On Your Mark...

We like to read around here. Noodle, my 7-year-old, huddles in bed at night while her sister is sleeping, reading books 'til she drops. Her current obsession is the 1950's Nancy Drew series. Even Hopers, at age 3, will sit every night and listen to me read aloud two chapters of Farmer Boy, from the Little House on the Prairie books.

In honor of all that reading, we made bookmarks. They turned out so cute I thought I'd show you how to do it too.

First you'll need a strip of cardstock. (Nice, thick, paper makes my mouth curl up at the corners.) 1 7/8 inches wide by 8 inches long. You can see we just used white. You can also see how beat up my dining room table is.

Next, gather stickers of all kinds. Get all those scrapbooking stickers out that you bought years ago and still haven't found the time to use. Someone gave us a mountain of stickers, so we had plenty of variety. You can just allow your children to choose a few that represent what they like and who they are.

Decorate the strip of paper with your stickers. Hopers went for a, um... collage effect. Noodle chose a more organized pattern. Whatever floats your boat. Overlap, trim the edges off, do both sides, go wild. Once you have decorated to your heart's content, seal your fate with a strip of tape on each side. I used Scotch brand packing tape. It is exactly wide enough for the dimensions I gave for the bookmark. Once it's on, trim the ends neatly.

Next, use a hole punch to make a hole near the top of your bookmark. Not too close to the edge! We don't want any ripping.

Then, cut a length of ribbon 4 1/2 inches long. Tie it through the hole. Double knot.

To keep your ribbon edges from fraying, dab on a little bit of clear nail polish.

Ta Da!! Here's Noodle's...

And here's Hoper's...

Of course I made one too. Hey, I read books!

Now go make a bookmark or two and read a book.