Butterfly Bow Tutorial

 I happened to have a family request for these cute little bows. They will actually be birthday party favors for a first birthday! 

Supplies you will need: 
              alligator clips
              1/8 in ribbon (for antennae)
              3/8 in ribbon (3 different colors- one for actual butterfly, one to cover clip
                                       in and one for the 'body')
              ModPodge or Glue
              Hot glue gun
              
The first thing I started with is the clips. Sometimes I don't even worry about covering the clips because you don't see them, but with these sweet little bows I knew it would be necessary. 

 I actually just put a dab of hot glue on the inside of the clip and started running the ribbon around it from there. If you want to skip this step, Hobby Lobby and Joann's have a 10 packs of these for less than $2. Just sayin'! 

I made the antennae next. I just poured out some ModPodge on wax paper and dipped about 1 1/2 in of the 1/8in ribbon into the glue. I used my fingers to roll the end into a tight circle. I scrambled around a few minutes to come up with somewhere to put these until they dried. 

I ended up sliding them onto the end of 2 clips for a few minutes. Within five minutes they were dry and ready to go onto the clip. I glued them onto the raised part of the clip (where you would press to open it). You need to put those on first before you put the butterfly body on there. 

Start the actual butterfly by forming a figure eight with the ribbon. I didn't worry about the ends at first, I just trimmed them later! After you get the initial figure eight, you will make 2 smaller loops for the bottom of the butterfly. 

 I fooled with the bottom part for a few minutes before I figured out the best way. I wanted the bottom part of the body to be straight and not twisted. So I found if I just folded it on the back and came back down it laid much prettier. 

Once I had it all pretty and together, I just sporadically hot glued everywhere that ribbon crossed over each other. Anywhere it appeared to be loose, it got more glue until it sat this way when I left it alone! 

After you have it all stuck together, then you will glue it onto the clip. Make sure you cover up the bottom of your antennae. 

The last step is putting the cute little body onto the butterfly. I put a dab of glue towards the bottom and stuck the end of the blue ribbon. Then I placed another dab about 1/8in away from the edge of the ribbon. Once I sat the glue gun down, I quickly twisted the blue ribbon and stuck it down. This gave it the cute spiral effect. 

 Here is my sweet butterfly creation!!! They turned out so precious! I then cut some cute scrapbook card stock, sliced a little line and used these to hold the bows. I added a sweet message, so they are ready to give for a birthday favor. 

 Hope you enjoy this and good luck!!!