Button/Ribbon Bookmarks and Flowers

Don't you always need a great bookmark to make reading more fun? I found this cute idea from Family Fun Magazine. These bookmarks are fast, easy, cute and incredibly useful (if you read a lot).

First gather materials: trusty $3 glue gun and glue sticks.

Buttons (mixed bag from Michael's) and ribbon, wide and skinny both work. And scissors.

Cut the ribbon 12 to 15 inches (I've found I like it when the ribbon has a few inches on either side of the ends of the book. A little long is better than too short.) Cut a triangular shape out on both ends of the ribbon so you get nice angled points; it really helps with unraveling and with cuteness. Pick buttons you like for both ends of your ribbon. Add some glue to your button, ( I like to glue around the outer edge of the button so the glue doesn't goop up through the holes too much) stick it on. Add buttons to both ends. Ta-Da! 

I played with stacking buttons or making little collages with tiny buttons (they look like jewels). These make great little gifts. Cheep, easy, cute, fast: what could be better? And seeing one sticking out of a book makes me want to read the book some more!

(While making these I came to identify with the phrase 

"Cute as a button." 

Those things are stinkin' cute, and I think I'm going to look for more crafts using buttons just so I can dig through the button jar some more.)

So here are all the bookmarks I made one night. I plan on keeping a few and giving a bunch away to friends. But notice the orange flowers?

That brings me to my next little button/ribbon craft:

Ribbon flowers with button centers

Take a little bit of quilters thread and needle. Double the thread and tie a knot.

 Run a gathering stitch all along one edge of a long piece (25 inches or so) of wide ribbon, about a quarter inch from the edge. I used the same cheap orange ribbon I used for the bookmarks.

I didn't take a picture of the process, but pull the thread almost all the way tight. I liked it a little loose though so the flower laid flat. Tie a strong knot. Quilting thread won't break. Shape the ribbon flower till it lays how you like it. Glue on a button. Glue the ends of the ribbon together if you want, so they stay hidden in the folds. I glued hair clips to the back so the girls can wear them in their hair.

These look a little like a ribbon you would win at the fair, without the tails, so it seems a look more suited to a kid. I'll have to try lace and see what it looks like though. Or maybe thinner ribbon would make a cute smaller flower.

***I got the idea to do this gathering technique from a little kit I bought at the local quilt store, Quilter's Haven. You can make a cute flower out of gathered jelly roll fabric (that's a piece of fabric 2 and 1/2 inches wide, 45 inches long, cut with pinking shears, often they come ready cut in coordinating colors, rolled up at the fabric store). You take a half jelly roll strip (22 1/2 inches or so) then fold it in half lengthwise, so it's long and skinny. Sew a running stitch along the folded edge, pull tight, tie a knot and glue on a button to cover the gathered center.

Here's the one I made with fabric: cute, yes? I like this one better than the orange ribbon ones.... If I bought a jelly roll of coordinating fabrics and made a bunch of these it would be fun to cover a pillow with them. Hm...I feel another craft coming on.