Magnetic Bookmark DIY

Today is the first day of Literary Love 14! And today I have one of the easiest bookish projects here for you today, a Magnetic Bookmark DIY.

Now if you know me at all, you know I carry a book with me EVERYWHERE I go.  And a pet peeve of mine is my bookmark falling out of my book.  The solution to this problem?  A magnetic bookmark.  I made one maybe 7 years ago and I still use it.

So today I am going to show you how you can make your own magnetic bookmark easily and quickly, with just a few materials.

Don’t you love my old file folder? It’s titled “Rebecca’s Bat Mitzvah” – an event that happened over 15 years ago. . . yup, still have the file folder apparently.

MATERIALS

• File folder – new or old, it doesn’t matter.
• Scrapbook paper – here I chose a cute owl print and some leftover “air mail” paper from another craft project
• White chalk – for tracing, it’s so much easier to remove than pencil or pen, but you can use pencil for tracing, too
• Scissors or a paper cutter 
• Glue – I used Elmer’s Glue-All, but I’ve also used the regular Elmer’s glue and it works just fine
• Magnets – I like the magnetic tape on a roll because you get a good amount for a small price and can cut the magnet strips the exact size you want. Also, my magnetic tape has a sticky back, so I don’t even need to use glue for that part of the project.
• Ruler – Not pictured because I can’t find one (the perils of being in temporary housing), but if you don’t have a ruler, you can use the straight edge of anything, like a book

 

PROCEDURE

1. Gather your materials and find a good working space.

2. Take a look at your scrapbook paper.  If you fold it over the crease in the file folder will half of it be upside down?

Below, I provide an example of what I mean.  My owls would be upside down if I folded them over, so for the owls, I needed to cut one piece to fit each side of the bookmark. For my air mail paper, it doesn’t matter if it’s upside down, so I can just fold the paper over the crease.

3. If your paper needs to be upright on both sides, trace and cut your scrapbook paper so that you have 2 pieces that are the same size for both the front and the back of the bookmark.  Then, trace and cut the file folder, with the crease at the top (so you can use it as the “bend” in the bookmark), so that if you open up your file folder piece, you will have a piece that is double the length of what you cut.

If your paper does not have the upside-down problem, you can fold it over the creased edge and glue it first.  Then, you can trace and cut the file folder to the size of a bookmark once it dries.

4. Take your scrapbook bookmark pieces and glue them to the outside of your file folder bookmark.

 

4. Cut your magnetic tape.  You need 2 pieces of tape that are the same size for 1 bookmark.

Stick or glue one of the magnets where you would like it on the inside of the bookmark, near the bottom. Then, unstick the second magnet, turn it to the wrong side (the magnetic side, with the sticky side up), and place it on top of the glued-down magnet.  Then, close the bookmark.  This will attach the second magnet to the exact place where it goes, and the bookmark will close perfectly, magnetically together.

5. Once they dry, try them out in a book!

They won’t fall out, no matter how hard you shake the book upside down!

 

Did you write a book love-ish post for this week?

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