10 DIY Bookmark Ideas in Under 10 Minutes

Have you ever lost a page in the book that you were reading and have had to go skimming through pages for the last paragraph you read? Or were you a victim to the corner page turners who did so to ‘ catch up ‘ their last reads?

I have definitely caught up between both the situations. Bookmarks are the perfect accessories that save books from their early demise. Getting to make beautiful accessories for your favourite books or rather ‘bookcessories’ is a perfect way to add a pop to your books and make the best gifts for the book lovers in your lives! Not only are they pretty to look at but any novice can make them in under 10 minutes.

So, after trying my hand at various bookmarks I have come up with a detailed tutorial on making 10 different bookmarks in under 10 minutes so that you can use the rest of your time reading. They are also the perfect personalised gift you could make, which is just the cherry on the cake!

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1 ‘Pom Pom’ it up!

This handmade bookmark can brighten up any book and help you mark your last read page. It took me a total of 8 minutes to make this piece. Here is how you make it!

You will need:

Pom Poms (Aren’t these cute little blobs the best?)
Thread (Easiest thing to find)
Needle (Ouch!)
Scissors (Nifty little things!)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:  
  Pick out threads of your favourite colours. I wanted to make a vibrant bookmark so I picked out yellow, sky blue and pink threads. To make the braid of the bookmark you will need to layer the thread as shown on the picture on the left. The end result should look something like the ones shown in the picture on the right.

• Step 2:
  Tie the three loops of thread at the top and place the tied part under something heavy (like a book or a phone) to keep it taut. This will help you in the process of tieing the threads into a braid. Yeah! That was the next part of this step. Braid ’em up as shown in the photo below. Once you are done braiding it to the length you need, tie it at the end to secure the braid!

• Step 3:
  Now just stitch the pom pom to the end of this beautiful braid and bravo! you have your very first Pom Pom Bookmark. Gift it, share it, use it as you like 🙂

2 Easily Origami It

I love origami. The minimal material required just makes it a great choice for crafting any kind of DIY. Origami bookmarks just take 5-10 mins depending on how you decorate the end result. It took me 6 minutes to make this wonderful and simple piece. Enjoy making one for yourself!

You will need:

Paper (Basically thats it!)
Scissors (If you have to cut the paper short)
Stickers (Optional)
Other decorative stuff (optional…again)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:  
  Cut out a square piece of the size you want, preferably 10 cm x 10 cm. That is what I had chosen, however, it can be of any size you want. But be careful, if it is shorter than 8 cm the end result will be quite small in size.

• Step 2:
  Now fold the sheet of paper diagonally as shown below. Create a crease.

• Step 3:
  Fold one of the corners (right or left) as shown in the picture and create a crease as shown on the picture on the right.

• Step 4:
  Repeat on the other side and then open it up as shown by the blue arrows in the picture below.

 

• Step 5:
  A smaller rhombus will be made as you can see in the picture above. Fold the top of the triangle as shown in the picture below. A small pocket like structure should form.

 

• Step 6:
  Fold the right corner as shown below and insert the folded piece in the pocket as shown by the blue arrow and create a crease.

 

• Step 7:
  Repeat the same on the other side and you have your origami bookmark ready! Style it as you like. I styled mine with a small sticker and some writing!

3 Simpli-silly

These are the whites of bookmarks; plain, simple and classic. These are the bookmarks we all have made as kids using dried flower petals, feathers, lamination and all we could find lying around. Not mentioning them in a post about bookmarks would just be a bummer. It took me just 5 minutes to make.

You will need:

Paper (Basically thats it!)
Scissors (If you have to cut the paper short)
Hole Punch (If you want to add insert a tassel or a ribbon)
Stickers (Optional)
Other decorative stuff (optional…again)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:  
  Cut out the size you want for your bookmark. You would want to use a thick sheet of paper.

  

• Step 2:
  I have doodled on it, you can do whatever you like, sketch, paint, add decorative items, anything really. And you have one of the easiest and simple bookmark!

 

4 Tassel castle

These were one of the first DIY that I ever made when I started making accessories. This handmade bookmark just took me 9 minutes to make.

You will need:

Tassels (Otherwise you can learn how to make them in 5 minutes here and quickly come back here!)
Thread (Easiest thing to find)
Needle (Ouch!)
Scissors (Nifty little things!)
Other decorative stuff (optional)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:  
  You can either braid the threads like we did in step one of bookmark number 1 or you could just loop the thread together and tie it at the top.

• Step 2:
  You then need to make a tassel. Do not know how to make one? Just read my article on ‘How to make a tassel‘ and you are good to go!

• Step 3:
  Once you are done with step 2 stitch the tassel to the thread and you are done with an easy to make bookmark. You can add the kind of extra decorative pieces you like. I had added some silver beads. And you have your pretty little tasseled bookmark.

5 Paper Clip-tastic

These are the cutest little things! They pop out of the book to give it a nice look. It took me about 5 minutes to make them! I selected so many colours because I wanted to make a unicorn tail tassel.

You will need:

Thread (You should make your own tassels for this)
Paper clip (Easy to find)
Needle (Ouch!)
Scissors (Nifty little things!)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:  
  You have to make your own tassel. If you don’t know how to then click here to learn how to! But before you go, when you reach step 3 come back here because the next step is a little different.

• Step 2:
  Now that you have seen how to make a tassel, you need to take the tassel and insert it in the paper clip as shown on the left. Once you are done just tie the thread around the tassel to secure it in place

• Step 3:
  Cut out the extra hair of the tassel and you are ready to go with your very own tassel paperclip bookmark. These also make really cute DIYs for your everyday planners.

6 Pop Pom Pom

Just as the name suggests this little piece will stick out of your book just adding a little bit spice to it. It took me 5 minutes to make this cute number.

You will need:

Pom poms (Cute little things)
Paper clip (They are just lying around my place)
Liquid Glue (Sticky!)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:  
  Take the paper clip and open it up. Try to flatten the kinks but it is ok if it doesn’t get too straight. The kinks will help the pom poms stay in place.

• Step 2:
  Now, just put in the pom poms and secure with a dot of liquid glue at the top (where the tip of the paperclip will be visible). And you have your very own bookmark! Wasn’t that easy? Again, a really cute accessory for planners.

7 Light as a Feather

This piece is simple, cute and pretty and oh so easy to make. Took me just 3 minutes…REALLY!!!

You will need:

Hook (If you don’t have a hook take a paper clip, open it up and bend it in half)
Scissors (If you wanna cut the feather a little)
Feather (Go find yourself a bird, actually don’t, just get one of those you get for arts and crafts!)
Quick Glue (Yikkess…sticky stuff!)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• 1 step is all it takes:  
  Take your hook and feather and glue them together. If you don’t have a hook, use a paper clip as shown in the picture above. Open it up and bend it in half as shown. Then stick your feather to it. And that’s it. JUST A SINGLE STEP!!

8 Lacey

The bookmark is fun to make, looks really pretty and if you want can be used as a hairband. Yup, Really! But the book mark is only fit for books of a certain size because it uses elastic. So take care of the size you select. Took me 5 minutes to make it.

You will need:

Lace (Otherwise you can learn how to make them in 5 minutes here!)
Elastic (Easiest thing to find)
Needle (Ouch!)
Scissors (Nifty little things!)
Other decorative stuff (optional)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:  
  Take your lace and elastic, wrap the lace around it a little. Stitch it up from both the sides.
•  

• Step 2:
  You now have your very own lace bookmark!

9 Ribbon-hood

Ribbons come attached quite some notebooks, but they are quite boring. I tried to spice it up! Here, I have shown you two types of ribbon bookmarks I made. Just took me 3 minutes to make each of them.

You will need:

Ribbon (Well obviously!)
Needle (Ouch!)
Scissors (Nifty little things!)
Other decorative stuff (optional)

Now just follow these steps!

• Type 1:
  Tie the three ribbons at the top and braid it up.

• Type 2:
  Make a cute little bow and add it to a paperclip

10 Just a cut

I find this particular piece to be quite customisable. You can make anything you want! I sketched a cute little owl to keep watch on my book. It took me 6 minutes to make it!

You will need:

Thick paper (Craft or drawing paper!)
Scissors (Nifty little things!)
Other decorative stuff (optional)

Sneak peek of what we are making!

Now just follow these steps!

• Step 1:
  Draw your desired shape and cut it out.

• Step 2:
  Make a cut through the middle as shown in the picture below.

• Step 3:
  Now you have your own customisable bookmark. Sketch on it, paint it, colour it. You can do whatever you want.

 So now you have it. Your very own DIY bookmarks which you can make in under 10 minutes. Decorate them, gift them. You can do as you please with these pieces 😀

Do comment and let me know what you think and show me the bookmarks you made! Subscribe to my newslettertter in which I will send you weekly updates on such articles and freebies on CV templates and much more. Stay tuned for my next article on Planner DIY <3