The Bookworm’s Resource: 3 Bookish Craft Ideas for Craft-Loving Readers

Looking for some fun bookish crafts to do after work or on the weekend? Here are three ideas perfect for book lovers looking for fun, useful bookish crafts!

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are a lot of fun to make because there really aren’t any rules for what makes a good or bad bookmark, with the exception of how heavy and bulky they are. But even then, many people love cool bookmarks even if they aren’t always practical. Looking for bookmark inspiration? Check out three bookmark ideas below:

• Scrapbook bookmark – use leftover paper-craft scraps to cut shapes or strips, then arrange and glue them onto a bookmark-sized cardstock to make an abstract design. Add some stickers if you have some that work with the vibe!

• Painted bookmark – Cut out a bookmark or use a pre-cut bookmark from Amazon or a craft store, sketch a scene, and paint away. You can also do abstract with this if you want to, just start painting and see what happens. Worse case, you can cut up what you make and use it in a scrapbook bookmark.

• Calligraphy bookmark – I love using a quill pen to draw designs on bookmarks. Quill pens just have a different look from regular ink and gel pens. Not only that, but you can also do some really beautiful calligraphy! Grab a bookmark template and sketch whatever comes to mind. If you want to do Calligraphy, it can help to transfer your text onto your bookmark using transfer paper, then trace it.

Bookish Coloring Pages

Something I recently started doing is creating my own book-themed coloring pages! The first one I made actually started out as a needlepoint pattern (another fun craft!), but I decided to use it as a coloring page as well. If you are interested in giving this craft a try, sketch a book inspired design either directly in an art app, or with a pencil on paper. If you decide to use paper, you can either scan or photograph it, open the image in an art studio program on your computer, and then trace the design with thick black lines. Then all you have to do is print it and color it! You can create a folder full of coloring pages. Some days you may want to add to the folder, other days you may want to print and color one. Either way, this is a great bookish craft for the whole family!

Book Binding

This particular craft is new to me, but it's so much fun! You can turn your own books into one-of-a-kind special editions! I would recommend starting out with a cheap book you don’t mind messing up. The process is simple and easy to follow, but between the glue and making sure the iron-on patterns stick, it can take a bit of practice before the books you make start to look professional. Thankfully, the tools are not too expensive, and it is absolutely a blast! If you want to start learning to rebind books, I recommend looking up @spellboundwithsydney on Instagram and YouTube.

Have Fun!

If you are looking for a bookish craft, these three are super fun and generally low-cost in terms of materials. Whatever you end up making, I encourage you to put on an audiobook and craft a new masterpiece this week! Have fun!