Paper Crafts: How To Make Your Own Handcrafted Bookmarks!

I love making handmade bookmarks for my family and friends as I usually make them and then stuff them into a greeting card I made and send them off to them via postal mail. (yes folks, I still LOVE paper cards and postal mail as I am not a big fan of email cards at all).

Making your own bookmarks is a great way to use up a lot of your paper scraps and left-over scrapbooking supplies. I throw all my scraps into a bin and then use those scraps to make them. Here is what you will need if you want to make a few for yourself or for friends.

1 piece of white cardstock measuring 2 1/2" wide by 7 1/4" long
various scraps of solid and printed pieces of scrapbooking paper
fibers and ribbons
stickers and/or cardstock cutouts
paper trimmer and/or scissors
hole puncher
glue dots, glue sticks and self-adhesive foam dots
brads, eyelets, tiny charms and other embellishments
optional: ink pads, daubers, rubber stamps, chalks, colored pencils, etc.

Cut down your white cardstock so that it measures 2 1/2" wide by 7 1/4" long. Use a paper trimmer or scissors and trim down your scrapbooking paper so that it will cover the front and back of your bookmark. Use a glue stick to attach the scrapbooking paper to the cardstock bookmark. Use a hole puncher (I like using an 1/8" diameter punch) to punch a hole at the top of the bookmark so that you can insert fiber or ribbon through it.

Now comes the fun part...you can decorate your bookmarks any way you like. I try to use up scraps left-over from my scrapbooking projects.

For the one I made today...I used purple fibers, purple ribbon, purple ribbon bow, green metal brad, a sticker that says "Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments" that I mounted onto dark purple cardstock and applied it to my bookmark using adhesive foam dots to give it added definition. I also inked the edges of my bookmark with dark purple ink.

As you can see...once you make the cardstock bookmark you can decorate them to your little heart is content using a variety of scraps and left-over supplies that you have laying around your craft room. This is a great project for you to do with older children too!

Happy Crafting!!!