Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas

I am loving this cold weather. We have no snow, but we do have cold, and as long as I can keep my toes and fingers warm, I love it. Today's project is a quick, easy craft that you can make for your kids or do with your kids. They make good gifts for kids, teachers and moms who like to read. When my little granddaughter was going through chemo, she made one of these for me at the hospital. There was a group called Candlelighters for Childhood Cancer that had volunteers come into the hospital and do arts and crafts with the kids. They loved it and had so much fun. Madison wasn't old enough to really do a lot, but they all loved her and would take her down to the playroom and help her do it anyway. So I became the proud owner of a rather ugly, bright green bookmark that I love with all my heart. So here's what they look like...

I made them for all the grandkids, to go in a book for Christmas. They are all individual, and I used either ribbon or beads that I thought each child would like. The blue and gold one is school colors, the Titans one is for a Tennessee Titans fan. One grandson is learning to fish, so he got a fish. You get the idea.

You need about 15" of the wider ribbons and twice that of the narrow ribbons. The narrow ribbons get folded in half so they have a little more substance, and they have a tail only on one end. Thread your first bead on the narrow ribbon and move it to the halfway mark. Fold the ribbon in half and thread the rest of your beads on both ends of the ribbon together, like they were one piece. Put three or four nice beads on and then tie a knot as close to them as you can. Then thread several smaller beads on the other end and tie knots on both sides of them. Cut the ribbons at an angle so they don't fray away. With the wider ribbon, the only thing that changes is you tie knots on both sides of the beads at both ends. The length of the ribbons is determined by the size of books they generally read, but I usually try to put at least 10" between the beads. Here are close-ups so you can see them better.

Let your imagination run wild, and your choice of beads, too. Some of you probably have some really cool beads you can use. I used what I had, because I'm trying to do Christmas mostly with what I have on-hand. Money is tight, and we need all we can get to go to Elko to be with the family!

That's today's project. Let you kids make some, too. Don't hog all the fun. Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! Crafting fun to you all,