March is National Craft Month – I know this because my Costco Connection Magazine has it on the cover!  Funny that I used to be more into paper crafts than food posts, but this might just bring some crafty additions to my blog in honor of the occasion.  Determined to stay to my purchasing cut-backs goal (we all have to do that, wouldn’t you agree?), I will be crafting with materials that I already have on hand (of which I have a lot) making easy crafts that don’t take a lot of time (of which I am ever running short on) but hopefully not making thing that I have no real interest in using or gifting…I don’t want to be crafty for no practical reason.  Having said that, I have a laundry list of items that I’ve been wanted to try and here’s my first easy craft that I fell in love with the first time I saw them…Warm and Fuzzy Yarn Ball Bookmarks, first seen here!

Here is a slide show of the steps, with written directions below.  These are really easy to make, but you can pause if you need to look more closely!

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How to make Warm and Fuzzy Yarn Ball Bookmarks

1.  Cut 2 lengths of yarn, one 10″ and one 15″, for tying.

2.  Wrap yarn around your fingers – 3 fingers (100 times around) for smaller yarn ball, 4 fingers (120 times around) for larger ball.

3.  Carefully slip the yarn off fingers; put the wrapped yarn over the shorter length of yarn, centering it in the middle.  Tie it tightly – this is where an extra set of hands comes in; double knot.  Slip the longer length of yarn under the tied piece – this will anchor the yarn ball, giving it the tail to use inside the book.

4.  Cut the loops; some loops (the inside ones) may be buried, so watch as you’re cutting for the loops in hiding.

5.  This is what the loops look like after being cut.  They are definitely in need of a trim!

6.  Start trimming; you don’t want to trim too much at first, but this is where a little practice shows a huge difference!

I had a lot of fun making these and I’m looking forward to gifting these, maybe with a book!  I did  experiment a bit.  You can make these with leftover yarn.  I like the look of the pink and white – I just did two colors at a time and wrapped 60 times around (that’s x 2).  I also had an idea for a flower, but I think it looks like the inside of a hard-boiled egg!

You can make these while watching a movie…if you can watch and count at the same time!  Have fun!

Think of the possibilities!