Every avid reader and scholar needs a bookmark. It’s a decorative but functional piece of artistic creation that is ideal for avid readers of novels or any type of book, especially useful for college students. A bookmark is also perfect for those who keep the same book on their nightstand for months, reading a few lines before falling asleep. It will also help you dispense with old bad habits of making ears at the corners of your book pages, a habit that leads irremediably to ruining of pages.
So, in this article, we will show you how to make do it yourself bookmarks with personalized quotes and designs that help your items be more impressive and uncommon. Also, we will be sharing some personalization tips. Thanks to those tips, your beloved people will feel your heart and love you more.
Contents
Step-by-step Guide to Making Personalised Bookmarks for Gifts
Maybe you feel uncomfortable with using recycled materials to keep the mark in your novels and have therefore decided to build a practical bookmark. What you need is simply a thick kraft paper of the color of your choice, a nice pair of scissors.
Materials you will need
- Thick kraft paper
- Pen
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Thin jute twine
- Hole puncher
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pattern paper tape
PROCEDURE
Step 1: Take out your ruler, measure, and cut a kraft paper strip of 15-20 centimeters long and 4-5 centimeters.
Step 2: Take out a pencil. Measure and draw from two to three lines to write your letters on.
Step 3: Next, you have to customize the bookmark by writing out your letters, words, and quotes. There is an option of including the receiver’s initials or name on it if you’re thinking of giving it out to someone as a gift. The quote can be personalized with the markers and highlighters in different colors, calligraphically.
You can have the quotes designed horizontally with the name and/or initials of the receiver beneath. The style is left to you, however. Besides the quote you are going to customize, you can also make a border out of a floral design by your designing pen or markers. It depends on how skillful and creative you are while with drawing, writing, or designing tools.
Do pay attention to the width, height, and the font of the letters so that it looks nice and balanced. The quote should be written in simple fonts. However, the choice is left to you, depending on the style you think is best
Step 4: You can also choose to use pattern paper tape on the top end of the bookmark. That will add another decorative touch to it. However, it’s optional.
Step 4: Next, you have to think of a strip to hang the bookmark so you can easily find the last page you read and take it out anytime. You can make use of the thin jute twine, a ribbon, or pompom for this. But first, you need to make out a hole through which you can fix the strap.
So take the hole puncher and punch a hole at the top side of the item where you will like to fix the ribbon or pompom.
Step 6: Now, what you have is just a rectangular bookmark with quotes, a holding strip, and beautiful decoration. However, you can also give it a stylish look by cutting out a triangle with around 90 to 110-degree obtuse angle. The obtuse-angled part will face up like a normal triangle, making the bookmark look like the classic one.
Step 7: Now, your work is almost ready. But you have to fix the twine, pompom, or ribbon. To do this, just insert and tie the knot of the thin jute twine.
Tips
- At first, you thought of a bookmark as a wonderful idea. Now, you’ve designed a blank one that looks just very functional. In this way, however, you will only have a piece of paper, which, having no distinctive feature or, in fact, no value, will soon be lost. The perfect bookmark, which lasts over time and is always found in the right place, must be quite original, unique, and recognizable. We, therefore, recommend that you add decorations to your cardboard, using pens, pencils, felt-tip pens, glue, and possibly other pieces of paper. This way, you can be sure that your stuff is never mistaken for a simple piece of paper, ending up in the trash.
- Embossed or laminated cardstocks are the most commonly used type of paper for bookmarks. However, kraft papers are also a good option. You can find natural kraft papers, recycled kraft papers, white, black, colored or printed kraft papers. They are inexpensive, foldable, and lightweight.
- It’s advisable to make multiple bookmarks with different quotes, designs, and marker colors, perhaps if you have multiple gift recipients or you want to have one or some for yourself. You had better make bookmarks that match the recipient’s personality and add their own personal symbols. For example, if your father loves traveling, then you draw an airplane. Or providing your sister who likes orange, you ought to choose a template with that color, etc…
- The art of making customized bookmarks with quotes can be fun and enjoyable. Cutting the paper and perforating can be completed in 5 minutes. However, where the task lies is in the design aspect with the writing tools. Highly recommend you search for the letter fonts on Pinterest where you will get various ideas for handwriting. In case you have no calligraphic skill, you may want to ask a friend or anyone with good handwriting, drawing, or calligraphic skills.
- If you’re not good at decorating, there are lots of bookmark decorative templates online to speed things up and let you have a perfect design. Just download one online and print it at the back of your papers.
- When it comes to DIY bookmarks there is really no limit to the imagination, nor to the possible materials to be used for construction. You can make use of papers, cardboard, strings, and flowers are always welcome!
Give it to whom and on which occasions?
Now, you’ve probably made and designed your crafts. You have up to a dozen or more. And you’re thinking who the beneficiary would be and on what occasions you can give them.
Surely in your circle of acquaintances, there are three or four avid readers, and therefore people who do not spend a day without plunging their noses into the pages of a book. You can make them happy with a simple and inexpensive gift that will always be under their eyes. In this case, however, it will be necessary to think of something more complex and aesthetically satisfying than the simple cardboard we have seen for personal use.
You’ve probably watched dad or mom struggle to keep her last page open in between reading, launch time, and reading. On their 50th or 60th birthday, anniversary, Father’s Day, you could make them some personalized bookmarks and include them in the gift set you’ve been planning. They will very much appreciate it.
You can also choose to offer your favorite teacher a personalized bookmark gift. It’s not for the motive of improving your grades but a form of a thank-you gift for the imparted knowledge and zeal for art and creativity that are buzzing through you.
Personalized bookmarks with quotes can also be given to your best friends as you all graduate from high school. Gifting them the meaningful gift can be you urging them to keep studying in preparation for college. You can even customize a quote that urges them to read. You can offer your bookworm friend one on his birthday or any random day and he will appreciate and make use of it.
Definitely, you have to be the first patronizer of your craft. You can keep three for yourself. This can help you sell your craft while you use them in the public library, at school, at the park, on the train, in a quiet bar, or a bookstore.
Conclusion
When you have to close a book and want to make sure you don’t lose your mark, you tend to use just about anything you find out of hand – a pen, a postcard, a candy wrapper, a post-it note, a flower, or even a toothpick. However, it would be much, much more convenient to be able to count on a specially created bookmark.
Now, with the creative ways to make bookmarks that we have shown you, you will no longer lose your last read page again. You can insert it into the book at the beginning of the reading and carry it forward page after page, chapter after chapter, up to the final point.
When personalized, bookmarks can be unique and can be an impelling urge to read. Personalized bookmarks can therefore be the perfect gift you can think of for all avid readers. Have a swell time creating yours!