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I love reading and my favorites are romance novels. Some of them can get a little bit ahem “spicy.” So, when I saw that people were making t-shirts and tote bags and all kinds of things with “spicy book reader” jokes on them, I knew it was just the excuse I needed to make some acrylic bookmarks.
These thin plastic type bookmarks look great with permanent vinyl on them. I have six different bookmark designs I came up with that you can download for free and while some refer to romance books, the others are just general reading fun.
This is, as usual, a quick, fun project that takes just minutes to make but will put a smile on your face, or on the face of a reader you gift them to.
Let's jump right in!
Watch the video tutorial:
Supplies:
This post may contain affiliate links which means at no extra cost to you I may receive a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links.
Acrylic bookmark blanks (these come with tassels you can attach too!)
Permanent vinyl in various colors - I prefer Oracal 651
Scissors
Optional:
Let's Get Started Making Spicy Acrylic Bookmarks:
To start, remove the protective plastic film from both sides of the acrylic bookmark. I think the easiest way to do that is to use your weeding tool to carefully grab one of the edges and peel it back.
Wipe down the front and back with some rubbing alcohol. This removes any dirt or oil that has transferred from your fingers which would prevent the vinyl from sticking. I like to use coffee filters because they don’t leave behind any fuzzy stuff you have to remove. Set these aside for later.
Next let’s work on the bookmark designs themselves. Click the link to subscribe and download the free SVGs and upload them to Cricut Design Space. If you have any trouble with this step, go here for a tutorial that will walk you through the process.
Drop the designs onto a Design Space canvas.
Click the Ungroup button on the upper right side. This breaks the bookmarks into individual pieces instead of being one giant design.
If you purchased the same bookmarks I did, resize each design to be 5.2 inches tall and 1.8 inches wide. Do this by selecting the entire bookmark design, clicking the lock button above the measurements, and typing in the new sizes.
The next step is to attach all the same-colored elements from each design to each other. Attaching elements tells your Cricut to cut the design as you see it on the screen instead of moving things around. It will allow you to transfer the vinyl one large same colored chunk at a time directly to the bookmark instead of as individual pieces.
The easiest way to do this is to click the layers button on the right side of the screen and then select the entire bookmark design. This will show you which of the elements go to that particular design.
Click on each of the same-colored elements WHILE PRESSING THE SHIFT KEY ON YOUR KEYBOARD – for example, all of the words for one bookmark that you want to cut out of gold.
Now press the Attach button on the lower right. This makes all of those elements appear as ONE element to Cricut Design Space.
Repeat the sizing and attaching for all the elements of each design.
At this point you’re ready to cut out the vinyl. Click the Make button in the upper right corner of Design Space, click Continue and once the software recognizes your Cricut Machine, select your material. I use the vinyl setting and change the pressure from default to more.
Click Continue, insert your cutting mat with the correct color of vinyl on it into the machine, and press the arrow button. Next press the flashing Cricut button and watch the magic happen.
Once you have all of your pieces cut out (or while you’re waiting for different colors to cut) cut away unused portions of your vinyl for future projects and use your weeding tool to remove the pieces of vinyl you don’t want to use such as the background and the centers of letters.
Try Reverse Weeding if You Are Having Trouble:
If you’re having any difficulties with small pieces or letters not weeding well, try the reverse weeding technique. Cut a piece of transfer tape slightly larger than the design and BEFORE DOING ANY WEEDING ON YOUR CUT PIECE place the transfer tape over the top of it.
Scrape over the backing of the vinyl and then peel it away. You should be left with a block of design that still has all of the pieces including background etc. Now use your weeding tool to remove the largest chunks of the vinyl you DON’T want and the middle of the letters. The transfer tape will hold the pieces you DO want in place, so they don’t come up while weeding out the rest.
Putting Your Vinyl Design on Transfer Tape:
If you weeded normally, it’s time to put the design on transfer tape (this step is already done if you did a reverse weeding). Cut a piece of transfer tape larger than your weeded design and place it over the top of your vinyl. Run your scraper over the transfer tape a few times to make sure all of the vinyl is sticking.
Peel the transfer tape up bringing the cut vinyl design with it. If any pieces don’t come up, carefully replace that section of transfer tape and scrape along the top.
Center the design over one of the bookmarks and line it up. Press the design down onto the bookmark and use a scraper to rub over the top of the entire design.
Slowly peel up the transfer tape. If pieces are not adhered, stop, replace the transfer tape for that section and use the scraper to go over those areas again.
Repeat this to get all the different colored sections of each design transferred to the bookmarks.
Once I have all of the vinyl attached, I like to use a heat embossing tool to warm up the vinyl and press it down one last time. This melts the adhesive just a bit so you can make sure the whole thing is attached really well.
Tie a tassel through the hole at the top and you’re finished!
I had so much fun making these and can’t wait to use my spicy bookmarks. I hope you enjoy them too!
Happy crafting!
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