Do you like to read for fun? I LOVE to when I have time. I need to make more time to read, to be honest, especially because I usually have several books going at one time. I’m currently reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It’s OUTSTANDING! I was enthralled from the first page! I also have The Giver of Stars , Where the Crawdads Sing, and Daisy Jones and the Six, also by Taylor Jenkins Reid, on my nightstand.
I am taking a different approach and listening to the book Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella on Audible. It’s downright hilarious! Maybe I’ll make it through a book if I listen to it in the car?? I’ll update you on that later.
At any rate, in light of January resolutions, and now that the tween isn’t occupying the basement any longer, my sew-jo (and the lights) are back up and I’ve been creating like crazy! It’s been wonderful! I’ve already finished TWO WHOLE QUILT TOPS and it’s not even the end of January! Who does that?!
Since my sew-jo has returned I wanted to see what I could do to make my reading mo-jo return (see also: resolution to READ MORE!) so I decided to make a bookmark for myself. I have to admit that red is not my favorite color (sorry, mom) but paired with this awesome Day of the Dead fabric and, well, this little book mark is knock out! I love it!
Naturally, I decided I should make 5 more for my girlfriends in book club. Because things aren’t done until they are overdone, am I right? and if the Mod Podge is gonna be out, I may as well make it worth my sticky, gluey while.
I cut each Crimson 2 1/2” x 8 1/2” but you can cut your bookmark any size you like. For example, my book mark is 2 1/2” x 8” because I can’t read the lines on my ruler without my glasses. Apparently.
I cut the fabric out two different ways. The first method had me cutting a 2 1/2” strip of fabric and fussy cutting it before gluing it down. The benefit to this is that I could trim around the design and let the Kraftex background show through. I also cut a few little accent pieces for each book mark.
For my second method, I cut a 2 1/2” strip and cut around the entire design but didn’t trim into the design all that much. I had a larger piece of fabric over the Kraftex and trimmed after the Mod Podge dried.
Both results are great, just a slightly different approach.
After I cut and trimmed, I Mod Podged the daylights out of the book marks.
Once they dried, I put on a second coat and let the book marks cure 24 hours. To make the tassel, I cut 3- 12” pieces of perle cotton and strung it through the hole at the top.
And to make sure no one takes a book mark that isn’t hers, I stamped names on the back, including a backwards E (sigh) but you know what? I’m okay with a little imperfection here and there. I’d be remiss not to note that there’s a little lazy sprinkled in there, too…..I’d also cleaned up the Mod Podge.
Read. Craft. Create. Enjoy!
Patty Murphy 