I { HEART } Books ( and bookmarks )

Yes, that is exactly what it says -- I { HEART } Books !!  Apart from my absolute love of card-making, I am also quite fond of books. From the time I was a child and would walk to the library with my dad, I have had a fascination with books. Growing up in a very small town, we knew everyone, and the town librarian was a friend of our family. After I had read all of the children's books in the library, my father wrote out a permission slip for me to be able to take out any book that I wanted. Miss Faust kept it in my file so I never had a problem. I remember going through the card catalog alphabetically and just finding topics of interest, then taking many books home on that 1 subject. That was in the days before computers when we relied on the Dewey Decimal system  ( now I am really showing my age ).. More info on that at the end of my post of you are interested.

So where am I going with this, you might ask ?? Well, with a love of books comes a love of bookmarks. I have used the occasional slip of paper to mark a page  ( have never been one to dog-ear a book !! ). In the past, I have even cross-stitched bookmarks for myself and as gifts. But lately I have been seeing these cute ones made from envelopes and just had to give it a try.

Any book-lover MUST get this amazing book that is an alphabetized reading list that I refer to often. Nancy Pearl is an American librarian and author who shares her love and knowledge of books with all of us. And isn't my cute owl just perfect in that corner !!

I used the Going Wild stamp set by Susan K Weckesser co-branded with Unity Stamp Company. After stamping the images with Susan K Weckesser's  Clearsnap Colorbox Color POP Dye ink in Mystery , I colored them with a variety of markers ( Distress, Stabilo and Stampin' Up ). I fussy-cut them and applied Ranger Glossy Accents ( if you don't own this, you need to run right out with a coupon and buy some ).. On the owl, I applied the Glossy Accents to the glasses. There are also a few strips of feather washi on the back of this bookmark.

The fox image also came from the Going Wild stamp set. I added a strip of grass washi to the bottom of this bookmark, then gave this cute little fox a cup of coffee cut from a fabulous roll of Paper Studio washi. A few cups were also placed on the back of this bookmark along with a favorite stamp of mine from Paper Angel. Glossy Accents were applied to the ears, paws and polka-dots on the bow tie. The fox and owl were adhered using my TOMBOW Mono Aqua Liquid Glue -- my bookmarks get lots of wear and tear and TOMBOW is my go-to adhesive !!

For those of you as OCD as I am, and who could not just cut a corner off of an envelope to make these bookmarks -- this is how I made mine. I used a 5 x 7 Kraft envelope because the Kraft paper is sturdier. On the bottom corners of the envelope, on each side I measured 3 inches in, made a dot with a pencil, then drew a straight line connecting the 2 dots. I then cut across the line and erased any pencil marks that remained. Use your imagination to create any kind of bookmark that you want !!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my other LOVE- Books !! I love all kinds of books and finally did get a nook which now has about 1000 books and samples on it. I still love the feel of a "real" book in my hands but also love the ability to have so many choices with me at one time.

My current reading list includes :
1. The Fireman - Stephen King
2. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend - Katarina Bivald
3. Packing for Mars - Mary Roach
4. Collage Playground - Kimberly Santiago
5. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware

And who says you can't use a bookmark with an e-reader ?!?!?!?!

And for those of you who have never seen how I used to find my way around a library, here are a few pics. Now I wish I had a card catalog like that for my craft supplies !!

 Dewey Decimal System

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Color Me a Rainbow

How do you create your own rainbow ?? Can you turn around a rainy day by creating something, by coloring your own rainbow ?? It would be easy to do with some great ink pads, especially the new Susan K Weckesser Inc. Color POP Mini inks by Clearsnap . Comment on this post and you could win all 8 of these new ink pads. Susan is also giving a set away on  { My Sweet Earth } and all of the other members of our Creative Team are having contests too.. These inks are dreamy -- great to use directly on a stamp or by placing the ink on an acrylic block or your craft sheet and watercoloring with them.

I used a page from a journal as my background on a Kraft card base. It had rainbow colors across the bottom which were perfect !! I stamped images from Heart-Full Homes & Unicorns and Rainbows  using the Color POP inks. My Distress Markers were used to color the images and Hazel & Ruby Scallop Grid washi was placed across the top of the card. One of my favorite tools - the Dymo Caption Maker - was used to add the label at the bottom of the card ..

I hope you like the rainbow that I created and that you will comment for a chance to win some of these great inks. I am sure you will love them all as much as I do !!The contest ends Minday, August 15 at midnight. I would also love it if you would follow my blog by signing up to the Right on the sidebar. Links to my other teammate's blogs are below. The more blogs you check, the better your chances of winning some fabulous inks .

Katie Lamb

Lynne Mizera

Katy Leitch

Brooke Bock

Steph Ackerman

Kim Kendall

Deb Davison -- You are Here

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity

Debra Davison

Susan K Weckesser Creative Team

Christmas in July Blog Candy Winner

Thank you to all who viewed and commented on my Christmas in July post .. The lucky winner of some of my favorite things  is Rebecca Yahrling. I love how you make cards for everyone and that your mom displays her Christmas card until June, replacing it only with her June birthday card also made by you ..

Send me your snail mail address and I will mail out your goodies.. I hope that maybe some of it can make its way to your holiday cards !! Or maybe even your mom's birthday card !!