DIY Magnetic Bookmarks for Charts

The chart holder that I had purchased came with some magnets that would

1. hold the chart 
2. mark where I am in the chart.

But, they were plain old, boring magnets. I had a magnetic bookmark that someone had given me (sans the board) that were glued onto some pretty ribbon, and thought it'd be pretty easy to replicate. I looked around online and found some --- a set of 3 for $12.00. Umm. No thank you. I love DIY, and this is really the simplest form of DIY.

I headed down to Joann's Fabrics and picked up the following:

• 30" strip of magnetic tape with an adhesive backing ($0.79)
• a spool of 5/8" ribbon ($3.50)

I picked up something bright that would heavily contrast with the Cats & Sushi fabric, plus it had to be about the width of the magnet strip. I settled on ladybugs.

I took the ribbon and cut out two lengths:

• 20" long (to fit across an 8.5" letter-sized paper)
• 13" long (to fit across half a chart)

Why this long? So that the bookmark wraps around the chart holder, so you want it to be a bit long.
(NOTE: These magnetic bookmarks are made to fit my chart holder. Your sizing might vary.)

Assembling the whole thing is pretty easy.

1. Cut out 2 magnets  (one magnet on each side of the board) in the following lengths: 
• 5" for a half-chart marker
• 8.5"  for a full chart marker
2. Placed the magnets on the ribbon, leaving a 2" space in between the magnets so it could fold around the board. 
3. Glue down the edges with a bit of superglue and wipe away the excess. (You only need to glue down only about 1/2" of fabric. Don't glue down too much....cut off the excess ribbon as needed, otherwise your magnets won't stick to the metal).

 

Viola! Magnetic bookmarks:

Overall, it took about 15 minutes to assemble the magnets. It took longer to pick out the ribbon!