A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of my famous newspaper gift wrapping and bow on Instagram and a few of you wanted a tutorial, so here is it! Although this isn’t a Fashion Friday DIY, and it has nothing to do with health or fitness… I did use Fitness Magazine as my bow material and the Sports section of the Los Angeles Times for my Wrapping! Plus, I just love DIYs and it’s still something fun and easy to make! I cannot tell you how many times I was wrapping paper-less in college. It seemed like every week was someone’s birthday, and I needed a makeshift gift wrap that didn’t look like it was thrown in a Trader Joe’s grocery bag, although I have done some sweet wrapping with those bags! The possibilities of recycled gift bows and wrapping are endless from magazines, newspaper, maps, photos, and posters. Whatever you decide to use, you can make some gorgeous eco-friendly custom wrapping!
DIY Recycled Gift Bow
Makes 1 cute bow
1 magazine page
1 ruler
1 pen
1 pair of scissors
1 stapler
1 roll of tape
10 minutes
1. Select one magazine page for your bow. It can be random or based on color, pattern, etc.
2. Carefully remove your selected page from the magazine.
3. With a ruler and pen, measure and mark the magazine page into 9 strips that are 3/4 inch each. The last “leftover” strip will be a little wider than 3/4 inch, this is ok.
4. Cut each strip in a straight line.
5. Leave the first 3 strips full size. Remove 1 inch off of the top of the next 3 strips. Remove 2 inches off of the top of the next three strips. Cut the remaining strip so that it is 3 1/2 inches in height.
6. Take one strip (with the color you want to show on the outside) and loop one end to the center, at a diagonal so a “ribbon” shape is formed.
7. Loop the remaining end so that the strip resembles a figure eight and secure it with a staple.
8. Follow steps 6 and 7 with each of the strips and keep them in size order. Take the 3 1/2 inch single strip and form it into a loop and staple or tape the ends together.
9. Take the first set of same sized figure eights and arrange them into a flower shape and secure them together with a staple.
10. Follow step 9 with the next 2 sets of figure eights.
11. Place each flower on top of each other and secure with a rolled piece of tape; largest on the bottom and smallest on the top.
12. Finish your bow by filling the center in with the remaining loop. Secure the loop with a rolled piece of tape.
Optional: Wrap your gift in newspaper or matching magazine pages, enjoy!
Custom Cards: I love making cards out of Crossword Puzzles from newspaper and magazines. You can try to fill the spaces with a note to your gift recipient!