Magnetic Bookmarks

Hi there

I'm popping by today to share something different I've been working on lately.

After receiving some great feedback about my traditional tag-style bookmarks and selling many of them in my Facebook shop, I put some feelers out among my book-loving friends about what kind of bookmarks they usually use.  As well as answers such as paper scraps and envelopes, I discovered that many use magnetic ones as well as the tag/strip style.  So behind the scenes I've been making a few different ones to add to my shop, just to see how well they are received.

Here is a quick look at them, although it's quite a photo heavy post!  They are fundamentally all made in the same way; a piece of sturdy cardstock scored and folded, with slim adhesive magnetic strips on the inside.  I've added different designs using techniques including stencilling, stamping, ink blending and colouring.

Dandelions and Stripes

This is a part white/part striped cardstock which I've scored part way through the striped section, the reverse side is entirely striped.  The dandelion images have then been stamped in co-ordinating shades.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Dandelion Dreams
• Ink: Altenew - Silver Stone, Lavender Fields, Sunkissed, Dusk
• Cardstock from stash

Pastel Unicorns

The next three designs are also made with similar cardstock but in more pastel shades, so the stripes cover the reverse side of the bookmark.  I've then stamped the images and coloured with ProMarkers.  I've added some sparkle to the star, unicorn horns and hooves with a shimmer pen.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Fairy Tale Unicorns, Call Cupid
• Ink: Memento - London Fog
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen - Crystal Clear

Solitary Winter Tree

This next one uses white cardstock which I've masked, ink blended and stamped to create a winter landscape scene.  The reverse side is left plain white.

Materials used:

• Stamp: Card-io - Winter Trees
• Ink: Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass, Dusty Concord; Versafine - Onyx Black

Watercolour Scribble Flowers

For this one I randomly stamped the flowers on white cardstock and then watercoloured the entire pattern with Distress Inks mixed with water.  I created the pattern on a piece of A5 cardstock and cut the bookmark from the entire design so the pattern continues on the reverse side.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Lil Inker Designs - Inky Flowers
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Salty Ocean, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Wilted Violet, Squeezed Lemonade

Daisies and Swirls

For this design I lightly ink blended some white cardstock with yellow ink before then ink blending through a floral stencil with a heavier layer of yellow, orange and green.  The pattern continues on the reverse side.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Dutch Doobadoo - Flower Swirl
• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Carved Pumpkin, Bundled Sage

Art Nouveau Roses

This was created in the same way as the daisy bookmark, the background first ink blended with pale pink and then the stencilled pattern blended with pink and purple shades.  The pattern continues on the reverse.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Mini Stencil Set 14
• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet

Snow on Snow

Here I began by ink blending the background with pale blue ink before randomly stencilling the snowflakes in blue and lilac.  I then ink blended through a snowfall stencil and heat embossed the snow to add some texture.  The pattern continues on the reverse.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Crafters Companion Signature Collection - Snow is Falling; Clearly Besotted - Snowy Day
• Ink: Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Shade Lilac; Hero Arts - Unicorn
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Thanks so much for taking a look, I hope you like them :)

Clouds and Rainbows Bookmarks

Hi there

I've been busy making more bookmarks this weekend.  This little collection I started yesterday and the first few took me a little time to make while I figured out the best way to put them together.  I then continued with a few more today and those came together a little quicker.

They all follow the same basic design, but all differ slightly in the placement of the stencilling and die cuts, have different designs on the reverse and I've added a selection of ribbons and twine.

For each I began by inking up the cloudy backgrounds using a stencil.  I then die cut the rainbow from six different pastel shades of textured paper, and put these all together in different sequences of rainbow order. I adhered the rainbow strips in different positions on the backgrounds and die cut the tall tag to create the base of each bookmark.  I then partially die cut more tags, just using the bottom half and used cloud dies to cut different variations which were then layered up on the base of each bookmark.  I die cut more tall tags from different patterned papers and adhered these to the back.  Each was finished with grosgrain ribbon and some twine.

The next three were the ones which I made today and I changed up the backgrounds by stencilling the clouds in different pastel shades, and placing the rainbows lower down to show more of the background.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tags Duo, Stitched Rainbow; Lawn Fawn - Puffy Cloud Borders
• Stencil: MFT - Cloud
• Ink: Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar
• Coloured Cardstock: Papermania
• Patterned Paper: DoCrafts - Designstax: Boofle
• Accents: Grosgrain Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Doodlebug

Thanks so much for looking.  I'm having great fun making these bookmarks, I hope you like them.  

Book Worm Bookmark

Hi there

You may be glad to know (!!) this is the last of my recent bookmark makes, but I had such fun making them I think some more may be created very soon! 

This little guy has been in my stamp stash for years and I've only ever used the set once before so I think he deserved an inking!  And for this one I used the tall tag die with the fishtail which came in the duo set with the other die I've been using.

I began by stamping and colouring the book on a die cut panel of white cardstock.  This was then masked and I ink blended the background in a neutral shade and then blended through a woodgrain stencil with a shade of brown.  I then stamped, coloured and die cut the book worm and adhered him onto the book.  I stamped the sentiment and then die cut a second panel from green polka dot paper and adhered this on the reverse for a cleaner finish.  I then added some gloss to his glasses.

I finished by adding some brown grosgrain ribbon through the slot and tied this with some co-ordinating green twine.  Here is the reverse view...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Bookworm and Bookworm Additions
• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Woodgrain Background
• Ink: Distress Ink - Antique Linen, Rusty Hinge; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo; Clearly Besotted - Bookworm
• Coloured with Copics
• Accents: Glossy Accents; Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

That's all from me today.  Phew!  That was a lot of posts today, thanks so much if you're still with me!

Butterflies and Flowers Bookmark

Good evening

Something that gets neglected in my craft stash is patterned papers, I just don't seem to use them very often on cards.  And after using some of them as co-ordinating back panels of some bookmarks, I thought they would be perfect used as a decorative rather than stamped or stencilled surface of a bookmark.

So that's what I did for this one...

Using a tall tag die I die cut two different designs from a glittered and glossy floral paper pad and adhered these back to back.  I then die cut two butterflies from white glitter cardstock.  The largest was adhered over a solid die cut from deep pink cardstock which I then infilled with Glossy Accents.  Once dry I adhered this to the top of the panel.  So that it didn't look untidy on the reverse I die cut another solid butterfly, from the same cardstock used for the front and adhered this on the back, mirroring the other butterfly.  The smaller butterfly was adhered over another solid die cut using the same paper used on the reverse and this was adhered over some die cut co-ordinating leaves.

This is the view from the reverse side...

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo; Clearly Besotted - Butterfly Duo Die Collection; Creative Expressions - Olive Branch
• Patterned Paper: DecoTime (purchased from The Range)
• Accents: Glossy Accents

I love how this turned out and I have so many lovely papers so I have a feeling a lot more of these will be made!

Rainbow Clouds Bookmark

Yes, you've guessed it, I have another bookmark for you! lol

I went a bit crazy last weekend and couldn't stop making them :)

This one is so fun and perfect for all the rainbow themes that are so popular and relevant at the moment.

This one kind of just evolved as I was making it, I didn't have the whole design in my mind when I started it so just went with the flow.

On a piece of thin cardstock I added some adhesive and then cut and adhered strips of cardstock in rainbow order, before die cutting with the faux stitched tag die.  I also then die cut a piece of white cardstock and adhered this back to back to create a better finish on the reverse.  I wanted to add a cloud to the top, to appear from both the upper and reverse views but the cloud dies I had weren't symmetrical, so when adhered together they didn't line up.  That's where the foam came in.  I found that when die cutting foam it didn't matter which side of the die cut was uppermost, unlike the finish you get with die cut cardstock.  So I sandwiched the top of the bookmark between the two larger clouds and adhered these in place.  To finish, I adhered another single smaller cloud, adding a slim piece of double sided foam tape to secure the overhanging part.  I think this could look cute poking out of the top of a book!

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Papermania - Textured Cardstock
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo, Cloud Trio; Clearly Besotted - Cloudy Days Die Collection
• Fun Foam

Still a couple more to share, will post those very soon.

Leopard Print Bookmarks

Hi there

More bookmarks, and these were quick and easy makes.

All of these use the same animal print stencil which is the part inked in black.  The brown ink on two of the designs was added using an ink dauber.

For this traditional colourway, I cut the reverse layer from some darker brown cardstock...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Leopard Animal Print
• Ink: Distress Ink - Black Soot, Rusty Hinge
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Cardstock from stash
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

For this one, I stencilled directly onto some watercolour-effect patterned paper, and backed it with plain white cardstock...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Leopard Animal Print
• Ink: Distress Ink - Black Soot
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Capsule Elements: Pigment
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

This one has the additional brown ink added with a dauber and the back panel is cut from the same pink cardstock...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Leopard Animal Print
• Ink: Distress Ink - Black Soot, Rusty Hinge
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Cardstock from stash
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

I hope I'm not boring you with these! lol  There are a few more individual ones still to come :)

Mermaid Bookmarks

Hi there

Back again with more bookmarks, these all have a mermaid theme.

All of these were created in the same way, the panel ink blended with Distress Oxides and then stencilled using silver pigment ink.  All were backed with the same patterned paper and have the same ribbon and twine accents.

This one used a mermaid scales stencil...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Small Mermaid Scales
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers; Versa Color - Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Capsule Elements: Pigment
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Doodlebug

This one was splattered with water droplets as well as being stencilled...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Mermaids
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers; Versa Color - Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Capsule Elements: Pigment
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Doodlebug

and this one had water droplets added for interest too...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Mermaids
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers; Versa Color - Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tag Duo
• Patterned Paper: Papermania - Capsule Elements: Pigment
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Doodlebug

Thanks once again for taking a look.  I'll be back very soon with more, yes, I made quite a few last weekend!

Autumnal Bookmarks

Hello again

After creating the cute character bookmarks I thought I'd make some which weren't so time consuming.  I love how they turned out but they were a lot of work.

So, as summer is now over here in the UK, and there's definitely a chill in the air now, I chose to make some with an Autumnal theme, and all of these use stencils and Distress Inks...

This one has a reverse side using the same textured cardstock as the front but is left plain...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Natures's Treasures II
• Distress Ink: Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tags Duo
• Cardstock from stash
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

I ink blended the whole stencil here so had enough to use the design on the reverse layer too...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Sweet Poppy - Foliage
• Distress Ink: Peeled Paint, Barn Door, Walnut Stain
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tags Duo
• Cardstock from stash
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

For this one I used cream cardstock and left the reverse layer plain...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Altenew - Leaf Burst
• Distress Ink: Forest Moss, Wild Honey, Aged Mahogany
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tags Duo
• Cardstock from stash
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

and for this one I repeated the design on the reverse but with lighter ink shades (although I didn't note down which colours I used on the reverse - apologies!)

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Leaves
• Distress Ink: Spiced Marmalade, Old Paper, Crushed Olive
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Tall Tags Duo
• Cardstock from stash
• Accents: Ribbon - American Crafts; Twine - Hemptique

I'd like to link these up at the Allsorts Challenge Blog: Week 591 - Autumn Colours.

Thanks so much for looking, more to come! :)