DIY LAMINATED BOOKMARKS

Laminated flowers, leaves and lace 

Laminators are wonderful inventions. My husband got me one as a gift and I have since discovered its many uses, beyond protecting activity sheets from spilled juice, necessary as that is.

After experimenting with various materials, here are some easy laminated bookmark ideas using dried flowers, leaves or lace. More importantly, I have included tips from my process of trial and error! 

Supplies

• Laminator
• Laminating pouches
• Lace
• Dried flowers
• Dried leaves
• Ribbon
• Puncher
• Scissors
• Paper cutter

How to make laminated dried flower bookmarks

First, work out your design on a separate surface and, once you're sure, place the flowers inside the laminating pouch. 

Tip: Do not let the top layer of the pouch touch the objects as you place them. It can cause a lot of static electricity, which will make them shift! Once everything is on there, closing the pouch in one swift top-to-bottom movement seems to work best.

As I was aiming for a rectangular bookmark, I trimmed off the rest of the pouch and laminate the bookmark on its own. It helped ensure each object stayed in place. However, trimming before laminating isn't necessary if you're going to cut around each object, as I did with the leaves below.

How to make laminated leaf bookmarks

I laminated all the leaves in a single A4 laminating pouch and simply cut around them individually. If you will turn these into bookmarks with a ribbon remember to leave space for a punching hole below the leaf as you cut.

Fresh leaves or dry leaves?

Although I have laminated both fresh and dried leaves in this post, and quite liked their unique effects one week on, I would say dried leaves are the more predictable option long term.

Left: fresh leaf one week after laminating. Organic look, but some darkening 

and colour change.
Right: dried leaf. Some shrinking during drying process, but stable once dried.

How to laminate lace bookmarks

Lace was easy to laminate. It’s in one piece and ready to go!

Tip: Cutting the lace to size before laminating and leaving a laminated border around it afterwards worked best (left, in photo below). The edge-to-edge bookmark (right) opened up after it had cooled down.

Left: with laminated border all around (better option)

Right: edge-to-edge at sides (didn't stay together)

Handmade bookmarks make for creative and useful gifts for book lovers. I hope these ideas and tips are helpful in creating your own DIY laminated bookmarks in your unique designs!