Craftiness

When we lived in South Carolina many years ago a crafty friend taught me how to make book marks using waxed linen cord and beads.  I have enjoyed doing these ever since.  

The bookmark has a charm on one end and beads on the two tails.

 

Two tails.  One for Old Testament reading and one for New Testament reading

In the past I could find charms at Walmart for a decent price but I quickly learned the best way to find them was in the jewelry section of thrift stores.   If I were willing to pay a higher price, I could find nice ones at Hobby Lobby.  

I have shared and sold these ever since.  At one point a local Friends of the Library bought them from me each month to sell in their bookstore (a GREAT place to find some good books for a terrific price).  Over the past few years I have been working on other things and the bookmarks got put on the back burner.

When we started thinking about being vendors at the Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market (CAFFM), we thought about having craft goods at different prices.  The shawls are the most expensive because I use higher priced yarns and they take quite a bit of time and of me to get done.  Baby blankets are moderately priced because I usually use a cotton yarn or sometimes an acrylic or nylon (I usually do not like to use animal yarn because one never knows about allergies for baby or Mama).  I wanted to have something that was inexpensive to offer.  I remembered the bookmarks and decided this would be a great thing to have available.

Usually these sell for $2.50, but I have also used them as promotional items (if you were one of our first Facebook followers you should have received one).  I have taped them to business cards and kept them in my purse to give to people I met.  The ladies at the business license offices have all received one.  I especially enjoy gifting them to children to encourage a reading habit.

Unfortunately, I no longer had any beads so I started shopping.  I quickly discovered the cost of the beads and especially the charms had risen significantly in the past ten years (like everything else!).  I hit every thrift store in the area and even their prices for costume jewelry had risen quite a bit.  I went ahead and paid the price and got started making them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last time I sat down to start making more I realized I was quite low on nice charms so I started hunting on Etsy.  One just never knows what one will find on Etsy!  I found a shop called CollegeDreaminKid and thought he has what looks like wonderful charms in bulk.  I started browsing through his store and placed a small order to see what would happen.  

Oh my goodness!  This young man is a treasure and his charms were a lovely surprise.  We had several conversations over the course of a week and I am quite impressed with his graciousness and his business.  He even tucked in extras and sent a discount coupon for my next order as a "thank you" for doing business with him!

 

I have been having fun ever since making some very popular bookmarks.  I may list some on the Etsy shop as well.  What do you think?