A Charming Ribbon Bookmark

For several months, I’ve been wanting to make some bookmarks for 2 of my granddaughters. I’ve finally gotten around to making them.

Those bookmarks are so charming — literally! They are simply ribbons with charms attached at both ends.

They are super easy and fun to make! And inexpensive. Can’t get better than that, huh?

Here are the supplies that you’ll need:

• Ribbon
• Charms
• Ribbon ends (which are clamps)
• Chain (I used a simple chain necklace)
• O rings (for jewelry making
• needle nosed pliers

Cut a length of ribbon. You might want to have a book handy so you can judge what length of ribbon you’d like to cut.

Place a ribbon end (clamp) over one end of the ribbon.

Using your pliers, clamp it shut so it holds snug to the ribbon.

Put a ribbon clamp on the other end of the ribbon.

Cut your desired length from your chain. I used approximately 2 inches of chain. The length will depend on how many charms you want to attach and how far apart you want the charms to be.

With your pliers, twist the O ring so it is open. Slip a link of the chain onto the O ring.

Attach the O ring to the ribbon end and squeeze the O ring shut with your pliers.

In my post about making a zipper bracelet, I explain how to put beads on a jewelry pin head to make these bead ‘charms.’ I had these bead charms already made up from when we made the zipper bracelet so I used them on the ribbon bookmark.

Put the bead charm on an O ring, put the O ring through a link on the chain, and squeeze the O ring shut.

Add regular charms to the bookmark, too, in the same way. Add as many charms as you want to both ends of the bookmark.

Ta da! That’s it! Your ribbon bookmark is finished.

If you were really observant, you might have noticed that I had some lobster clasps in the picture of the supplies that you need to make these bookmarks. My original intent was to hook all of the charms to lobster clasps and then use the clasps to connect the charms to the chain.

I made a bookmark for my grandson using the lobster clasps. (Although he is only 3 1/2 years old and cannot read, I knew that he would want a bookmark, too. He wouldn’t want to be left out from what his sisters got . . . )

I felt like the lobster clasps were too clunky to use. So, I used O rings instead on my granddaughters’ bookmarks.

Be as creative as you want when making a ribbon bookmark — and have fun making them!