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.
I made this bow and it is SUPER cute!!???
Matching sets for my twin nieces.
I would FINALLY be able to make nice bows for all my card and tag projects!!
I would love to make decorations for the holidays.
i would make tons of cute full size bows for my daughter and granddaughter!
I’d make a fancy new bow for my Christmas tree!
Christmas present bows
Bows to decorate my front porch for Christmas.
This is the cutest headband ever! I am definatly going to make one!!
Definitely bows for my girls!!
I would make one of those adorable turkey headbands!
I\’m the Editorial Assistant for Fun Family Crafts and I wanted to let you know that we have featured this project! You can see it at funfamilycrafts.com/turkey-bow-headband/
Thanks for another great project idea!
I would probably use it to make bows to adorn my craft projects for Christmas that I’m going to use for gifts.
Love this little guy :-)
Visiting from Bowdabra, I absolutely love this turkey bow. My daughter asked me to make her one for her hair. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
I would call over my daughter and teach her to make bows (she is 9, so it would be easy for her). And then I would try to convince her to give me a turn :)
I would make some bows for my daughter!
I would make some bows for the my daughter :-)
I would make hairbows for my 6 year old daughter. so cute!
I would make barrettes! Lots of gorgeous barrettes for my girls’ hair!
Cute! My 5yo loves headbands and hairbows, I could make her one for everyday!
Would love to make hair jewelry for my daughter and with my daughter.
I am putting together a last minute Thanksgiving craft round-up. Can I include this with a link back?
Make more bows for my little girl! This would be awesome to have! I’d also start making some fit my sister in law who just found out she’s having a little girl!
Cool product! I’d probably use it for some Christmas decor :)
What an awesome product! Would love to get my hands on thighs is for my three girls.
What a cute project! We plan to share a link to this tutorial with our readers. Thank you for the wonderfully cute idea! Best Wishes, Heather
Love this project. Makes Thanksgiving fun!
We LOVE your project! Way to go on this one. We will be sharing this all over for you on our social media channels! Good luck with the giveaway!
So stinkin’ cute! I love it! I make simple bows all the time for different craft stuff, so I’d just make awesome-er bows (and yea, that’s a word.) ;)
Adrianne, this headband turned out ssssooo cute! I love the mixed media with the bow and the sculpey! Genius! I would probably make some sort of ornaments!
Bows for ornaments!
This is seriously cute!
I’d start making some cute bows for our Christmas tree!
Oh my how cute!! I would love to win one and makes some bows for my girls.
The first project I would make is this turkey bow for my granddaughters. It is so cute!
I have the big bowdabra and love it for making big bows for wreaths and packages. Would love to win the mini bowdabra for scrapbooking and smaller projects! I’ve been unable to find it in the craft stores! Thanks for the chance to win!
That is so adorable. Thanks for sharing.
I’d start making things for my little girl! That turkey head is awesome, and the photo turned out great!
My project would be Christmas bows for wreaths and our tree. Thanks for the great giveaway!!
Your bow turned out amazing! Cutie things like this make me wish I had girls! I do LOVE making things for our friends baby girl and my little nieces though, so I’d for sure make bows for them :) Great idea to use it for wrapping gifts too!
I’d probably start with something simple and then set sail on making something very creative. They would be gifts for my granddaughters and I’d donate some to local organizations. Every girl wants to look pretty!
I make hair bows and wreaths. This would be so nice to have. I love crafting withy grandkids
I would love to win this to learn to be more crafty!! Not sure what I would make but I bet I would find some lovely ideas on Bowdabra site!!
If I win I would make a Disney headband for my daughter. She loves Disney and headbands. :)
I would love to make each of my 7 granddaughters a headband like yours but since it is so close to Thanksgiving and 4 of them live in England, 2 in Georgia, and 1 near me here in California, I think I’d better think about making Christmas headbands instead! Oh, what fun that would be! : ) Thank you for the opportunity.
I would try the cute turkey!! Thanks.
I would love to make a cute Xmas bow headband for my daughter!
Super cute bows for my nieces! Thanks for the giveaway!
Bows for my daughter! Thank you!
As a first project I would make some cute monkeys for my daughter, she loves to always be nice.
I’d make some Christmas bows for my girls!
Love to have for hair bows, gifts and cards. So much easier to make them this way………
A Christmas hair bow for my daughter
I would make a bunch of pink bows for my baby! A little girl can never have enough hair accessories :) I would love to win this! Thanks for the giveaway!
So cute!! My daughter would love more hair bows. Thanks for the giveaway!
I would make so many hair bows!
I know my grand will love this! I think I will put it on n elastic bracelet for her.
I would make hair bows for my daughter. This looks like so much fun!
This turkey headband!
Maybe a few Christmas gifts?
I would love to make bows for my daughter and great nieces.
Thanks for the giveaway, Adrianne! I’d make Christmas presents for my nieces!
~Abby =)
The first thing (s) I would make are Thanksgiving hairbows for my 3 grandchildren. Oh, the fun I could have with this-sewing and making matching bows or headbands. Thanks so much for this awesome giveaway.
Hair bows for some little cousins! Thank you
Super cute and great step by step!!
That is WAY too cute now I just want to get my ribbons and clay and play :)
Adorable! Wish that bow making gizmo would have been around when my girls were small. I would love to have one for my future granddaughters (I have 4 grandsons so far). :)
My girls would need some fun hairbows!
I’m really not sure what my first project would be. Probably a few cute Christmas gifts for my niece.
I sure would know a little girl who would enjoy this turkey headband. She’s a granddaughter to a friend of our family. She has special needs but enjoys the holidays just as much as anyone else.