Best Bookish Crafts for Fantasy Nerds
Greetings Fantasy Nerds! This week we will be showing you some of our favorite bookish crafts you can do yourself. We hope you find a new project to try out, crafting something yourself is fun and rewarding, especially when you display it for all to see!
Bookmark Corners
Have you ever felt like it’s a waste to throw out all those envelopes you get in your bills, but don’t know what to do with them? Well, we have been saving ours up for this very post. You can use these envelopes to make corner bookmarks! Read along to find out how to make this easy and functional craft.
You are going to start by cutting off the bottom corner of the envelope, about 1.5 inches. We did test out a couple of different sizes, as you can see in the photo. 1.25 inches would work well if you’d like a smaller corner, but 1.5 inches was our preference because it looked good and left a little more room for decoration. Feel free to use whatever size you like!
The final step is to decorate the corners however you like! We used washi tape, stickers, and colorful pens to create these designs. You can add elements from your favorite books or quotes that you love. Take this opportunity to get creative!
Book Nooks
Clever has wanted a Book Nook for a long time and received one as a Christmas gift from her Mother-in-law last year. It was fun and relaxing to put together and came out looking amazing! This Magic House kit was one of the two I received. The other looks like a Ravenclaw common room, but I haven’t put it together as of writing this post. You can find a variety of these kits online, and they come with everything you need, except batteries.
When I first started looking into these, I wasn’t sure how hard they would be to put together. I found that it wasn’t difficult, but was enough to keep me engrossed and with a feeling of accomplishment once I finished. You start with some smaller pieces and work your way through. I think teenagers could put this together on their own, but younger kids may need help. If you like puzzles or legos, these are like a leveled-up version that you will surely enjoy!
This is a photo of the two inner sides of the Book Nook when I was about halfway finished. You can see the quality here, as well as the details inside the windows that make it look like actual stores inside.
The part I was most worried about having trouble with was the wiring of the lights. However, the instructions were thorough, and I didn’t have any problem with them.
Here is a close-up of the finished product. I found myself delighted with all the little details in the Book Nook, like these adorable signs that would hang outside the shops. Some other nice touches were magic show flyers lying on the street, crows perched on various places, and a witch’s broom leaning against a shop.
When you are done, you just slide the Book Nook anywhere you like on your bookshelf. As you can see, it’s about the width of 2-3 books. There is a button you can press to turn the lights on when you are showing it off. I was super impressed by how awesome this looked on my shelf, and I can’t wait to put together my next Book Nook!
Here is a photo of a Book Nook that our brother’s girlfriend got him, a great example of the different types of Book Nooks you can get!
Washi Tape Bookmark
We got this idea initially from Archer & Olive, you can check out their post here!
I have been obsessed with this Lord of the Rings washi tape Clever got me, and I knew exactly what I was going to do when creating my bookmark! The pattern is perfect for a small and simple bookmark, and I prefer smaller bookmarks, this one was perfect for me! I used regular printer paper, cut out the size I wanted doubled then folded it in half to create more thickness, then applied the washi tape on both sides. I decided to use a small sliver of tape to keep it secure. Perfect for use when I read any Tolkien!
For Clever’s bookmark, I used shimmery paper, washi tape, stickers, and a glitter gel pen. I also folded the paper in half, but if you have cardstock you can skip this step. I glued the paper together and wrapped the washi tape around to help hold it together. Lastly, I added stickers and wrote a reference to one of my favorite books in glittery gel pen. I really like how this craft turned out!
Book Themed Candles
This may sound daunting but there is a simple and fun way to make your own book or writing-themed candles! You can grab any blank pre-poured candle, it’s best to have a glass candle holder. I used a long black pre-poured candle, you can buy these in many other colors here!
Things you’ll need:
- Pre-poured glass candle.
- Book-themed notepad or scrapbook paper.
- Book-themed stickers.
- Scissors.
- Tacky glue, I recommend Elmer’s CraftBond tacky glue!
- Sponge paint brush sticks work well to apply the glue evenly.
- Optional: Tea light candle, crystals, other small metal book-themed trinkets, washi tape, ribbon, and a hot glue gun.
Once you have everything ready to go, you’ll want to cut the paper to apply it to the glass of the candle, you can completely customize this if you want to apply it all in one wrap-around, or apply different papers in whatever way you want! Be sure to have them cut to size, use the sponge to spread an even coat of glue, and then apply the paper! It’s best to press from the middle and smooth out to prevent air bubbles and even application of the paper.
From here you can apply those stickers in whatever way you want! For mine I placed various stickers in a format that looked cool to me, so go crazy! I hot glued some ribbon around the top of my candle, then hot glued some small trinkets. I also added some washi tape, it doesn’t stay the best but I made it work, so this is totally optional!
Lastly, and this is optional as well, light a tea light candle so the wax is melted, then start putting your crystal, small metal trinkets, etc to the top of the candle where the wick is! When you’re ready, pour some of that tea light candle wax on top so it cools and solidifies keeping those in place. It’s best to do this in layers, and if you have a larger crystal or trinket go ahead and pour some wax in first, then quickly put the larger piece where you want it to stay and hold it for roughly thirty seconds until the wax cools, and voila! You’ve made a beautiful and completely customized candle!
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We hope you liked our crafts and find a new one to try! What are your favorite bookish crafts? Let us know in the comments below! As always if you enjoy our blog feel free to donate through our Ko-Fi; we realized it has been down recently but it’s all back to normal now!
Thank you so much for reading!
