Do you have an old purse lying around? Or did you find a really pretty one at a thrift shop? Well if you follow these simple steps you can make this gorgeous upcycled lighted decor in minutes. Bowdabra creator, Sandy Sandler shows you how.
There are tons of DIY’s and videos for upcycling on the Bowdabra Blog. Be sure and check them out today!
Upcycled lighted decor
Materials:
- Thrift shop purse
- Bowdabra
- Bowdabra bow wire
- Various ribbon scraps
- Floral and branch picks
- Mesh
- Scrunchy ribbon
- Weights
- Floral foam
- Lightest branch
Instructions:
“Today, I’m going to show you how to take this purse, which I bought at a thrift store, and create an upcycled lighted decor. So, let’s get started.”
So, the first thing we’re going to do is take our Bowdabra Bow Wire, and I’m going to cut a piece here and fold it in half. Then I just lay it into my Bowdabra.
Add your ribbon scraps
Next, what I’m going to do is I’ve got these assorted scraps of ribbon. I’m going to take the right side of the ribbon and put that down into my Bowdabra. Then, I’m going to fold it back over, take the right side of the ribbon and put that into the Bowdabra. Now, I’m going to come to the center and scrunch that in.
Then, I’m going to do exactly the same thing with this ribbon. So again, the right side is going to go down, and we’re just going to fold this over and bring this back around. The right side of the ribbon is going to go down. And then, we’re going to scrunch this down into the Bowdabra.
Add some tails
Next, I have this tail that I’m just going to put into my Bowdabra here. And I have another white tail because there’s a lot of white that we’re using in this arrangement. Finally, I have another little tail. Make sure I have the right side facing up. And then, I have this piece. I love this ribbon because it’s kind of like stretchy, and I’m just going to scrunch that down into my bow. So, this will be the bow for our décor.
Now, I’m going to take my pick, lay this down into my Bowdabra. Then, I’ll take my Bowdabra Bow Wire, and the reason I folded it in half is now I have a slipknot to pull it through. So, we’re just going to pull it really tight while it’s still in the Bowdabra. I’m going to pull it out, separate the ends, bring it around to the back and tie a knot, and I’m going to double-knot it.
Secure the pick
I’m going to take my floral pick, and I’m just going to take the Bowdabra Bow Wire and just wrap it around so that it stays on here. And then, the pick comes with its own wire, so I’m going to wrap it around that as well. This way I will make sure that everything stays on the pick because we’re going to use this pick to stick in the front of our arrangement.
So, I’m just going to shape my bow and bring my things down here, puff out my loops. So, it’s super simple. And you can see, that’s just pretty by itself.
Prepare your purse
Now, what I’m going to do is I’m going to reach over here and I’m going to grab this purse. The first thing that I’m going to do is take my mesh, and I’m just going to push my mesh into the purse. And then, I’m going to take my Bowdabra Scrunchy Ribbon and I’m going to push this down into the purse. Now, the reason that I’m doing that is I have these weights because the purse isn’t going to stand up on its own. So, I’m going to put the two weights down in between here and that’s going to give a perfect stand.
Next, I’m just going to stick my floral foam down into the purse. I have this beautiful lighted branch and I’m going to just push this down into my floral foam. And you can see, it just lights up. And I’m going to take the light and I’m going to just tuck that in the back so that I can turn it on easily. I can easily just reach in and turn it on and off.
Add more picks
And then, what I have here is we’ve got this pretty branch, and I’m going to just tuck that down in there. And I’m going to just tuck this around here. Now, take another branch and put that into my floral foam here. I think I will add one more. So, we’ll take apart that and push that in. and then, I have this really pretty pick that can go back here.
To finish, I’m going to take my ribbon here. I’m just going to wrap around the outside and just tie it so it’s kind of like a tail and it sort of covers up the zipper and holds everything in place. And we’ll just make a little square knot there. Now, I’m going to take my bow, which is sort of the coup de gras of the whole project and just scrunch that down in there.
What a fun way to upcycle an old purse. And now, you have this beautiful lighted décor, which would be great for any special occasion, or just to have around your home.
Thank you so much for watching this video. Please follow us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out our tutorials at Bowdabra.com.”