Ribbon Bookmarks

I live in middle Tennessee on the campus of a home for mentally challenged adults. My husband works here full time doing maintenance, I help out some here and there.

The home is called Cave Springs Home. It is a non-profit charity organization. It depends on donations to continue doing the work helping people and all donations are tax deductible.

So something I've been working on lately is making ribbon bookmarks to give to people who donate to Cave Springs in the near future. Donations are what makes this place able to stay open so they are very much appreciated by everyone here. 

So I'm making these bookmarks and donating them to the home to give as little thank yous.

Each bookmark has three ribbons but otherwise are each different. Different colors, beads, charms, etc.

While they make great bookmarks for any book they are especially helpful with Bible study. You can place one ribbon in a section you are reading and another at a corresponding verse you want to look at. Great for when the speaker says "hold your finger here and turn with me to..." you can avoid the juggling that comes with that statement!

You can check out the Cave Springs website at www.CaveSpringsHome.org 

If you would like a bookmark of your own, then donate soon to Cave Springs Home either by mailing them a check or via the paypal button on their website.

"And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me." -Matthew 25:40 

Bookmarks

Today's post is later then usual for two reasons.

1) Yesterday, after a little over three years of service, my netbook decided it was done... 

A moment of saddened silence...

I know it's just a computer but it was great for me. I'm now borrowing Hubby's laptop, it is so not the same.

2) Last night some very strong storms came through. Since I didn't go to sleep before they started, I stayed awake till after they were done. At 2am...

So naturally, I slept in this morning.

Anyway, without further ado, today's post:

I don't know why but I have the hardest time keeping track of my bookmarks.

I finish a book, I lay the bookmark down where I was last reading, I return later for it and it's no where to be found.

My husband never reads so I know he isn't borrowing them. They just disappear.

I've bought bookmarks, I've been given bookmarks, I use receipts or anything that is near. But nothing sticks around. 

The best luck I've had was with my two of hearts from a deck of cards. 

("the two of hearts to mark her place, and who could ever walk away, from chapter twenty one, so she can't be really gone" name that song, hehe)

So recently I decided to make a few different bookmarks. Some for gifts, some to have all over and up my chances of finding one when I need them.

The first one was a cross stitch I did.

I cut a cross stitch fabric piece about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. I cross stitched a sitting frog, the initials F.R.O.G. for the words "Fully Rely On God". I then covered the back with a simple green fabric, that folds around to the front, and finished with a green ribbon.

The second one is a ribbon bookmark. I cut a strip of ribbon long enough to go through most books and using bookmark clasps added a thin ribbon on top and a dove charm on the bottom.

The third bookmark is paper. I cut a two and a half inch wide strip from the side of a piece of card stock paper. I folded that in half and covered the front with a piece of old sheet music. I used shaped hole punches to add the shapes on front and back. I also cut a small strip of magnet off a roll and put a piece on both insides to create a magnetized bookmark that will hold a book page.

The last one is made of fabric. I cut two pieces about 5 inches long and 2 and 1/4 inches wide. I used a fancy setting on my sewing machine to do a serger effect around the outsides. Alternatively you could sew normally and use a fray check to stop the fabric from fraying. This one has two different heart fabrics for front and back so I used a heart decorated ribbon to finish it off.  

This shows a few different options for creating bookmarks that won't cost much at all. The cross stitch one takes some time but all the others are fairly quick to make. So if you often loose your bookmarks like I do, whip up a few and stash them around the house. Maybe then you can throw out that grocery receipt instead of using it as a bookmark!