Medals of Honour

We made these medals for all the members of our wedding party. They are a great alternative to traditional boutonnieres or corsages.

They are also the perfect accessories to add a little steampunk or dieselpunk flair to any outfit. Infinitely customizable, you can personalize them to suit any character or event. The groom even included a little Winnie the Pooh on his set!

To make your own medals you'll need:

• scraps of ribbon
• bar pin backs
• jump rings
• thread & needle
• glue gun and/or super glue
• bling: broken bits of jewelry, bottle caps, scrapbooking decorations, coins, toys, etc.

Step 1: Prepare the Ribbon

You can use whatever scrap bits of ribbon you have lying around, but I found the easiest ribbon to work with was the kind with wire running through the edges.

Cut a short length of ribbon. Fold it in half and then fold down the corners of the folded edge to form a nice point.

Sew a jump ring onto the tip of the point and sew together the bent corners. If you are not comfortable doing a little hand sewing, hot glue will also work.

Fold the top end of the ribbon down so you won't have any raw edges exposed.

Step 2: Add the Pin Back

Cut two small slits in one layer of the ribbon and poke through the ends of the bar pin back.

Sew the pin back to the ribbon. Hot glue will also work if you would rather not sew.

Fold over the raw ends and sew or glue them down to finish it off with a nice seam.

Step 3: Decorate

Sew or glue some decorative pieces to the ribbon. We used anything we could find: buttons, broken bits of jewelry, pins, sequins, scrapbooking accessories, etc.

Add a dangling bit to the end of the ribbon with another jump ring. Souvenir coins, necklace charms, buttons and bottle caps work great. You might need to drill or punch a hole in the dangling bit if it doesn't already have a place to attach the jump ring.

Try layering multiple bits of bling on top of one another and gluing them together.

If you are making the medals for your wedding party or other friends, consider making each one a fictional award or honour that individual has earned.

Step 4: Present Them to Your Groomsmen, Bridesdudes, Bridesmaids, Groomswomen or Other Awesome People

Make the presentation of the medals really special by making a custom gift box for them.

We used the box template maker at http://www.templatemaker.nl/ and cut the boxes out of cardstock.

On the inside of the box lid we added the message "It's an honour to have you in our wedding party."