Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Elastic Bookmark Tutorial

I purchased these 2 bookmarks last month on a shopping trip to Spokane. The Northtown Mall has a couple shops dedicated to selling handmade stuff. I'm not sure if they're up all year or if it's just for the holidays, but it was quite fun to browse them!

There is no reference as to who made these bookmarks & no link to where I could possibly purchase more. And I'm not driving the 5 hours, round-trip, to get some more. (This should be a lesson for all you that sell handmade!) So, I decided to whip up some more as gifts & give a tutorial at the same time!The supplies are few: Scissors, a ruler, elastic cording (more about the exacts later on), various charms or beads, & possibly some double rings.
The first thing you'll do is take your cording & cut a 15" length. I made some bookmarks using round cord elastic---which is what the ones I purchased were made from---but I found them to fit rather tightly around the books. So, I used beading cord elastic instead, which looks almost the same, except is not as thick. It worked great!

Find the center of your cording & slide your charm to that point. If you don't have charms you can also fasten beads onto head pins or eye pins & make your own "charm".
Some charms might not have a very large opening for the cording to slide through, so you can slide your charm onto a double ring. (A double ring is sold in the jewelry section of your craft store. It looks EXACTLY like the rings you slide keys onto, only it's itty bitty. I used the 6mm size.) Here I used a shrinky dink charm I made. Keeping the cording secure & even, make a knot right above your charm.
Next, knot the ends together. You may need to trim the ends to even it up a bit. That's it. For reals. No lie.

The way these bookmarks work is SO cool. Slide it over the page you want to mark the place of.
And look, this is me shaking the book----the bookmark doesn't even move! You can toss your book in a bag, travel with it, drop it, & you'll never lose your spot!!







To present your elastic bookmark as a gift, just cut a piece of decorative cardstock or heavy paper to a rectangular shape, (I cut a long rectangle & folded it in half), punch a hole near the top, & slide your bookmark through, looping the bookmark through itself to keep secure. Groovy gifts, sweet stocking stuffers! Have fun! I made 5 of these & it took me, like, 5 minutes.

36 comments:

  1. love your tutes! thanks and i also lurve your music. i've been lurking for a month or so...

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  2. LOVE THEM, how awesome!

    Nikki, I love your blog, you always have something inspiring, come over to my blog and see what I have there.

    Hugs,

    Debxx

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  3. So cute...love it and I have everything to make these right now! I think these would also be adorable to adorn gifts instead of a bow! :) Thanks for sharing another fabulous idea!

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  4. These are so cute. What a great idea!

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  5. What a neat idea!

    My daughter wanted to make a bookmark the simple paper kind, but I am sure she will have a blast helping making those.

    Since I read your blogs I see cupcakes everywhere, from my pjs to kid's clothes in the store on prints, in my oven, ......

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  6. Thanks for visiting me Nikki! :) And yes, it's a pinecone (hard to tell with the terrible pics, right?) I've had that little charm in with my jewelry supplies since I was a teenager...waiting for the right day and the right project. I think it finally found the perfect home! Thanks again, love your blog!

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  7. Thanks Nikki for this! Now I know how to personalize the book I am buying my sister for Christmas :)

    Stacie

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  8. what a spec-tac idea!! of course it is even better with home-made charmity goodness...mmmmm

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  9. I'm going to make these tomorrow!! While I wait for your Esty sale!

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  10. These are the best idea EVER!! I didn't even realize how they would work until I saw the pic- I'm a little slow due to it's my like 3rd day w/o caffiene ;( -but what a great idea!! My books are always get moved or knocked over by the littles and my bookmark falls out constantly- never again!!

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  11. Oh how fun! You always post the best stuff! I'll be linking.

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  12. I shared this idea with my steering team today and they LOVED it! One girl said she had a bookmark like this forever and it recently broke...can't wait for the ladies to try this soon!

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  13. I love your elastic bookmarks. I was thinking of making a similar one and did a Google search to see what was out there and up popped your site. I was going to use some silver or gold cording that I have. I just made some magnetic bookmarks and have them up on my blog.

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  14. this are fab, and whilst watching tv last night i managed to make 6 in not even 5 mins.
    thanks for this.
    love your blog btw.
    xxx

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  15. Thanks SOOOO much!! I have been looking for a gift for my friends for Christmas and I think this will just be perfect...and not to pricey either. ADORABLE!!

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  16. Thank you so much for sharing this idea. I used it for a lesson with my visually impaired middle school students. They loved the idea- and so did the school media specialist. Bookmarks promote literacy!
    I blogged about it here.
    http://banchomarba1.livejournal.com/139530.html

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  17. Love these! I'm going to Spokane on Sunday maybe I will have time to drop into the mall for some last minute gifts since we don't have anything like that in Yakima!..Thanks for the tutorial also!

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  18. Love this idea very cute never seen this before.Absolutely a make for last min gift( wonderful for those amazing readers in our lifed.)
    Thank you so much!
    Have to re link you for other to come see this tutorial!
    hugs

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  19. I had received one of these (not homemade) as a gift and have been trying to figure out how to recreate them. Stupid me... you have made it soooo easy. Thank you! I will be making these as gifts for Christmas!

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  20. I love this idea for Christmas gifts (and myself!), but I have had the hardest time finding this cording. I have only been able to locate much thinner elastic cording...either in white or rainbow colors. I have looked at Michael's, AC Moore and Wal-Mart---which is about it on the craft stores in my area outside Charleston, SC. Any help?
    Thanks!

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  21. Same question as the commenter above: Where did you by the beading cord elastic? Looked at Hancock's today and our local bead store -- no luck, just the type of elastic you found too tight. I'd love to know your source. Thanks! --Nancy, nancywalters44@hotmail.com

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  22. Thank you for posting this tutorial. I had my Sunday School class (4th and 5th graders) make these for their mothers for Christmas presents. We put a cross charm and a beaded charm on the bottom which made it extra big. I bought some of the beaded charms and made the others with leftover beads. I found the beading cord at Hobby Lobby. I did find it necessary to add jump rings (the keychain kind worked best with these kids) to the crosses because the holes were too small to get the cording through. This is a great project!!!

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  23. Love this idea! Featured you on my blog!

    Happy New year!
    Stacey

    http://29lincolnavenue.blogspot.com/2010/01/check-this-out-for-new-year.html

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  24. Thanks for this fabulous idea! I've added these to my list of makes for christmas gifts. :)

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  25. This is still my favourite craft that I learnt from your blog - I've got a stash of elastic at the ready at home, and I've hung charms, beads, buttons and whatever tiny cute thing I have on hand for the readers around me. =)

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  26. such a lovely gift...thanks for sharing how you made it.
    send gifts to Pakistan from uk

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  27. Such a clever Idea.. I love it. Thanks for sharing.

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  28. Great project! I just wanted to let you know that we featured this project on our Facebook page with over 12,000 fans. We’d love it if you’d use our Featured Blogger button, available at: http://www.dailycraft.com/thank-you-for-crafting/. Our audience loved the project and we look forward to sharing more from you. Please let us know if you have any questions or projects you’d love us to feature! Thanks!

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  29. Great and easy tutorial! I read like a madwoman so I often need a lot of bookmarks. Now I can make some of my own and they won't slip out of my books!

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  30. I went out and bought the supplies and made several of these today! So easy and cute!

    For those of your having trouble finding the cord, try the sewing section. The jewelry and craft section in my local store (Hobby Lobby) didn't have any elastic cord but I eventually found it right next to the velcro and other types of elastic in sewing. The cord width I got was 1/32inch and fit through my beads and charms without any jump rings needed.

    I did wonder if the elastic would wear out eventually but I figured since I got 5 yards of the cord for only $1.50 I can always just replace it and re-use the charms if it ever happens.

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  33. Wow amazing and simple! Thanks heaps for sharing this with us.

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