Scrap paper bookmarks

Paper scraps. We’ve all got ’em, but what to DO with them? Well, I’ve got a super simple project for you that takes care of recycling all that oddly sized paper AND leaves you with something pretty, colorful and, most importantly, FUNCTIONAL.

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After whipping up this bridal shower gift for my friend Ashley, I began cleaning up and noticed that I had a few scraps of perfectly nice cardstock left over. Not wanting to toss them, I considered reusing them as note paper, but I already have a ton of that cluttering nearly every drawer in the house. Then it hit me. Bookmarks!

I’m a big reader and SO often find myself left with no other alternative but to dog ear my pages when I come to a stopping point. A fresh pile of pretty bookmarks was just what I needed, and being able to reuse paper destined for the trash was a no-brainer.

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The plan was as simple and straight forward as it gets – Cut the leftover paper down to any shape you’d like (I went with rectangles about two inches long and one inch wide) and then use pieces of patterned washi tape to dress them up.

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There wasn’t much ryhmn or reason when it came to choosing which patterns to use – I just snipped a piece to length, stuck it to the paper and grabbed another to use on top of the first. I layered all sorts of colors and patterns over one another to give each bookmark its own unique look. No more than ten minutes later, I had a handful of fun new bookmarks ready to hold my place.

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As I stepped back to admire the refreshed strips of paper, I decided that a couple of them could use just a LITTLE something more…So I unearthed my stamp collection from the supply closet and added a few whimsical shapes to the bookmarks that had extra white space around the edges.

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How do YOU guys use up scrap paper?

P.S. In today’s “Friday Feature Round Up,” we’ve got a “Pin of the Day” recipe for Spicy Roasted Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese, my top 10 dreamy places to vacation this Spring Break, an “Inspired by” post featuring coffee table styling based around Le Papier Studio’s line of silhouette letterpress coasters. Enjoy!

4-12-13

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