For the ninth day of A Gift a Day, I made bookmarks for my boys. The London bookmarks are from my website, and the medieval bookmarks are some new ones that I made, that are available here.
If you have a color printer, the London bookmarks will print in color.
I decided to do something a little different with these bookmarks. I added some charms to some of them. For others, I used a celestial-themed ribbon.
Bookmarks
cardstock
embroidery thread for tassels (1 skein for each bookmark) or ribbon
clear shelf paper (you can get this at Walmart in the kitchen section. Joann’s also has it 25% today through November 27th)
Free Printable and tutorial from my website
Tools:
scissors
paper cutter (you can use scissors instead)
ruler
printer
Time:
The total time for four bookmarks is around 30 minutes.
Today I made twelve bookmarks.
Cost: $0.43 per bookmark, or $1.72, if you are buying supplies. The charms were $0.42 each, so this doubles the cost of those with charms to $0.86 per bookmark with a charm.
The only thing I purchased this year was the charms. Everything else I already had on hand.
Thanks for this great idea. I love to read and want to encourage my kids to read too, so this is such a nice gift idea. I read your blog frequently and it is one of my favorites, although I don’t comment a lot. Have a good week!
I am in Seattle and the Dollar store here has the clear kitchen contact paper for a $1. I am not sure of the value in comparison to Walmart but the gas it would take me to get to a Walmart would outweigh the savings. I was able to get 15 bookmarks out of 1 roll.
For me, Walmart is close and the dollar store is far. The roll I bought from Walmart, however, has lasted me several years and I have made a lot of things with it, and I still have plenty left. It was $5. So, if you plan on making more than 15 in the next few years and you were close to a Walmart, it’s a better price in the long run. But gas is a very important consideration, and one that I always try to take into account. Contact paper is the kind of thing that I would wait to purchase until I had other things to purchase at the store. I try to make sure I have several things to get from a store before I go there, and I combine errands when I do run errands. I try to stay home and conserve gas as much as possible. (Plus, running errands takes a lot of time and energy that I would rather use for something else).
Is the roll you use called Contact brand clear transparent? Just wondering because I have that here and use it to cover paperback books to protect them.
I love the bookmarks Brandy! I have a question…..I’m not so sure I can apply the contact paper without wrinkles. Is there a trick to it? I suppose it’s just a steady hand.
It is so true that running errands takes a lot of time and energy. I get so frustrated by the time I spend running around!Looking forward to making the medieval bookmarks for one of my girls when you get them posted! They look great!
What a great idea I may make one for my son I am short on ideas for gifts for him he does love to read. The only thing I made this week were 3 picture frames. We purchased unfinished frames from michaels and finished twl of them using yarn and other things from our craft pile. I really need to get more gifts done….kudos to u for working on this already
Thank you for the book marks. I printed out some of your older ones. I decided to put the London ones back to back, and the same with the Paris ones, to make them double sided and extra sturdy (I know my children too well). I still need to cover them and make the tassels. I really loved the charm idea. I do this with ribbon bookmarks. I will a look at my single earrings that might work as charms.
I used some wonderful printables from Simply Fresh Designs to make Articles of Faith booklets for my nieces and nephews, and “Happy Thoughts” inspiration booklets for small sibling gifts. (In my extended family we draw names to minimise Christmas expenses; but somehow it’s morphed into “draw names plus a small gift for everyone”)
I made bookmarks as my wedding favors. I think 100 of them cost me right around $20 including paper, ink, cover, & ribbons/tassels. They went over very well. Everyone thought they were neat, and I gave one to my husband in a book for our first anniversary.This week I made massage oil for my husbands stocking stuffer. A 5oz bottle of good oils normally cost $24.00. I was able to make 20oz for about $30 but I have enough essential oils left over to make another 100oz easily. I thought it was a great gift from wife to husband because he is so hard to make things for.
Love the Harry Potter quote.
Susan, this is how I would do it….I’m not sure how wide your contact paper is. 15″ maybe? Roll it open and figure out how many will fit across with space for margins. Don’t be too tight in case you shift a bit . Cut that measured amount off, then another of the same size for the 2nd side.then just set the sheets aside awhile with a book on them to flatten the spring out of the roll…Maybe you won’t find this a needed step but the laminate we use to cover paperbacks has a definite curl and having the laminate flat helps.We use a bone to smooth laminate…I can’t think of any other household item that would work. They are cheap..a couple dollars and they are good for folding cardstock if you make your own cards. I buy mine through Demco but I would think Joanne Fabric would have them in the craft section. I make nice bookmarks for prizes from the library for various contests throughout the year. They have a display case in the school for children to take turns showcasing their hobbies. One girl collected bookmarks…it felt good to see all the ones she had won from me in there.This is what I do . I make the bookmarks 6″ x 2 1/4″ and make 5 at a time. I have a grid I have drawn in black sharpie that I lay under the sheet of laminate. Peel off the backing and tape the edges of your laminate over the grid, sticky side exposed. I take one bookmark at a time touch just the bottom edge to fit the marking and gradually roll the bookmark on. That is why I tape the laminate down or it will suck up to the bookmark and possibly be misaligned. You can’t adjust if goes wrong, unlike covering a book which has the slick surface. Once you have smoothed them all on take your 2nd sheet and only peel back about an inch on the long side and fit that to the exposed laminate at the bottom, smooth it, then gradually peel back the laminate while smoothing it up the bookmarks.This takes probably 5 min to do the five. I suggest doing the good side first and the back side of the bookmarks second. Run over the whole thing with bone to smooth out any little bibles and get a nice clear adhearance. Cut apart, trim if needed. This works for me…I’ll be interested to hear how Brandy does it.
Ha, I meant BUBBLES not bibles..my kindle print is so small sometimes I don’t notice the auto correct.