Thank you Bowdabra for sponsoring this post.
Holiday craft season is fully here! Before I jump right into Christmas, though, I wanted to make something fun for Thanksgiving for my daughter – this sweet little turkey headband, using the Bowdabra. I am going to LOVE using the Bowdabra when I wrap my Christmas presents, but there are other fun way to use bows in crafts, too!
What you will need:
- The Mini Bowdabra
- Ribbon – in brown, orange, yellow and red
- Polymer Clay – in Brown, white, red, and orange or yellow
- Clay Utensils – a roller, and a reamer (I improvised and used a drinking straw)
- Coordinating Headband
First – you will need to make the face for your turkey. If you haven’t worked with polymer clay before, it’s easy! It’s quite hard when you first take it out of the package, so you will need to condition it. Just roll it out, ball it up, and roll it out a few times until it’s pliable enough to work with. I made my ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. (Something to note when you work with polymer clay – it’s not food safe, so don’t use your kitchen implements to roll it out. I actually keep a separate set of kitchen tools like a baking sheet and roller just for crafts.)
You could use a bead reamer to make a vertical hole in your turkey head – but I just used a plastic straw and it worked well! (I also used the straw to make the circles for the eyes.) You only need little scraps of the red, yellow and white – you should be able to freehand form a little beak and snood (yes, that is what that little dangly part is called. I had to Google it).
Baking instructions will vary by brand, but you can expect that it will need to bake for about 60 minutes – boring the hole in the center will actually help it to cook faster.
When your head is ready, you can use the Bowdabra to make the bow feathers!
1. Lay a long piece of ribbon along the bottom of the Bowdabra. Mine is about 10 inches, but a little longer or shorter is fine too.
2. Cut 4 colors of ribbon about 20 inches long. (I used brown, yellow, orange and red – but this would also make a VERY cute peacock with blues and greens!) I used the width of the Bowdabra as my guide – just feed the ribbon between the two halves, looping it back and forth.
3. The Bowdabra will hold it in place while you work (awesome).
4. Repeat the process with all your colors of ribbon.
5. When you have added all your ribbon, squeeze your layers together with the wand.
6. Then, bring your center ribbon up from each side, and tie a knot on the center of the bow, securing the loops.
7. Double knot it for security.
Now, tie the head on. I just fed the ribbon through the hole going up and down, and tied it in the back.
Fluff your loops, and you officially have a bow turkey!
Now, you can just tie it onto a headband. You may also want to use a bit of hot glue or craft glue to secure it in place.
You can keep up with what’s new and check out other project inspiration at Bowdabra on Facebook, Twitter, and their YouTube channel!
What do you think – would you like a Bowdabra of your own? Bowdabra is giving away TWO prize packs worth $75 that include the original Bowdabra, the Mini Bowdabra, and LOTS of ribbon to get you started! The giveaway is open to US residents, and you can enter through December 5, 2013. Good luck!
This post was sponsored by Bowdabra and I was provided with free product to facilitate a tutorial, but the ideas and opinions are my own.
