Making Your Own Lanyards with Beads, Boondoggle, Ribbon and Vinyl

Princess Five was chosen to be a Youth Leader for a 4-H summer retreat for 5th grade students. Each leader and co-leader will have 20 students in their group. They were each give a color and asked to pick a Jungle animal to fit their theme this year.


Princess is really excited about this camp and being able to help make a difference in the lives of younger kids. She LOVES 4-H and I am grateful that her friends family is so involved and have gotten her involved as I haven't been involved in 4-H for years since the older girls were in it. 


She decided that she would be the "White Tigers" with her co-chair. He is in charge of doing a few things and she is in charge of doing a few things. 

She wanted them to have cute lanyards to hang their name tags from instead of the little silver bungee elastic types.  

I have a large roll of white binding ribbon that she liked. We could have used satin ribbon but thought the vinyl she wanted to use might not stick as well. 
 
We also could have used ribbed ribbon but would have the same problem so we decided to go with this white, not slick binding ribbon and the best part is that it was free because I already had it. 
 
I used one of her favorite lanyards to get the length we wanted. You need to add an inch or so onto the length so you have enough to roll up and make the loop for the ring to go into. 
 
She needed 20 made so to save time, I just looped the ribbon around my hands until I had 20 loops.
This way you can only make two cuts rather than 20. 

 
This also makes them a standard length. It is easier if you have someone hold out there hands and you loop it over them and it is much faster with two people.
 
You need ribbon, a keyring, a clip hook, a sewing machine and a plastic name holder if you are using it for a name tag. You can use a larger clip if you are using it for a key chain. 
 
Make sure you don't get any twists in the ribbon. Put the two raw cut edges together and roll them up about 1/4 inch and then over on top of itself again about 1/3 inch. It almost looks like a cinnamon roll from the side. 

Stitch it on the sewing machine using a similar thread color to the ribbon you choose. I used a zig-zag stitch to catch the raw edges in the middle so they wouldn't fray. You need to sew it at the top edge so you leave room at the bottom for the ring to be put in. 
 
Notice in one of the pictures that I sewed all the edges together without cutting the thread. This saves on thread and also makes it so the thread won't come out of the needle accidentally. It was easy to cut them apart after I was done sewing them. 
 
Once it is sewn, you thread the key ring onto it. I bought mine at second hand stores in "craft kits" and when someone makes or gives me a keychain I don't want, I take off the ring and save it for this type of craft. 

If you don't need a ton, go to a car repair shop and ask them if you can get a few of their little key chain temporary ones they attach to your keys when you are getting your car worked on. 

Or, go to a local college or insurance agency and ask if they have any keychains they use to advertise. You can go to several places and use those if you are desperate but they aren't that expensive to purchase online depending on how many you need. I found an entire bag of key chains for $1 at a second hand store so we had plenty for her craft. 


You can use any ribbon you like to make them as well. I found this cute boating ribbon for $.75 at a second hand store that we will use for a camp tag when I get time to work on it. :-) 

After you put the ring through, you can add the clip hook. There are many sizes of these so make sure you purchase the right size. 


Princess wanted to add boondoggle on the bottom before the clip so you can tie off the boondoggle you make and slip it onto the ring and then hang the hook clip from that. She is using glow in the dark and black but hasn't figure it all out yet and I didn't want to wait to post it so you get the idea. 


She also has glow in the dark beads so she is going to put one on the clip hook as well so that their lanyards will stand out during the day and at night. 

I melted the ends of the lanyard but that wasn't the best idea as they burnt through. I then decided to use "Gorilla Glue" or super glue to seal the knot and keep the ends from coming undone. Just make sure to keep the glued tip up off the counter or paper so it dries not sticking to anything. I just stuck it on the edge of the scissors until it dried. 
 
You could also add beads to the lanyard itself putting them on the ribbon before sewing the ring end up. It could get bulky so make one before doing much work and wear it for a day to make sure it is what you really want. 

She is adding vinyl to hers using black vinyl cut into the letters "Tigers" and will stick that on the ribbon but you could also use my favorite markers, "Sharpies" to write on them or have them get their friends signatures etc. 
 
I thought a few strips of the zebra black and white Duct / Duck tape on the ribbon would be cute also and look like "tiger" stipes. There are lots of fun ideas with these. Check out the video for more clarification. 

Update: She spent time at her friends yesterday finishing up the vinyl lettering and didn't the "tigers" come out cute for the lanyards we made! Also, she has almost finished the boondoggle she is making in black and white. She has one left to do. Can you tell she is excited to do her 4-H camp this summer?