Ideas for Bookmarks

Making bookmarks is probably the easiest homemade craft for gift-giving. It requires only some paper, scissors (or craft knife) and some ingenuity for a design.

Pre-designed bookmarks can be printed from the internet, but if you are giving bookmarks as gifts why not make them extra special by personalizing them in some way? Add a name, poem, favorite quote or photograph and the bookmarks will be appreciated and cherished.

I'm sharing some of my favorite bookmark ideas here for any occasion and especially for giving them as Christmas gifts. I'm also linking to other crafter's sites who have a thing for bookmarks. Use any or all of these ideas and manage that Christmas list!

Here's all you need to make bookmarks.

Papers

Think out of the box on this. I use any sort of paper. Scrapbook paper is my paper of choice because it is available in so many colors. But I also use food packaging (you'll see that later), old calendars, wrapping paper, post cards, and old maps. Use anything you want!

Scissors (or craft knife) and ruler

I've always preferred craft knives over scissors. If you are using a craft knife to cut your papers, you will need a cutting mat and a metal straight edge (ruler).

Stickers

I've purchased some stickers, but believe it or not, many stickers I use have come free in the mail for one reason or another.

Printer

I use my printer to add names and famous quotes, but if you don't have a printer you can always just hand write everything.

Lamination

Not totally necessary, but recommended. Lamination is cheap these days and will give your bookmark a finished look. In a pinch I've also used shipping tape for sealing bookmarks.

Easy peasy

Once you've gathered your supplies, Here's all you do:

1.Cut your papers to size*

2. Add stickers, wording and any embellishments

3. Laminate the bookmark

*Tip #1: When cutting and layering papers, decrease the paper size by 1/2" each direction, length and width. This will give a nice 1/4" border around each layer - like a frame. You can see an example of this to the right. Leanne's bookmark starts with green paper, then the multi-colored paper has a 1/4" border all the way around, then the middle piece of paper has a 1/4" border all the way around as well.

*Tip #2: Add the recipients name to the bookmark for a special touch.

Making the bookmark is the easy part. Coming up with ideas in the beginning is a little more challenging. That's why I'm sharing some of my ideas here with you.

My daughter claimed this one before I even finished it so I added her name to it. You can see below exactly where the chocolate artwork came from - a chocolate bar wrapper! I think this proves that nothing is off limits when it comes to paper. One note: I didn't have any dark brown paper for the bookmark, so I painted some tan colored paper with dark brown paint. It took 2 coats and worked great. I also asked my daughter to come up with a short chocolate comment for the back of the bookmark. She said, "Happiness is a warm truffle," so that's the wording I used on the back.

This bookmark is for my hubby. Yes, you can even make bookmarks for men as long as you make it "manly". Fishing is my husband's favorite hobby so I used fishing as the theme of the bookmark. Again, I added his name to make it special. Also, I found a really neat quote about saltwater so I added that quote to the back of the bookmark (see below). There's no reason to leave the back of the bookmark blank - spice it up!

I decided to go with the wording "Aunt Joy" instead of "Recipes" (see below) because using the name was much more personal than using "Recipes". I did save the "Recipes" words and made another bookmark with it. Aunt Joy always bakes the most wonderful goodies and this was a personal way to show appreciation to her. Hopefully she can use it to mark her favorite recipes in cookbooks. Those cute baking themed stickers came from the Dollar Store.

This bookmark is for my friend Arlene. She taught me seventh-grade science many years ago!

Arlene is a nature lover so I kept that in mind while I made her bookmark. I've chosen some "nature" colors and I'm using some pieces of scrapbooking paper with a nature theme. I'm also personalizing the bookmark with her name. I think she'll love it and use it often. I can't wait to mail it to her.

Girls like bright colors. I was going to make this bookmark for my daughter, but I didn't plan ahead well enough and the paper was too short for her name. So we picked a good friend whose name had only 6 characters. It fit perfect and now we have a special gift for the friend. The green paper I chose for the overall size was white on the back so I cut out another piece of the multi-colored paper and glued it on the back. It's much more interesting that plain white don't you think? I bet Leanne will love the bright colors and girly-ness of the bookmark.

I admit it, this one is all mine. I am an avid birdwatcher and I made this bookmark for myself. These stickers were free in a packet from Audubon and I kept them for a project such as this. I also printed my name in a typeface I like and I added that to the bookmark. Like everyone, I like it when my name is on bookmarks and other items. I added one more bird sticker to the back for interest.

I hope you can see the full lamination sheet in the picture to the right. I took the picture before I cut the bookmarks apart. The laminating sheets at the office supply store are about 9"x12" and I fit 3 bookmarks in one lamination sleeve. The clerk actually let me position the bookmarks in the sleeve, which I appreciated because I shifted them around to get in as many as possible. I also didn't want them to touch each other so they'd be easy to cut apart. The cost? Only $1 per sheet.

There was a thicker option of lamination which was a little more expensive, but this $1 per sheet option was the perfect thickness for my bookmarks.

Adding a quote to a bookmark is an excellent way to make it memorable. Be sneaky and ask someone their favorite quote, then add it to their bookmark.

I've searched and found lots and lots of people making bookmarks. Here are the very coolest of the bunch.