I Love Bookmarks

February 25 is World Bookmark Day. I posted in my IG account a photo of bookmarks I use on my books at work. This fascination for bookmarks go farther back in high school. I had a mug or two filled with bookmarks I bought from bookstores. I used to make bookmarks and sell them for a very affordable price to my classmates.

Over the years, I would buy a bookmark or two and use them whenever I read. Somehow, the book became the home of the bookmark. It was only recently when my love for bookmarks resurfaced. I think I was looking for a new hobby to do that making bookmarks came to mind.

Here is my blog post on a felt bookmark I made. Another post on pompom bookmarks made of yarn. My writer friend, Bebang Siy got married three years ago and she and Poy, her fiance back then, designed their own bookmarks as a giveaway and invitation to wedding guests. Friends who know my fascination for bookmarks would give them to me as gifts or pasalubongs, especially those who traveled abroad and came back home.

I have received bookmarks from Spain, Turkey, Qatar, Dubai, Hawaii, London and New Zealand. Below is a photo of selected bookmarks that make up my collection.

For this week, I will be posting in the blog, my favorite bookmarks and the back story of each. Some bookmarks are still in the books I read. Others are in books that I have not finished reading yet. Many I keep in a container. I still have to find a way to care display and preserve these bookmarks. In the age of e-books and e-readers, the printed bookmarks are fast becoming novelty items with an artistic value of its own.

Bookmark and Wedding Invitation Rolled Into One

I got this bookmark from Poy Verzo and Bebang Siy last December 7, 2013 during the 3rd Filipino ReaderCon. If you look closely, you'll see two books standing on its spines. On the spines is an image of a couple in wedding attire. Below the bookmark is the word, Kasalan, Filipino for wedding. The groom is none other than Poy Verzo and the bride is the irrepressible Bebang Siy.

This bookmark serves as invitation to their forthcoming wedding on December 30, 2013. I am honored and privileged to be invited to their wedding.

Poy is a poet while Bebang is a novelist. Both have won in the Filipino Readers' Choice Awards.

Bebang has no idea how much this bookmark means to me as I have started a collection just two months ago. Thanks so much, Bebs!

Bookmark Collection

I have started a small collection. So.

Felt Bookmarks

I am proud to tell the world that I made these felt bookmarks over the holiday break!

The materials I used are scraps of felt cloth, left overs from a doll making project of the grade 11s last year. I got the idea of making felt bookmarks from Pinterest. There are plenty of felt projects there and saw one on bookmarks. As for the patterns, I made them myself!

Basic stitches are all you need: back stitch, running stitch. Materials: thread of choice, scissors, pencil and ruler.

It took me two days to finish each. I did other stuff in between but I think I can finish one in a day if I focus on just doing the bookmarks.

These bookmarks shall be the library's giveaways for February.

Pompom Bookmarks and Book Covers

The green monochrome pompom is Zoe's. Mine is the multicolored pompom bookmark.

  Always on the look out for library and reading promotion ideas, I stumbled upon a DIY pompom bookmark in Pinterest. Following the link ans instructions, I tried it at home. Success!

It's very easy to make the pompom bookmark. It only takes ten minutes. Trimming off the edges need careful snips to achieve a fluffy round pompom. I'll come up with ten pompom bookmarks. When school opens in January 2013, the bookmarks will be our tokens for early book returners and borrowers. Let's see if the teens like the give-aways.

Another new thing we're doing at the library is the use of book stands that show off the covers of books when displayed. The spine only shows the book title. For media induced clients, just reading the title won't work. Book covers are visual stimuli.