activity days: bookworm club

I was able to read a lot this summer. More than I ever have in a three month period.

And my favorite bookmark held my place in each and every book. 

I know it's nothing fancy, but I purchased the ribbon on my first trip to NYC (and it quickly became one of my favorite places in the world!). The shop was Tinsel Trading--an amazing place and always on my list of "must shop here" places on my subsequent trips. The buttons are by Making Memories, where I worked as education manager and a designer for four years. It was an awesome job and a great company to work for. Yep, I'm just a little sentimental that way. Or maybe it's just "mental." :P

I thought making ribbon bookmarks would be a simple and doable project for my 9-year-old activity days girls. Then I saw Rebecca's Cooper's back-to-school reading logs she created for her little ones, and it all came together. Love when that happens.

digi artwork: Rebecca Cooper  fonts: Lobster 1.4 ; Century Gothic

I started by creating a simple invite using Rebecca's artwork. Love this little row of books. I get a lot of great ideas from Rebecca's blog, simple as that. She is amazing--really.

When the girls arrived, they each shared their favorite book and briefly told why they like it.

Next, we made bookmarks.

SUPPLIES:

ribbon--5/8"-7/8". I chose a variety of red ribbon to remind the girls to Read. Every. Day.

buttons--different sizes so they can be layered.

crochet thread--I use this for everything, but especially for tying tags onto things and stringing items together. It's a good weight and inexpensive.

needles--thicker embroidery needles work best since you'll be threading crochet thread. I pre-threaded the needles because I didn't want to have to do it when it came time to sew our bookmarks.

DIRECTIONS: Cut ribbon 15" long. Fold in half, spreading slightly at the bottom. Trim bottom edges of ribbon at an angle. Layer buttons about 1/4" from top (folded edge) and stitch in place, leaving tails on each end of thread. Tie tails in double knot (right over left, left over right) and trim.

So simple it probably doesn't warrant directions, but I always like to know the little details instead of having to figure them out.

Thank you to my cutie model, Rachel Ostler.

To finish up, I used Rebecca's bag toppers for gummy worms (I re-sized them for smaller cellophane bags) and told the girls they could only eat them while reading. I'm sure each and every one of them listened. ;)

The best activities are always simple and fun.