kojotutorial: favorite book ornament

We love Christmas and we LOVE family traditions. One of our favorite holiday traditions is to give each member of our family an ornament each year. I'd highly recommend this tradition- it makes decorating your Christmas tree a nostalgic adventure. Each year, I unwrap a Fimo clay snowflake from our high school years (a nod to Jord's fascination with that stuff), an organza bag stenciled with a silhouette of the three kings and filled with frankincense from when Jord lived in the middleeast, a felt owl from the year I was pregnant with my son Burke and a whole pile of other gems. See- a nostalgic adventure. :)

The ornament of 2010 is a little book with a fabric cover and bound with thread... the front cover of each one highlights the recipient's favorite book or a book that's been meaningful this past year. Even without the ornament tradition, it'd be the perfect gift for the bookworm on your list!

To make a favorite book ornament, you'll need:
-pages from a Goodwill bound (or Goodwill found!) book... I ripped several pages out of the textbooks I used for shelving in Burke's room
-scraps of muslin
-a Sharpie
-12" of ribbon
-sewing machine and thread

1. Cut your book pages into a short wide rectangle. When you stack them and fold them in half, they should look like a mini, coverless book. Cut a rectangle of muslin, slightly larger than your book page rectangles.

2. For the book's cover, you can freehand the title and author onto the muslin. If you don't trust your own handwriting, print out the title and author. Position the printout behind your muslin and trace your template onto the righthand half of your muslin.

3. Double over your ribbon. Stitch the doubled over ribbon onto the back of your folded-in-half, coverless book. This will act as your ornament hanger.

4. Place your mini-book inside your 'cover' with the ribbon sticking out of the top. Stitch up the side to bind all the pieces together.

5. Done! Make a whole batch for your family and friends to decorate their trees!

ps- This tutorial was first seen on Creation Corner.