Aloha, all!
Those who have been around the craft room lately know that one of my favorite possessions is my Kindle eBook reader. With all the traveling that I'm doing this year, it's sure nice to have to "lug" only one little piece of equipment around with me yet still have at least a half dozen unread books in my purse!
But that doesn't mean I don't need bookmarks. For one thing, it's still a lot cheaper to borrow a book from the library. Even though I can now borrow eBooks, sometimes I just like to go over to our little public library and browse around the shelves and pick up something by an author who is new to me. For another thing, there are lots of books in my kitchen – cookbooks! I can have a half dozen or more bookmarks in just one cookbook to mark my favorite recipes!
So it was a natural for me to join a bookmark swap when one of my online groups organized one last month!
When it came to designing my own bookmark, I went right for the Stampin' Up! Specialty Designer Series Paper, "First Edition." The "specialty" part of this paper is that it's a lighter weight than most Designer Series Papers from Stampin' Up! That doesn't mean that it's not of a high quality, though. It's just good for projects and accents that require a lighter weight. In this case, I did need to add a bit of weight to the bookmark, so I mounted a layer of the First Edition paper on either side of some lightweight cardboard (the kind that ships in a package of Designer Series Paper is perfect!).
The really fun part about this design was that I decided not to stamp on the bookmark, but to do a little bit of stenciling! I really like using Stampin' Up!'s Decor Stencils for paper crafting, though you can use them for fabric and furnishings as well. Once I positioned the stencil, from the Stencil Set, Vintage Ornaments, I inked up a Sponge Dauber with some of the new Island Indigo Classic Ink and sponged away. I placed the stencil again and made a second image on each side of the bookmark. I punched some of the Island Indigo Card Stock with the Decorative Label Punch and folded it on each end of the bookmark before punching a hole and added some Very Vanilla 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon at one end.
As I write this I'm getting ready to leave home to go to the Stampin' Up! convention in mid-month. If I receive the other bookmarks back from the swap before I leave, I'll post them for you to see tomorrow!
Your assignment for today is to go find some fun card stock and make a bookmark – and have fun with it!
