HobbyCrafting For The Uncrafty: Pom Pom Book Marks

For me, crafting is a little bit like exercise: you know you should do it but you really don’t want to – it’s messy, difficult, and on the odd occasion it ends in tears.

Take glitter, for example. Barring a couple of mess-loving toddlers I literally know nobody who has ever had a good experience with glitter outside of a Mariah Carey movie. It’s gritty, it’s tiny, it gets everywhere, it’s a nightmare to hoover up. Sure it’s pretty, but what kind of nonsense material evades a Dyson?! The mind boggles.

Pom pom book mark Pom pom book mark Pom pom book mark

The fact I have two children is often at odds with my aversion to crafting. They love an afternoon with a stack of cardboard and some PVA, go wild for poster paints and can’t get enough of Hobbycraft, so I try and suck it up just for them. And by suck it up I mean I get some felt tip pens and stickers out once a month and half heartedly do some colouring in or make a thank-you card. I wish I could say it sates their need to craft, but they still beg me to get creative with the glue gun.

So when the lovely people of said Hobbycraft dropped me a note to ask if I fancied doing some crafting with the kids I said sure – as long as they didn’t mind me coming up with an activity that those of us with fingers for thumbs – that’s me! – could do.

Pom pom book mark Pom pom book mark

And they said sure, knock yourself out with some easy papercraft. So after some Googling and a little effort trying to remember my own handmade bits from my girlhood time in the brownies I came up with the Pom Pom bookmark. A craft that even I can heroically complete.

We started by ordering our bits and bobs; we needed cardboard, wool and some decorations, so it was a pretty low-key list, and I popped this bargain Giant Box of Craft (just a fiver!) in our trolley too, to give us a few extra options when it came to decorations. I went for a purpley-blue word theme and chose some brilliant letter tile stickers that I knew Elfie would love (she’s a scrabble champion).

Pom pom book markPom pom book mark

Here’s how we did it: SO easy, and nobody cried. Plus loads less sweaty than exercise: success!!!

Pom Pom Book Mark

You will need: 
Cardboard (I chose purples and blues)
Wool (we used this great multicoloured yarn)
Decorations like stickers or glitter (argh!), and glue
A hole punch, or something sharp to make a hole in cardboard
Scissors

Pom pom book mark

Pom pom book markPom pom book mark

Method:
1. Start by making your pom pom! Take your hand (or that belonging to your kid) and wrap the wool around it 80 times, fairly loosely. This bit was so easy that even Hux did it without getting bored. Lay a piece of wool on the table, about 12cm long. Take the bound handful of wool and lay it on top of the wool and tie a knot tightly in your 12cm piece so the handful of wool is fanned out at the bottom and the top, as below. Leave the long piece of wool long for the time being.

Pom pom book mark

2. Give your pom pom a hair cut! Snip it open so it starts looking, you know, like a pom pom. Keep snipping around so it’s all even.

3. Use your scissors to cut your cardboard into a bookmark shape. We just stuck to the width of the card. Use the hole punch or your sharp thing to punch a hole in the top.

Pom pom book mark Pom pom book mark

4. Now for the fun bit! Get your decorations out and go wild – Elfie spelled out her name from the scrabble tiles and stuck a flower on the bottom.

Pom pom book mark

5. Snip your wool to a preferred length and tie it to your bookmark through the hole you’ve punched. And voila! Your very own pom pom bookmark. And nobody cried – congratulations!

Pom Pom Book Mark

Huge thanks to Hobbycraft for helping us craft for the afternoon without going mad (or clogging up the vacuum cleaner). Not only did we have a lovely time together, but I’ve almost erased all my burning-finger glue gun memories from last year’s Easter Bonnet fiasco.

Pom Pom Book Mark

Huge thanks to Hobbycraft for working with MTT on this sponsored post. 

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

16 Comments

  1. Jemma wrote:

    What a fab idea or a bookmark! Or maybe a card or invites?? Tons of ideas!

    Posted 4.27.18 Reply
    • alice wrote:

      Love these ideas!

      Posted 4.29.18 Reply
  2. Susan wrote:

    Very impressed and I know how much they loved doing it.

    Posted 4.27.18 Reply
    • alice wrote:

      It was a lovely afternoon of fun x

      Posted 4.30.18 Reply
  3. What fab bookmarks – I love the pom poms on them. They look very easy to make but are so effective, don’t you think?

    Posted 4.27.18 Reply
  4. I love crafting with my girls. I love hobbtcraft for supplies. love the scrabble tiles. Pompom making is lots of fun.

    Posted 4.28.18 Reply
    • alice wrote:

      We’ll definitely be doing pom poms again – much easier than I expected!

      Posted 4.29.18 Reply
  5. Oh these bookmarks are lovely, what a fun idea :)

    Stevie x

    Posted 4.28.18 Reply
  6. Paula Cabrelli wrote:

    Crafting? you want to thank your lucky pom pom you missed the whole loom band fiasco! was a time you couldn’t get the desired coloured bands/plastic frame thing for love nor money, many a loft with a bin bag full of them now. equally, have you not been persuaded to spend a fortune on shaving foam, bicarb & more to make ‘Slime’
    all good fun. believe me, you will treasure your pom pom book marks they look lovely.

    Posted 4.30.18 Reply
    • alice wrote:

      Is it awful that we do have Loom Bands but I keep them on a shelf up high? once you spend an afternoon hoovering those suckers up, you can never look back!!!! I have, up til this point, swerved the Slime trend, though. Long may that continue!

      Posted 4.30.18 Reply
  7. Great idea I loved making pom-poms as a child

    Posted 4.30.18 Reply
  8. This is such a simple but effective craft, my little ones would love this :)

    Posted 4.30.18 Reply
  9. This looks amazing! We love hobbycraft! I am in total awe of your photography too! What great images!! Sx

    Posted 4.30.18 Reply
  10. Ah love the idea of a book mark pom pom, so easy to make too :)

    Posted 5.1.18 Reply
  11. The letter tiles are inspired and look so fantastic! The giant craft box looks fab too. I have one child who lives to craft and another who avoids it wherever possible!

    Posted 5.2.18 Reply
  12. We love making poms poms in our household, they are so easy to do. Well done for getting the Arts and Crafts out, I have brace to myself for it. Claire x

    Posted 5.2.18 Reply