DIY Book Recommendation Book Plates
When Ella was born, my sweet friend Bethany gave me a big stack of board books and put book plates on each one of them. She wrote a little note on each one, and every time we read them, I think of her. It’s so nice that I can remember which books are from her (since, embarrassingly, most of our other gifted books, I have no idea who gave them to us).
When I got the new HP Sprout, which is pretty much the coolest computer on earth, I realized it’d be super easy to make some personalized bookplates to include when I give books as gifts (which is my go-to baby shower gift, along with a big stack of diapers).
The Sprout has an amazing touch pad and overhead image scanner, so putting these together was totally simple (and a good way to be productive while I watched more White Collar; I’m in mourning about the show being over).
I get asked a lot about my favorite board books, so I thought a book plate that also 
had recommendations for some of my other board books would be fun. I gathered up some of our favorite titles and then had the Sprout capture the covers.
I cropped them in rectangles and circles (which was a nice way to get rid of the well-loved corners of our copies), arranged them and added some text. If that quote by Oscar Wilde doesn’t perfectly sum up reading with small children, I don’t know what does.
I printed them eight to a page and cut them out (since a board book doesn’t have all that much room for a book plate – also, if there are no blank pages in your board book, which is very common, Bethany put some of them on the back covers and they’ve held up really well over the last almost five years).
These would also be a fun first birthday gift to give a stack of bookplates with a variety of book recommendations and a couple of books to stick them in.
Now I’m dreaming up book plates with YA recommendations, audiobook favorites, and chick-lit titles galore.
I also made a printable copy of these bookplates, so you can print off your own (if you do them on regular paper, you can just glue them into the book, or you can print them on label paper). You can download the file here.
I love this idea! The idea of giving books at baby showers is excellent too, I never know what to give! Now I can pass on my love for books
This is just adorable!!! I love this idea! I'm really possessive about my books: since I was kid, I've always written my name inside the front cover, then in the inner title page, and then also on page 27 (I'm slightly paranoid about people borrowing my books and not returning them, and I figured no one would ever bother scratching a name smack in the middle of the book…yes, I know it's weird 😉 )
This is a much cuter (and less creepy) way to be possessive about my toddler's books! LOL
I love the idea of book plates as a gift…such a great idea.
I LOVE this! I'm totally using these for future baby showers! We have that blue hat green hat book and Kyle dies laughing every time it gets to the oops part, it's a definite favorite in our house!
Um, that looks like the coolest computer ever. Mine has been trying to die for quite a while now, so I'm definitely going to check it out. This might be the first sponsored blog post I've ever been happy for on a blog. (Maybe- depending on how much it costs, I guess.)
And that's a great idea for the book plates. I'll definitely keep that in mind.
I just got the Sprout, too!! I'm doing my online intro session in about an hour – anxious to see all that it can do 🙂 Love what you did with it!
This is a cool idea. 🙂
Awesome idea!
I give board books almost exclusively at baby showers. This is a lovely idea to go along with them, Janssen.
I LOVE giving books as gifts! What a fun way to "sneak" in other recommendations too (and keep the love of reading flowing!)