Bookmarks With Clay Charms

I love books. Our house would tell any visitor that there's someone living in here who loves books. I have two full bookshelves in the living room and one more in the bedroom. Even with my Kindle and iPad, I still prefer reading actual books. But I must admit, I haven't read maybe about 25% of my collection, I've just been so busy with other stuff. I set a goal for myself to read at least 20 books this year but so far, I'm still at number 6. I'll have some books arriving next week from the US and I'm so excited that I decided to welcome them with new bookmarks. 

People close to me know how obsessed I am with Harry Potter, I have read the series more than five times. I love the films, too, though not so much. Anyway, what could be a more perfect bookmark for me than a Harry Potter themed one?

I printed quotes and spells from the book to the size that I wanted, 5.5 inches by 1.5 inches for each bookmark. 

On a cereal box, I adhered the cut out sheets of paper, a magic spell on one side and a quote on the other side of the cardboard. 

I used watercolor to write over the printed words to give it that effect of quill and ink like what they use in the wizarding world, haha.

I also painted over the white background and coated the whole surface with a thin layer of Mod Podge. I punched a hole on one side and tied a braided embroidery floss string in it.

I want a charm to dangle from the string so I made a sorting hat from air dry clay. Polymer clay would be better for this type of charm but I only have air dry clay on hand so it's what I used. I put an eyepin on the sorting hat where I'll attach it to the string and let it dry for 24 hours.

When the clay was completely dry, I painted it with watercolor and finished with a thin coat of Mod Podge. 

I used jumprings to attach the sorting hat to the string, and my first bookmark with clay charm is done. 

The next one I made is the Nimbus 2000 bookmark using the same materials and process I used with the sorting hat.

This one, I just made because I also like Minions and there's still this Minions fever going on. I used popsicle sticks on this instead of cardboard, I glued them together, painted with watercolor and coated with Mod Podge.

I'm so happy with my bookmarks. I would still recommend using polymer clay with different colors, it would be a lot easier because there's no need to paint over it after drying and it's easier to work with.

When I get the time, maybe after finishing a book, I'll probably make more of these, Hedwig is next on my list. You can make any charm you want and it would be a great gift for a book lover you know. I hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you for stopping by!