final Christmas.

I started this project by arranging the three evergreen pieces like this. This will form the base of this arrangement.

I secured them together with floral wire.

Then I laid the sleigh bell harness on top .

I attached the belt from the sleigh bell harness to the stems of the evergreens with floral wire. The picture below shows the back side of the arrangement.

Next, I start to place the holly leaves...

and the flowers...

I use more floral wire to secure their stems to the arrangement.

There's no set way to arrange the various flowers and leaves, just move them around until they look good.

Once the flowers and greens are  secured into place it's time for the ribbon.

This particular ribbon had its own gold wire already to go. I just had to twist it into place.

Now there are times when I get to the end of a project and I notice that it's not quite right.

As perfectly matched as that cream and gold bow may be to the sleigh bell harness, It is simply way too big for the arrangement. That's okay. We'll just put it back with the supplies and find a use for it later.

I think part of the problem with that bow was that the ribbon was too wide. Fortunately there is never a shortage of ribbon in my craft zone. I found this printed sheer gold and new it would be perfect.

a brand-new bow and we had a new Christmas decoration.

I can almost hear my mother-in-law say, "that's beautiful."

Oh, I should add this arrangement is attached to an old wood crate that's tipped up on its side. I love to decorate my house with odds and ends such as this crate.  It's absolutely perfect as a lamp stand tucked into a corner next to a chair.