What goes better with books? Why bookmarks, of course!!
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I love the idea of handmade gifts, but at not-quite three years old, our girls aren’t yet skilled enough to make traditional (and/or recognizable without written explanation) crafts.
Still, they love to color and do finger paints, so over the past year, I’ve “re-purposed” quite a bit of their artwork. I’ll have them color on large sheets of paper to use as gift wrap. Coloring or finger painting easily turns into the background for a scrapbook page, or the mat for a photo.
And this holiday, our friends and family will be receiving handmade bookmarks, featuring the artwork of Baby A and Baby B.
I had the girls finger paint on large pieces of white paper.
Once dry, I cut out 1 ¼”-wide strips of their colorful smears.
I then glued the painted strips to larger pieces of cardstock, Baby A’s on one side, Baby B’s on the other.
In addition to capturing the girls’ skill set at this point in time, I love how the girls’ approaches are so different from each other. Baby A uses handfuls of paint, while Baby B uses a little paint to go a very long way…resulting in two distinct styles. I signed the girls’ names to the bottom of each bookmark.
I had the bookmarks laminated at an office supply store. (They were able to fit six on a legal-size laminated sheet for $1.98 per sheet!)
I cut the bookmarks out, punched a hole in the top, and used a clear hole reinforcement label to seal the hole.
I used coordinating ribbon to finish the bookmarks, and I added some decorative beads on some of them, as well.
I think our friends and family will love having a small sample of my girls’ artistry, and in a functional format. I plan to let the girls help me wrap (which will probably involve stuffing the bookmarks in a gift bag). And I’m going to attach the following picture with a “Look What We Made” tag.
Happy Handmade Holidays from Baby A and Baby B!
