Ribbon/Charm Bookmarks

Coming clean of some handmade Christmas presents that I've been making around here.  One good thing and I mean like the only one good thing about Mike working second shift is that I can work on projects mean't for him and he doesn't know about it.  I don't even have to lie to him to tell him I'm making it for someone else!  Okay so I did show him the one I made for my stepmom but he doesn't know I made one for him too!

This one is Mike's....I have similar bookmarks that my mother in law bought me and I keep them in my bible.  I love them.... I've noticed that my husbands bible doesn't have any little bookmarks other than a slip of paper and he could totally be happy with that but I decided I would try to make him a gift for Christmas b/c it's special and allowed a challenge for myself! 

I can't say that I made this before entering blogland so I have to admit that I suck at taking pictures  :( 

This one was made for my stepmom, after some thought I realized this is something I believe she would really like....

After realizing I made t-shirt necklace and an owl necklace for my little sister, a bookmark for Mike and my stepmom and a blanket and pillow my Gregory....I totally didn't "make" anything for my dad so I whipped up another bookmark....

This one is dad's....

The rocks seemed a lot more masculine than beads.  I already had the beads I put on Lisa's bookmark but the rocks I had bought a couple of strands of just to make Mike's bookmark.
The crosses came in a pack of 5 that I purchased just to make Mike's so I utilized my purchase by making more than just the one bookmark. 
I had to purchase the black ribbon but I already had the purple. 
I also used thin metal wire to wire the charms to the ribbon.

All of these supplies I still have more of too so I will get to use them for either more bookmarks or other projects!

Okay I'm going to try to explain this since I failed at a tutorial.  Please feel free to ask any questions!

I cut a piece of ribbon the desired length leaving a little extra to work with.  I tied a small knot on both ends (do not tie a knot on one of the ends if you are going to use beads on one end), trimming any excess and burning the end w/ a lighter to get rid of any frays.

For the charms (crosses): I put the wire through the loop on the charm and just wrapped the wire several times around the knot I made at the end of the ribbon and tightened it and bent in the sharp ends of the wire by squeezing it w/ a pair of pliers.

For the Beads: (I didn't put a knot on the side I was useing beads) I stringed the desired number of beads onto the ribbon and THEN I tied a knot on the end, cut off any excess and burned the end w/ a lighter to get rid of any frays.

For the Rock: This was tricky and totally ghettofied!  If you don't want to do it the hard way the way I did it then buy the appropriate supplies to attach a beads rock to something...not sure what they are called but they look like pin needles!  I of course wasn't crazy enough to actually think they were pin needles but when I went to attach the rocks to the end of my bookmark I realized I should have bought some of those pin needle looking things....so I pulled out a pin needle and went with it.... So here is goes: I snipped the needle off of the pin needle w/ a pair of wire cutters b/c I didn't think that sharp end on the bookmark would be a good idea!  I put 2 of the small rocks onto the pin needle and used the pliers to bend the end of the pin needle into a loop.  THEN I took the medal wire through the loop I made with the pin needle and wrapped that wire several times around the knot made in the ribbon and tighted the wire and tucked in the sharp ends of the wire useing pliers to squeeze it all in. 

They aren't perfect but I think they turned out pretty good and I hope they like them.  I'm certain my stepmom will but I fear the others wont  :(  We shall see!

Inspired by Bookmark-less Bibles



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