Reason five million why little girls are the best: the hair bows. I never knew how exciting buying hair bows could be until one morning Michael, my husband, pointed out that I have dozens! This immediately got my mind turning on a more efficient way to store them. At first I searched online for places to buy what I wanted. However nothing was just right! The only products that came close were incredibly expensive.
So, earlier last week I decided I finally wanted to just make a bow holder for my sweet baby girl. I headed down to Goodwill to find a frame to use as the base. I found the perfect frame, it was huge and only $5.99 (I’m going to list the rest of the costs at the end of this post). Then I ran over to Joann’s to look for some paint brushes, as well as ribbon and white clothes pins. (I knew I already had white chalk paint and flowers at the house).
When I got home from all my errands I opened my trunk to see that when the Goodwill man put the picture frame into my car, he accidentally broke the frame. I was super disappointed, but I also didn’t want to give up on the frame quite yet. It was so so close to perfect! Unfortunately I tried fixing it before asking for my husband’s advice. This just in – do not try and dump an entire tube of gorilla glue into a picture frame to try and fix a crack. Apparently it expands, making it nearly impossible to fit back together.
Anyways. We decided to put the project aside for the night and start fresh in the morning. Friday morning we woke up, showered, and headed to Lowes. Michael helped me pick out my own hand staple gun and the staples I needed. ((Side note: I LOVE my hand staple gun. Everyone needs to have one! I will include a picture of the packaging, it made it so easy to use. There was a list of brands and what size staple was compatible. I felt like it was super user friendly! This is a total win in my book. I’m literally planning new projects just so I can use it).
When we got home we took the frame and pulled out the original artwork, scraped out the gorilla glue, and laid it out over a piece of plastic. Then we stapled all of the four corners together. It was really nice having Michael hold it together so that I could have both hands on the staple gun. After everything was stapled it still didn’t look incredibly stable. So Michael filled in the seams with liquid nail for better adhesion. We had to let it dry for an hour, but then came back and caulked over the seams for a more finished look. Now we were FINALLY back to where I thought I would be when I got home the day before.
Next I cleaned up my area — it was messy from scraping off dried gorilla glue. Then grabbed my chalk paint and brushes and got started painting! After my first layer I let it dry for about two hours and then did a second coat. It made all the difference! Then THAT had to dry. This project had a lot of waiting, something I really am not fond of!
When that had finally dried I set about to attach the ribbon which would serve as the “clotheslin” to pin the fabric headbands onto. I really wasn’t exactly sure how to approach it, so we went with trial by error. First I measured the length across the frame, adding in a little extra so I could attach on either side. The main things I had to keep in mind were making it secure for everyday use, flat so it hung against the wall, and loose enough that you could fit a clothespin.
I also knew I wanted three rows, spaced evenly. That said, I did need a little buffer at the top. I ended up (going from top of the frame down) marking at 3 inches • 11 inches • 19 inches • 27 inches. That way there was an even 8 inches under each ribbon for the hanging headbands, as well as a three inch boarder along the top.
I marked both verticals sides of the frame with a pencil at the above mentioned lengths. Then stretched the ribbon across, matching the top line of the ribbons along the tick marks, and used my handy new stapler to secure it in place. At this point I started getting really excited!! It was seriously coming together. Now all I had was the aesthetic aspect.
In Nolie’s closet I had leftover flowers from two other projects – her mirror and statement piece. I pulled those apart (they come in preassembled flower bunches) and plugged in the hot glue gun. Five minutes later- I finally had my perfect headband holder!! I’m so thrilled with how it came out!
If I hadn’t run into the broken frame fiasco, my out of pocket costs would have been right at $22. That’s seriously not bad at all! However I did have to spend another $22 at Lowes. That brings me to a total of about $44, which I’m honestly happy with because it is exactly what I wanted.
That said, I already have realized I need even more bow storage. So I will keep you updated on what I decide to do! Stay tuned and feel free to tag me in your DIY pursuits! I love getting new ideas or seeing people’s twist on my ideas.
SUPPLIES LIST & PRICING
Goodwill:
Joann’s:
(I used two 50% off texts coupons on clothespins and one 50% off online coupon for the ribbon- did you know that you could mix online and text coupons! It’s the bomb! So I actually spent less than that).
Lowes:
- Arrow Staple Pack $5.98
- Bostitch Hand Staple Gun $14.98
Already owned:





Ps: don’t forget to check in Sunday to see how my StyleBee 10×10 challenge is going!
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