I never needed bookmarks when I was young, because I always read books in just one day. oh, okay….that is a little exaggerated. But seriously, I would LOVE to get more time to read these days. So on our trip to the West Coast I was hoping to read a book or two. I went to the library and got two books, hoping they were good books. I used to be interested in mysteries (not the scary bloody ones), but the ones that have unexpected twists and turns. Maybe more the sci-fi kind of books.

The book I got from the library was one about time travelling…I thought that was pretty interesting.

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English in the Netherlands

When I was in high school in the Netherlands, we had to read English books. 10 of them. English was my worst subject. Our teacher was not the greatest…she kept mixing up past tense, present tense, future simple, perfect past, aaahhh! Way too complicated…..then my cousin explained it to me within 1 hour.

I remember 3 books: Lord of the Flies (weird!), Wuthering Heights (too much, I closed the book after the first page) and 1984 (best book ever…at that time).

I need bookmarks

Because English is my 2nd language, I need extra time to read English books ( and having 3 kids, who can and will interrupt me every minute). So, books are on my night stand longer than I was hoping for.

Normally, I can read some articles in a magazine, so I CAN be interrupted and not lose the page number. It is different for books, though! That gave me an idea, because I was folding the corner of the pages to find where I was (sorry library lady!). I COULD MAKE BOOKMARKS!

Here are 10 fun DIY bookmarks:

Pompom bookmark

To make these cute Pompom Bookmarks you’ll need

• big popsicle sticks
• tacky glue
• yarn
• pompom maker.  You can find a tutorial how to use these pompom makers here.

Use the green pompom maker or make a pompom in any other way with a diameter of about 2,5 or 3 inches. Make sure you leave a tail of about 3 inches long (2 strands of yarn). Glue the pompom on top of the popsicle stick and glue each strand of yarn on each side of the popsicle stick. Then wrap yarn around the popsicle stick.

Watercolor bookmark

To make these amazing watercolor bookmarks you’ll need:

• 2 pieces of white card stock paper
• water color paint (I love this one, especially when your traveling or outdoor painting)
• brushes
• water
• glue
• scissors
• ruler
• black fine markers

Use 1 piece of white card stock paper to paint with your favorite colors. Try to blend the colors, because…well… it just looks cool.

Let dry.

Cut strips of the other card stock paper 2,5 by 8 inches. Cut smaller strips out of the water color paper, so it fits 1/4 inch of each side of the white paper (2 by 7,5 inches).

Glue the water color paper on the white paper. Make designs with black markers.

Bookmarks to color

If you’re looking for a fun gift (maybe teacher appreciation gift), print these out, color them, laminate them and gift them, or just keep one for yourself!

Monster Corner Bookmark

These are so cute. Use all kinds of scrapbook paper and plain colored card stock. Here is a tutorial.

Magnetic Bookmark

An again, a great idea if you have cute scrapbook paper. These look so adorable and it seems to be very sturdy as well, in case you’re one of those readers, like me, who would loose a bookmark easily. But this one seems to stick to the book. Here you can find a tutorial.

Tassel and Beads Bookmark

If you read this tutorial you’ll find a way how to make tassels. That is the main thing. Then you can add beads and make it as fancy as you want. They use the beaded tassel on a purse or bag, but these would be awesome as bookmarks as well!

Paper clip Bookmark

How sweet are these bookmarks? I found them here. Of course I love the fact that this is a tulip (a Dutch one maybe?). It would be fun to try all kinds of flowers or shapes.

Newspaper Bookmark

I love this idea of using newspaper or old books or music paper to make bookmarks. The first picture are actually labels but you can make them longer so they can be used as bookmarks. For the feathers you can glue to sheets of paper together with a piece of metal thread in the middle. Twist the bottom and cut small cuts on the sides of the feather.

Kids Picture Bookmark

I thought this was a very sweet idea if you’re thinking of giving grandma, grandpa or anyone else who is a reader, this gift. Here is a tutorial.

Fabric Penholder Bookmark

As I showed this bookmark to J, she totally flipped out and asked me if I could make one for her. At school they have a new Reading and Writing program which involves putting sticky notes in the book where the kids need to write things about the main character or where they can find information about the time and place where the story is taken place. Also she could use it for her note-and sketch book. Here is a tutorial. I definitely going to make these soon.

Braided Paper Bookmark

This bookmark I quickly made myself with some left over scrapbook paper. I didn’t even glued it together to make it more sturdy. I thought it looked pretty cool with those V’s and the different colors. You can get this by using scrapbook paper which has different designs on each side of the paper. Here is how you fold it.

Have fun making these bookmarks. I would love to see some comments and I’d like to see how your creations look like. Please post some pictures.

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Danielle

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.