Almost Handmade Bookmarks EASY **US edition**

note: US ONLY There is an international version here: International Almost Handmade Bookmarks

I received a birthday card last week with a beautiful watercolored image on nice linen cardstock. I don't really keep old cards that I have received, but in a lot of cases I want to save some nice image from the front. The image was free from text and I could cut a good 2 inch strip from the card to include the whole thing without any writing on the inside.

Thus... easy bookmark!

That's the idea for this swap. "Make" 2 bookmarks. Find a nice graphic, cool print, interesting strip of color / shading / imagery. NO computer generated printouts. Cut a bookmark-sized strip to make an interesting, classy bookmark. Maybe round the corners, ink the edges, or back it with cardstock if needed. But, Keep it Flat; Do NOT add embellishments. Do NOT add ribbons or tassles. Do NOT laminate. Leave all that to your partner if they want to add it after it is received.

Use greeting cards, rescued paperback book covers, postcards, stiff calendar pages, stiff (anything really) that is card stock weight or backed with cardstock. You get the idea. Just feature a nice image of some sort. Not a random hunk cut from any-old-where. Sizes somewhere in the 1½ to 2½ inch range for width and 4 to 8 inch lengths. That is a suggestion not a condition. If your image needs a bit more length or width to be whole, then so be it.

Don't send anything your partner would find offensive. Add a note as to what you cut them from and put something stiff in the envelope with them so they don't get bent up in the mail. (maybe the leftover half of the greeting card, or back bookcover,etc.)

Again, you'll send 2 of these to one partner.