Elegant Yet Easy Wallpaper Scrap Bows and Projects

These bows look so elegant and expensive, but they're actually made from paper strips! While you could use any kind of paper you like to cut your strips, we used embossed striped paper from wallpaper samples.

Go to most any paint or home improvement store and you'll find that they're usually thrilled to give away old sample books of wallpaper. That's right, give them away, as in for free, gratis, nada. This represents an incredible find for creative crafters -- free supplies! The sample books provide wonderful papers for all kinds of craft projects, and once you start flipping through the pages, you'll come up with all kinds of uses for the various designs.

For these bows, we went to samples of elegant papers in a striped design. Wallpaper sample books are usually filled with this popular style, and often the striped papers are conveniently in gold, silver, or other metallics, or even in satin finishes that really look like ribbon when cut.

The results are stunning, and once the paper strips are cut, this project is easy enough for kids to do.

Once we made our bows, we used them for elegant fits wraps and greeting cards. The links below will take you to step-by-step photo instructions that show how to make these easy, yet impressive projects.

• Elegant Wallpaper Sample Bow Greeting Cards (pictured at the top of this post)
• Elegant Wallpaper Sample Bow Gift Wrapped Packages (pictured at right)
  

North Pole Christmas Decoration

If you purchased a North Pole decoration at a Christmas shop it would run you around $30.00. Lisa Dodez's creative version will cost pennies (she even uses items that might otherwise be discarded) and is very easy to make.

You Will Need:
flower pot
cardboard tube from wrapping paper
small scrap piece of candy stripe gift wrap paper
hot glue gun
floral foam (enough to fill flower pot)
tape
red plastic ball shaped ornament for top of pole
Christmas drape (cotton sheets made to resemble snow available wherever gift wraps and decorations are sold)
extras for decorations -- tissue paper, small bits of ribbon, toys, etc.

1. To make the base, hot glue floral foam, pot and cardboard tube together as shown in photo 1.
2. Use tape to wrap the cardboard tube with the wrapping paper scrap. Make sure to fold over the edge of the paper for a crisp, clean line.

3. Wrap flower pot base with Christmas drape to replicate snow and use hot glue to secure. If you don't have Christmas drape you could also use tissue paper, fabric and/or garland.

4. Photo 4 shows a close up of the wrapped pot.

5. Hot glue plastic ornament to top of pole.

6. Gather extra decorations you have hanging around that match the color scheme of your North Pole sign.
7. Attach decorative touches with hot glue.
8. Make the flag. We printed 2 pieces of sign artwork so you could see it from all angles. You can find the links to print out the North Pole sign artwork at the bottom of the page at this link. Print both then cut a flag like the one shown at the top of this page from your paper pieces. Glue the two pieces together, leaving about a 1/2 inch margin on the sides that you will use to attach the flag to the pole. Fold the margin pieces outward, apply hot glue and attach the flag to the pole.

Congratulations, your North Pole Christmas decoration is now complete!