THE BOWDABRA!

Posted by Ethne~

Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law Mel, I’m a star gift wrapper now. 

At the Twins game - my shirt says "Meet you in the dugout."
Of course it does.  Gotta be sneaky now that Joe Mauer's engaged.

It’s not so much about the wrapping paper – I’ve been doing that since I was a kid.  What’s really important is the embellishing.  Big, colorful, Christmas-y bows that sparkle underneath the Christmas tree – they just make me feel joyful.

So I headed right over to JoAnn’s with my 40% off coupon and purchased a Bowdabra.  I LOVE IT.  Mel (with a follow-up lesson from my friend, MC) taught me how to use it.  Once you understand the twisting principle, it’s pretty simple.  And directions come with it.

Put your tying ribbon into the contraption and lay flat.  Now make loops back and forth making a twist in the middle where the center tie will be.

Tie the center tight and fluff up all the wire in the bow loops.  I then tie this onto my ribbons on the gift and I look like a gift superstar.

This is the bow I made for Rich & Mel's wedding gift.

Now’s the time to pick up the jumbo, glittery wire ribbon.  It’s all on 50-70% off at places like JoAnn and Target right now.  So you can still squeeze in some fancy bows for this year and stock up for next year.

PS – I’ll concede that Mel does still have me out-gunned in the gift-wrapping department.  She wrapped the gifts for their wedding party with gorgeous floral bows – and she glued the paper seams together so tape wouldn’t be visible.  Yeah.  I know.  She said she'll beat me this Christmas too, so I'll snap some pictures to show you next week.