Make your own gift bows

When I was at a craft fair a while ago I came across a basket full of handmade bows using recycled newspaper and magazines and thought that I must look into making my own. And then I forgot all about it until last week when I found this pin on Pinterest...

I loved the idea that it was using toddler scribbled paper but before I had a go with that I decided to make some using scraps of paper I had...

The big ones are made using the sizes in the tutorial (8.5 x 0.75 inch strips), the medium ones are using 6 x 0.5 inch strips and the teeny tiny ones was made using 3 x 0.25 inch strips. 

The teeny tiny one was a pain - far too fiddly so I probably won't make many more of those. 

I already have strips cut to make more of the medium sized bows though as these will be a good size for most presents.

I used glue-stick to make the bows but found this wasn't always holding so in the end I stapled right through the middle of the bows. It's a bit tricky to get the staple in the right place and you have to un-squash the bow afterwards but it keeps them together a lot easier.

As I was making them I wondered if it would be possible to hold them together by punching little holes in each end and the middle of each strip and threading them onto a string? I might try this next - just need to find a small enough hole punch first!
I'm also hoping to make some felt versions and sew them together.
Also I might try double sided paper next time so the pattern is inside and out.

Bow-making is a reasonably easy task once you get the hang of it and I think it will be good to make up batches of them every now and again while I'm watching TV. It will also be great for using up scraps of paper!