SCK Tries… DIY Kawaii Magnetic Bookmarks (+ Free Printable)

It’s another edition of SCK Tries where we try out a DIY tutorial to see how it works in real life and whether we’d recommend you give it a go. I’m trying another easy DIY for anyone who loves organising, journaling or reading – magnetic bookmarks.

The Original DIY

I find bookmarks and clips to be really useful for marking the most-used pages in my journal. The ones I have are not perfect though – clips can leave grooves in the paper, while magnetic bookmarks are often too weak and fall out. Wild Olive has a DIY tutorial for magnetic bookmarks which features cute kitties so I decided to try it. There’s only a few steps and there’s a free printable included.

Materials & Process

This is a really quick and easy DIY that doesn’t require many supplies. You’ll need:

• Colour printer*
• White card
• Magnetic tape (I used Magi Mag brand)*
• Scissors
• Glue or sticky tape

I had never seen this kind of magnetic tape before. I use a much thicker industrial tape for making fridge door notepads but this is thin enough to come on a roll like sticky tape and can even be torn off. I can see it being useful for many more DIYs.

The tutorial is very simple and fast – you cut out the cats, apply pieces of magnetic tape, stick on the tail and you’re done! Read the full tutorial.

* If you can’t get the magnetic tape, you could print on to sticker paper instead and use them for sticky tabs in a planner or notebook. If you don’t have access to a printer, you could just cut strips of coloured card and decorate with your own drawings, stickers or washi tape.

The end result

Here’s my finished cat bookmarks. Since I used a printable, they look almost exactly the same, though I chose to cut with a small border and add the tail a little lower down.

I think they turned out really cute! The magnetic tape works better than I expected, holding the bookmark together firmly on the page. Just be sure to follow that step carefully so the tape is lined up for a strong connection, otherwise it will not work.

I definitely recommend giving this a try as they look kawaii, don’t fall out and make it easy to find your place.

Free Bunny & Panda printable bookmarks

My only small issue was with the tail sticking up as it could get bent or broken when I put my book in my bag for travel – so I tried designing some of my own!

These feature our Bunny & Panda mascots and I’ve put them in a simple rounded rectangle to make it easier to cut out but feel free to cut closer if you prefer that look.

Download the printable from Ko-Fi (and consider adding a donation to support SCK) and let us know if you use it, or if you try out Wild Olive’s cats. We’d love to see your photos too – tag @sckawaii on Instagram.