I’m going to be setting up at the Vintage Home Market show in Richmond, VA this Spring and decided to add some bookmarks to my handmade merchandise. My inspiration for making bookmarks came from some lovely wool I recently purchased at a thrift shop.

Doesn’t it just scream, “Use me for bookmark tassels?”.

Look at the wonderful textures and colors. So yummy!

Several people asked me to make beach themed junk journals for this show so I decided to add some beach themed book marks to my stock as well. Here is a quick step by step run through on how I made them along with the final results.

I cut some watercolor paper into strips.

Then I just scribbled on some blue watercolor paint.

I added some green and a darker shade of blue to completely cover the surfaces.

I added the bubbles by wiping away the paint with a baby wipe through a stencil. I painted on some seaweed fronds as well.

I cut out several seahorses with a Tim Holtz Bigz die and my Big Shot machine.

The seahorses were painted, sealed with glitter decoupage medium and dotted with a white Uniball pen. I made the eyes from gold sequins with a black paper dot for the pupil.

Some of the large bubbles got a glitter treatment and the seahorses were glued on to each bookmark. Captions were printed out, edged in blue ink and adhered to the base.

As I consider each piece a work of my own art I signed each one before slipping them into a plastic bookmark sleeve from Clear Bags. Some pieces of the inspiration wool was tied to the tops.

I also added decorative paper to the backs to finish them off. Here are the close-ups.

These bookmarks are really sturdy and well protected by the plastic sleeve so they will last a long time. They are perfect for taking on a cruise or beach vacation! I will be selling them at the Vintage Home Market in April.

Bookmarks are a lovely small way to create art that also serves a function. Cut some paper strips and let your own creativity flow while you make your own bookmarks!