There are quite a few things I look to buy when traveling, but an item that I often recommend to anyone looking to start a souvenir collection is the bookmark. I have over 80 bookmarks I’ve collected in my travels, and I hope to add more with future trips. So what makes the bookmark the perfect souvenir?

Portability

Bookmarks are small and nearly weightless. You don’t have to worry about how you’ll get them home, if they will break, or if you have room in your suitcase. Even if you’re traveling with carry on luggage you can bring them home. You don’t even have to really pack them, just stick them in an outside pocket or inside a book.

 

Cost

Bookmarks are cheap! It is only in rare instances that I have spent more than $5 for a bookmark, even the artisan-made unique bookmarks I search out. You can easily bring home a souvenir from everywhere you go without making a dent in your budget, yet they make a big impact (more about this later). This is also a great benefit because you can simply buy them as you see them – no deciding if you might find a better one later in the trip. Buy all the ones you see and then decide when you get home which ones belong in your collection.

 

Availability

While bookmarks aren’t in every cheap souvenir store the way shot glasses, thimbles, and t-shirts are, they are still relatively easy to find. They’re often positioned near the register in shops. Shops at museums and historical sites frequently carry bookmarks. Stores carrying artisan crafts often sell them. You can also find them at galleries and craft co-ops where there are sometimes bookmarks that are mini prints of the art carried in the store.

 

Servicability

Unlike a lot of souvenirs, you can actually use bookmarks in your daily life. They are great for marking your page in the novel you’re reading, but they can also be stuck in your cookbooks to mark your favorite recipes or in your Bible or book of poetry to hold a favorite section. It’s a lovely surprise to open a book and be reminded of a place you visited.

 

Uniqueness

I’ve never met anyone else who collects bookmarks as a souvenir, so you will be part of a small class.  Your bookmark collection will be eye-catching and surprise people who see it.

 

Artistic Quality

Although bookmarks are definitely made to be used, they also are easy to display. I create groupings of bookmarks in large frames and hang them on the walls of my office. Many of them are really small works of art. I have bookmarks that are quilted, pressed flowers, metal, gemstones, carved wood, leatherworked, lace, graphic prints, photographs, woven fabric, and even glass. Because they are so tiny, you can display many in a small space.

Start by picking up a couple of bookmarks on your next trip. Stick them into books or wait until you have about 10 to frame them. They make the perfect souvenir.

There are quite a few things I look to buy when traveling, but an item that I often recommend to anyone looking to start a souvenir collection is the bookmark. I have over 80 bookmarks I’ve collected in my travels, and I hope to add more with future trips. So what makes the bookmark the … Read more →

Today’s bookmark is from Maine. You’ve probably seen bracelets made with this sailor’s knot technique (I had one as a child). This bookmark is special to me because it reminds me of Captain Bob Smith. For most of my childhood, my family rented a cottage on Smith Cove (near Blue Hill), Maine for two weeks each summer. Bob and his wife Wilma owned Gull’s Way Cottages, a group of three cottages. The one we stayed in was built of logs and must have been built in the early 1900s. It was a summer home for a wealthy family, complete with a tiny maid’s cottage on the grounds. It was a magical place. The screened in porch sat above the shore and there was a decrepid upholstered porch swing I spent my days on, reading. In front of it was a cobbler’s bench that served as a coffee table. A card table was set up on the porch with a jigsaw puzzle. A creek trickled through the property to a small waterfall on the shore. A stone patio with a fireplace was built into the hill and stone steps went down to the rocky beach where there were mussels and shells. A wooden pier led to a floating dock where a rowboat we used was tied. I would swim in the frigid water and explore on the shore that smelled of salt, mud, clams and seaweed.

Captain Bob had been a sea captain and so were both of his sons. When we arrived each year, we sat in his living room with his mementos and looked out a big picture window on the cove. He would stop by our cabin every few days to check on us and tell stories of his life. He took us out on his Boston whaler and let me steer.  He learned to make sailor’s knots during his time at sea. It helped pass the time. He wouldn’t eat lobster (scavengers he called them and insisted no real Mainer would eat them) and told me Coke was poison (he may have been right about that).

One year he gave me a sailor’s knot light pull he had made for me. For years, it hung from the overhead light in my bedroom, then on my closet light until I got married. It traveled with me and eventually got left behind on the pull of a closet light at a rental house. Moving out with a two-month baby, I simply forgot about it. It makes me sad to have left that behind. So this bookmark that I bought on one of our trips to Maine makes me remember Captain Bob and the cottage on the cove that I loved so much.

Today’s bookmark is from Maine. You’ve probably seen bracelets made with this sailor’s knot technique (I had one as a child). This bookmark is special to me because it reminds me of Captain Bob Smith. For most of my childhood, my family rented a cottage on Smith Cove (near Blue Hill), Maine for two weeks … Read more →

Last week I talked about how my bookmark collection started and shared my Alaska bear bookmark. I thought I would share another beautiful bookmark. This one is from Venice. Venice is one of my all-time favorite destinations, so it is special to me for that reason. The scene (of the Grand Canal) is hand-painted on leather. Leather is an Italian specialty. I love the view of the Grand Canal, which emphasizes the bridges that cross it and the tall buildings that surround it. The gondola ride we took through the canals is one of my favorite memories of all time.

The tail of the bookmark is a tassel, another Venetian specialty. Tassels are thought to have originated in the Middle East and later became popular in France and England. What lies between the two? Venice. Venice was the gateway to Asia and the Middle East, so trends passed through here. This is one trend that stuck. There are shops in Venice that sell nothing but tassels. I was delighted to find that at our hotel, all the room keys were attached to big, beautiful tassels, which you must turn in when leaving the building each day. I found the display behind the hotel desk so beautiful.

Last week I talked about how my bookmark collection started and shared my Alaska bear bookmark. I thought I would share another beautiful bookmark. This one is from Venice. Venice is one of my all-time favorite destinations, so it is special to me for that reason. The scene (of the Grand Canal) is hand-painted on … Read more →