How to Make Easy Napkin Rings with Cardboard Tubes, Ribbon and Wax Seals

Upcycle your empty cardboard tubes to make napkin rings, embellished with ribbon and wax seals. An easy and fun project that can be customized to match your table décor for any season or holiday.

Happy February!

I always seem to be searching for napkin rings for my tablescapes

since my favorite source, Pier 1, closed their stores a few years ago…*sniff*.

This is a fun DIY and way to make easy and affordable napkin rings

that can be customized to your table décor using ribbon and wax seals.

These napkin rings start with an empty cardboard tube that you can find at the end of your

plastic wrap, paper towels, wrapping paper or toilet paper.

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In addition to cardboard tubes, you’ll also need your ribbon of choice,

a ruler, an X-Acto or craft knife, scissors and a glue gun.

Note: Plastic wrap tubes are heavy duty but hard to cut, so you’ll need a utility knife.

Cut your cardboard tube to the width of your ribbon,

 and use a glue gun to attach your ribbon to your tube.

Tip: Cut an extra half inch or so of ribbon to fold under and cover

the raw edge of your ribbon so it’s sealed and won’t fray.

Alternatively, use Fray Check to seal the ribbon edges to keep them from unraveling.

You could stop at the ribbon to embellish your cardboard tubes

to make napkin rings, but I decided to add a wax seal,

using wax seal stamps.

I think wax seal stamps are the bee’s knees!

I fell in love with wax seal stamps last year and had some delicious fun using

them to embellish chocolate to dress up petit fours for pretty and sweet treat!

Sealing Wax Sticks are available in a variety of colors and fit in a mini glue gun.

A glue gun is so much easier to use than the traditional method of melting a sealing wax

stick over a flame or pre-melting the wax and applying with a spoon!

My preferred method to make wax seals is with a silicone hot glue gun mat,

rather than making them directly on my envelope or ribbon.

The advantage of using a hot glue mat is that your seals can be removed when cool,

so you can choose the seals with the best impressions, rather than take a chance on ruining

your envelope (or ribbon) with an less than desirable seal.

The cool seals can be applied to your envelopes, invitations or ribbon using a glue dot

 or with a small amount of sealing wax or a low melt glue gun.

I like using glue dots as they are quick to apply and keep things tidy without risk of

distorting your seal with additional heat from a glue gun.

Wax seal stamp tips:

It takes a few test pulls from your glue gun and a little experimenting

to get a feel for the flow of wax and how much you need for your seal.

I find that waiting for about 5 – 10 seconds before pressing your seal into the hot wax

creates a better impression.

For best impressions, keep your stamp on ice or a freezer pack

so it releases easily from the wax.

You don’t want any condensation on your stamp, so wipe it

it with a towel or place your ice in a plastic bag to keep it dry.

Press down gently with your stamp and press in the wax 3 – 5 seconds;

pressing down gently again as you lift the stamp to release it.

I typically get two impressions before placing the seal back on ice to chill it down again before reusing.

It takes a bit of wax to change colors in your glue gun with this method of creating wax seals,

but you can have fun creating a marble effect when you introduce a new color in your gun

as it mixes with the color that’s already melted in the chamber of your glue gun.

The marbleized color of the heart wax seal below on the napkin ring

was the result of a red wax seal stick mixing with

the new champagne wax stick in the glue gun chamber.

If you want to make perfectly round wax seals,

there is a silicone wax seal mold with 24 cavities to make seals in advance,

ideal for wedding invitations or save-the-date announcements.

If you’re looking for ribbon, Hobby Lobby has a great selection available!

I found my ribbon there a couple of weeks ago and it’s on sale at 40% off

at Hobby Lobby at least once a month.

Find tips on using wax seal stamps to embellish chocolate, HERE.

🐝 ❤️ 🐝 ❤️ 🐝

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