My Oh My Messy Mermaid!

 Hey Guys, today I am so happy to host a fellow blogger! We were lucky enough to have been given a lovely anchor hair bow made by Jade, and we love it! So, lets give her a nice round of applause! Take it away Jade!

Hi!  My name is Jade and I'm over at My Messy Mermaid.  The lovely Katie has graciously allowed me to be with you today and we're going to make hair bows!  I actually make hair bows for a pretty little shop down in Columbia, but I cannot believe what they charge for them!  Now, you too can say "No thank you" to those super pricey hair pretties since you'll be able to make your own!

Let's start!

List of Supplies (that I used): 

5/8 inch polyester ribbon - the anchor ribbon

3/16 inch polyester ribbon - the green ribbon

2 covered alligator clips - I use double pronged ones

Needle and thread

Glue gun and glue

Scissors

Lighter

Ruler

1) Use your lighter to singe the end of your ribbon.  Measure out 3 inches of your thicker ribbon and fold at the 3 inch mark.  Now you've got two layers of 3 inches of ribbon.

2)  Where the end of the ribbon that's still attached to the spool meets the melted end of the ribbon, fold over again so you've got three layers of ribbon.

*At this point, you've got a choice: either stop here or make two more loops around that initial 3 inches.  If you stop, you'll make a hair bow that looks like the bow you make when you tie your shoes.  If you continue to loop, your hair bow will have two sets of loops.  You could make more than five total lengths of 3 inches, but make sure it's an odd number or else your bow will look funny.

3) Use one of your covered alligator clips to hold your ribbon together and cut the loops from the spool.  Measure out about 16 inches of thread and thread your needle, putting a nice knot at the end.

4) Skewer your ribbon in the center with your needle.  DO NOT pull the needle all the way through.  Fan out the loops so your ribbon looks like an "X" and has two tails at the bottom.

5) Pinch the ribbon in it's newly formed "X" and pull the needle through.  Stitch through the ribbon a couple times in the center to secure the shape.

6) You can choose to skip this step, but I like to do this because I like how it looks.  Take your thread and loop it around the center a couple times, pulling tight.  Do a couple stitches through the center to secure the pinch and then tie the thread off at the back of the bow.

7) Repeat if you're making a matching set like I did.

8) Take your coordinating 3/16 inch ribbon and measure out about 1.25 inches of ribbon and cut.  Singe both ends to keep the ribbon from unravelling.  

9) Put a small amount of hot glue on the front center of your bow and glue down that little scrap of ribbon.  Let it dry before you fold the ends around the back and glue them down too.  Lovely - now you've got a bow!

10) Now, put about a centimeter of hot glue on the center of one of your covered alligator clips and glue down the bow.  Lovelier - you've got a hair bow!

11) Go grab your girly-child and pin in her hair.  Loveliest - you've got one good looking girl!

Or not ~ if yours is into making faces at crucial photo-taking moments.  LOL.  For some reason, it looks like she's got a burglar's scruff.  LOL.

Thank you, Katie, for letting me be your guest today!  Leave Katie a message telling her who you'd like a pair of hair bows for, and be entered in my hair bow giveaway!  Make sure to leave a way to contact you and we'll do the drawing in 2 weeks! Good Luck everyone!