Teacup Bookmarks

A while back, a fellow blogger shared her lovely idea for making teacup bookmarks.  I was intrigued with the simple technique she used, and saved the link to her tutorial.  Recently, after participating in Stephanie's teacup/mug exchange, I was excited to finally make some of these cute little bookmarks, one of which was to send to my new friend in the teacup/mug exchange.

You will want to visit Trish who blogs here and who shared this lovely template for teacups here. Trish used her template to cut the teacups out of gift bags, which is a wonderful idea, especially since there are so many pretty bags to choose from at the dollar store and no doubt in your collection... but I chose to make these cute bookmarks from paper, since paper is something I have a LOT of!    Trish shares an excellent tutorial for making these bookmarks, so be sure and visit her site to see her creativeness at work!

I had printed out the template first on plain white paper, and was going to trace and cut out the designs, but then decided it would be even better to print it right on the paper I was going to use for the bookmark.  Just make sure you print on the *wrong* side of the paper.  I used heavyweight textured cardstock for these bookmarks.

Cut out the teacup so that the black lines do not show.

Now the fun begins!  Assemble materials that you would like to decorate your bookmark with.  I tried to keep the layers as flat as possible, even though I was tempted to add bulky embellishments like buttons!  These are for books after all, and a flat bookmark is best.

I used some gorgeous lace that was gifted to me and was begging to be used on this particular teacup.

I used a circle punch to punch out the "tea bag tag".

Linen thread was used as the string for the tea tag, and while I really intended to keep this tea cup flat... well, I couldn't resist using these pretty flowers to dress up the lace.  So much for a flat bookmark, lol!

The cardstock I used is actually a very pretty primrose pink, but in some pictures it was showing up as red, or bright neon pink.  This picture actually shows the best color of the cardstock I used, although still not exact.  Light is funny that way... some colors are just hard to get right with the camera!

This little teacup turned out to be my favorite, although I really liked how the others turned out as well.

I used a white  "Smooch" dauber to add the white dots.

This was actually my second attempt at making these teacup bookmarks.  My first attempt was not documented as I made them, but you can see the finished bookmarks below.

I printed these bookmarks out on pretty scrapbook paper, instead of cardstock, and ended up having to cut them out twice and glue together to make them more sturdy.

 
The back of the bookmarks.

"Life is like a cup of tea... it's all in how you make it." 

"A cup of tea is an excuse to share great thoughts with great minds." Christina Re

"Sometimes all you need is a cup of tea". 

"Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book."  Bill Watterson

One of these sweet little bookmarks is making its way across the country to a dear blogger friend of mine who was paired with me in Stephanie's teacup/mug exchange... thus the inspiration for these little teacup bookmarks... oh the joys that tea and friendship bring us!  :)