Make // Pleather Bows & Other Gift Wrap

PLEATHER... Great for decorating your presents AND your friends!

who knew??!!

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

Pleather Bow Tutorial

Adapted from a magazine bow tutorial from How About Orange.

For full details, visit the tutorial here

materials needed:

cheap metallic pleather-- found mine at Joanns

ruler

pen (I used metallic silver & gold oil-based sharpies)

scissors

hot glue gun & glue sticks

pin backing

instructions:

Step 1: MEASURE... 3 strips that measure 10.5-in x 2 cm; 3 strips that measure 9.5-in x 2 cm; 2 strips that measure 8.5-in x 2 cm; 1 strip that measures 3.5-in x 2 cm.

Step 2: CUT... cut out your strips.

tip: If you're making more than one bow, do all your measuring and cutting at the same time.

Good for the sanity!

Step 3: LOOP 1... Organize your strips by size. For all strips EXCEPT the smallest, Twist and Loop one side of the pleather strip until the loop comes to a point.

Step 4: LOOP 2... Twist and Loop the other side of the pleather strip in the Opposite direction until the loop comes to a point. Use your hot glue gun to secure both ends of the pleather strip in the middle. For the smallest strip, glue the strip into a circle.

Step 5: ARRANGE... Organize your 9 looped strips by size. Start with the largest 3 and lay them out, crisscrossing over each other. Then use the medium 3 and work your way to the smallest strip, which is the center of the bow.

Step 5: GLUE... I found it easiest to leave the bow intact, then glue each layer starting with the smallest strip (i.e. center) and work my way down to the largest strips. A small dollop of glue in the center of each strip does the trick.

Step 6: PIN... Since this took some time and effort, we want to encourage our friends to not throw out this lovely bow when they're done unwrapping the gift. So glue on a pin and "encourage" them to become a walking present. It's what friends do for friends.  :)  Would be cute as a barrette too. 

Oh, and if pleather is not your thing, this bow also works great with felt.  

More Pleather Gift Wrap...

irregular circles and stripes look pretty sharp on a solid background. 

I also cut out some pretty shapes to use as Pleather Gift Tags.
Sharpie pen + Pleather = Good (others smear).

You guys... this is just the tip of the iceberg. I better get back to wrapping!