bow Archives - the portuguese american mom

My 3-year-old son is heading to preschool today! Maybe if I say that a few more dozen times it will sink in… but, probably not! I can’t believe my baby is going to school. Sure the call it PRE school, but I am putting a back pack full of pencils and crayons on his back and dropping him off at the same school where I spent 6 years of my life being educated. It’s school. Wow, yep, it’s not going to sink in.

On Tuesday, we went in with him to his orientation. We sat in tiny little chairs and listened as the teachers told us about the rules, the do’s and don’t’s, the schedule and some of what our child will be learning on a day-to-day basis. Lucas will be a new student and his teacher was just hired and will be new to the school as well! So, we thought we ought to bring her a little welcome gift to brighten up her new classroom a bit. Nothing too crazy, just a pretty bunch of sunflowers tied up in some tissue paper and ribbon and as a special little accent, we made her a Pencil Bow Clip to finish it off… She can obviously use it as a hair bow should she choose, but it can also be used for a number of other teachery things too!

I thought it came out so cute that I decided to make a couple for my daughter as well… Let me show you how I did it!

Here are my materials: yellow sparkly ribbon, tan ribbon and black ribbon, a clip, some frey check, a glue gun and some scissors.

Start by measuring your clip and how much ribbon you will need for your clip to cover it fully… My clip is just about 2″ long… so I need 7 1/2″ of ribbon to cover the clip inside and out.

Then, before you cut your next piece of ribbon, tie a bow with it and figure just how much you will need allowing for cutting off the ends with the additional ribbon added on later.

Turns out, I needed 12″ of ribbon for mine.

to make the bow, you will want to tie it ‘bunny ears’ style like so.

To make your pencil tip, you will want your tan ribbon and your black ribbon fused together using glue. Be sure to make the edges are a bit jagged… this will help with the effect of the pencil being sharpened.

Glue the black and tan pieces onto the yellow tip of one side of your ribbon like so.

Now cut the tip into the point of a pencil.

Here is what you are left with… the edges will still tend to fray if you don’t use some Fray Check, even with the glue.

Apply Fray Check to the edges or any cut ribbon.

On the other end, you will want to create an eraser. To do that you will want a small piece of black ribbon glued onto the end of the yellow ribbon, then a slightly smaller tan ribbon on top of that. Trim the two corners and then apply Fray Check.

Here are the materials needed to package up the bouquet: two pieces of colorful tissue paper, a plastic baggie to contain the moisture of the flower stems, a ribbon to secure the flowers and our Pencil Hair Bow.

Just place flowers in the plastic baggie, wrap in tissue and secure with ribbon… then add in the bow.

He was so excited to have a gift to give his new teacher!

Pencil Bow Clip Materials:

1 – 2″ hair clip

1 piece of 12″ yellow sparkly ribbon

1 piece of 7 1/2″ yellow sparkly ribbon

1 piece of 1/2″ black ribbon, cut in half

1 piece of 1/2″ tan ribbon, cut 1/4 and 3/4

hot glue

Fray Check

Flower boquet Materials:

6 sun flowers

1 plastic baggie

2 pieces tissue paper

1 2′ piece of ribbon

Little girls love hair bows! I wish fun things like this were around when I was a kid! Handmade hair bows are all the rage right now. This is something really fun to do with your daughter, granddaughter, niece or any little girl you have in your life this spring break or summer vacation!

Here’s how I did it:

Gather your supplies. You will need two plain clips, one length of polka-dotted pink ribbon, one length of green ribbon with a white stitch accent and one length of black sparkly ribbon.

Clips. I ordered these in bulk on-line… But any craft store will have them or something similar. I use these specifically because my daughter is a year and a half old and her hair is still baby fine and these hold great!

Next, measure your black ribbon. To do this open the clip and place the ribbon along the full length of the inside of the ribbon and allow for enough ribbon to run along both the top and the bottom of your clip and be sure it is able to come right around to the squeezy part of the clip.

You’ll want to run glue along the inside of the clip first. Then pop the ribbon in being sure not to close the clip until you have the ribbon in place or you will glue everything together, not fun. Then continue along the top and the bottom and finally at the end where the squeezy part is. Your entire clip should be encapsulated with ribbon at this point both inside and out.