My dad used to live inside his books. He would write notes in the margins and dog ear pages with his favorite quotes. Pages would be wrinkled from spilled water or coffee and the spines of his books might hold crumbs or notes with quotes or drawings on them. His books were alive with his essence and he immersed himself fully in the stories he read.
For me, my reading experiences are completely different. I hate even cracking the spine of a new book. When a book smells new, freshly pressed with ink and glue…it’s magical. I almost never read or drink when I’m reading, for fear of damaging the pages and I never dog ear anything…rather just fill my book with little Post-Its or bookmarks to remind myself of favorite passages or quotes.
As a reader, you really can’t have too many bookmarks…especially if you’re one to read more than one book at a time. For me, anything can act as a bookmark. Junk mail, ripped up magazines, paperclips…but why use trash to dirty your books when you can make your very own beautifully painted watercolor bookmarks?
Painting with watercolors is so fun and easy…and it’s a great way to introduce yourself to painting if you’ve never painted before.
These lovely watercolor bookmarks are so easy peesy lemon squeezy…and you can add your favorite quotes to them and give them out as gifts or keep them for yourself!
How to Make Watercolor Bookmarks
Materials:
- Watercolor Paper
- Watercolor Paint
- Brushes (any variety will do, up to you!)
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Mod Podge or Glue
- Spray Adhesive
- Letter Stickers
Directions:
If you want to add a quote to your bookmark, you can either do it before or after you paint. You can print it on your watercolor paper before painting anything or, if you have a snazzy printer, you can paint your bookmark and print your quote on later. For me, I have a crappy printer…so I’m going to paint my bookmarks first, then add lettering with stickers.
- Using a ruler and a pencil, lightly trace the outline of your bookmark, making it as tall and as wide as you’d like it to be.
- Have fun painting! Combine like colors for an ombre effect or mix and match to create amazing and unique designs. If you’re struggling for inspiration, YouTube and Pinterest are great places to start!
- Once you’re done and your paper has dried, cut out your bookmarks. I let mine sit under a heavy book for a few hours just to help it dry flat.
- For a sturdier bookmark, I glued mine to cardstock, then cut those out as well. Place them under a heavy book to dry flat.
- If desired, you can punch a hole at the top and add a tassel for that traditional bookmark look.
- For my quote, I placed my stickers carefully with tweezers, then covered the whole bookmark with a very light coat of spray adhesive. You can also use Mod Podge, but I like how spray adhesive doesn’t weigh the paper down or cause bubbles.
And there ya go! A whole assortment of colorful and unique bookmarks that are just begging to be used!
Celebrate creativity every Wednesday with a “Creativi-bee” post, where I share easy craft tutorials, project ideas, and craft collections.
The Hob-bee Hive 