You Know You're Passionate About Books When . . . .

I've discovered that I'm not happy unless I am creating something.  I don't mean all the time, because OF COURSE I'm happy when I'm reading and doing other things that I enjoy, but overall, if I'm not periodically making something, or being creative, I get this itch to do just that.  Several months ago, I got that itch.  It was too hot to make a garden (my garden was currently dying), I had vowed that the fourth mystery I made for my son would be the last (talk about a three month intensive project each time!), my scrapbooking supplies were in such disarray that I was loathe to tackle a new page, and nobody wants (actually, it's more like nobody NEEDS) to eat any of the delicious goodies I could bake.  What to do?

Well, at about the same time, I was reading a creepy kind of book and I thought, I'm tired of using these dumb library receipts for my bookmarks.  Wouldn't it be cool if I had a creepy bookmark to go with this creepy story?  So I started looking online to see if I could find one, and I ended up on Etsy.  I didn't find a creepy bookmark that I liked, but what I did find there was intriguing:  people were making and selling bookmarks that looked like jewelry.  They had ribbons with charms on the ends.  And crystal beads.  They were beautiful.  But they weren't particularly cheap.  Okay, they were pretty cheap, but apparently I'm even cheaper, because I said to myself, hey, I can do that!

I didn't immediately tromp off to the craft store to get supplies.  I decided to look into the box that held a bunch of clues from past mysteries I had made, and I found an old pendant that had belonged to my great great aunt.  It was just costume jewelry, and it was old and worn, but I thought it would be cool to use it on a bookmark, since I certainly wasn't ever going to actually wear it and what good was the keepsake piece doing me sitting there in a box in my closet?!?!

So THEN I tromped off to the craft store to get the needed supplies.  Here is what I came up with for my very first handmade bookmark:

After that, I remembered that I had this really cool locket watch, which is meant to be worn as a necklace, but got in my way whenever I tried so I never wore it.  And I thought, hmmmm.  I bet THAT would make a really cool bookmark.  So that was my second one (see below).

Then I saw a pendant that I liked, and since I don't wear pendants, I said, BOOKMARK!  And then I got the idea, wouldn't it be cool to have a different bookmark for each genre I was reading?  Or even a different one for each time period a story takes place in?  I pretty much lived in the craft stores for the next two months:  I don't have a good bookmark to use with fairy tale books . . . craft store!  Now I need something for the Victorian era . . . craft store!  Greek mythology . . . craft store!  You see how it goes.

My husband thinks I'm crazy.  I was replacing one bookmark for another as I was switching books the other day, and he said, you have more than one bookmark?  He just doesn't get it.  I guess if you aren't passionate about books, you wouldn't understand.

Locket Watch: My Most Versatile Bookmark	My Third Bookmark: Victorian Era	My Everything Uncanny Bookmark
Seashells from My Trip to Greece Inside	Just a Simple Bookmark to Take on Vacation	Pressed Flower Inside from a Camping Trip
My New Fairy Tale Bookmark	Supplies for a Medieval / Fantasy Bookmark	Where I Keep My Bookmarks