Christmas Card Bookmarks {upcycle tutorial}

*Hey everybody! Season 10 of So You Think You’re Crafty is going to be the most fantastic one yet. It’s the All Star round so many of you have asked about. We’re having some past favorites and winners going at it again! It will be starting January 16th. I have a great schedule of guest posts and shop spotlights lined up from now until then. Happy New Year!*

Hey Y’all! So happy to be visiting today! Isn’t SYTYC the best?!?! I’m Alicia and I blog over at The Creative Vault.

You know, the usual, crafty food and sewing blog type stuff. I’m an Alabama mom, and have two great kids, Maggie and Jackson. I love all crafts and craft related things but lately I’ve really started to become one with my sewing machine and will be posting lots of clothing tutorials for women, boys and girls this year so feel free to stop on by and follow along!

If you know me at all you know that I absolutely LOVE to re-purpose things. There is something so satisfying about turning something old into something new. Nearly everything I do is re-purposed in some way. It’s important to me to use what I have and not be wasteful. For tips and rules on salvaging items you can read my post HERE.

Today I wanted to show you a personalized gift that you can make using leftover Christmas cards. I love getting Christmas cards but I hate throwing them away come January. I really have no need to keep them, so I often like to turn them into a cute bookmark to give back to my friend. It’s a simple little thing you can give as a little birthday gift or even a “thanks for being my friend” token. The best part is you know they like the picture. Heck, they’re the ones that picked it out!

There are so many possibilities. You can even use your own leftover cards or pictures to make gifts for the grandparents or rip through your old magazines. I mean what tween doesn’t want to be staring at Justin Bieber while reading that book for English class? And yes, I’ll admit the super creepy bookmark of Edward Cullen is mine. What can I say? I just can’t read Twilight without it.

But I digress… let’s get back to the Christmas cards. These not only are great because they are personalized but they are durable, and cute. I also like that they are large in size so you’re not losing it, but not so thick that you warp your book

Want to make your own????

Supplies:

Card or other picture
Card stock paper
Fabric scraps
Ribbon scraps
Scissors
Glue Stick
Sewing machine
Lamination machine, contact paper OR clear packing tape

Step 1: Cut out picture from card and attach to card stock with glue stick. Cut the entire piece to be about the size that you want your bookmark to be.

Step 2: Laminate entire bookmark.**

I have my own lamination machine. It was very inexpensive {around $25 from Sam’s Club} and I use it for everything. If you don’t have a lamination machine and if you don’t know a teacher who can hook you up, you can go to a copy store or parent teacher store. You can also buy laminating pouches that don’t require heat. Or you can just cover the front of your picture with clear packing tape.

**This step can be skipped but I find that protecting the picture keeps smudges off the photo as well as makes it water resistant.

Step 3: Trim off extra lamination.

Step 4: Lightly use glue stick to adhere scraps of fabric around the picture on the front of the bookmark. You just want a small amount of glue to hold the fabric in place long enough to keep it in place for the next step.