Maria Bernard offers water-color bookmarks for Valentine’s Day gifts at Squished in a Book. Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/squished.in.a.book.
Submitted photo
Maria Bernard offers water-color bookmarks for Valentine’s Day gifts at Squished in a Book. Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/squished.in.a.book.
Submitted photo
Maria Bernard offers water-color bookmarks for Valentine’s Day gifts at Squished in a Book. Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/squished.in.a.book.
Submitted photo
Maria Bernard offers water-color bookmarks for Valentine’s Day gifts at Squished in a Book. Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/squished.in.a.book.
Submitted photo
Maria Bernard offers water-color bookmarks for Valentine’s Day gifts at Squished in a Book. Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/squished.in.a.book.
Submitted photo
People give gifts of flowers, candy and jewelry on Valentine’s Day. Maria Bernard has a unique gift. She uses watercolors to paint on bookmarks and magnets.
The bookmarks are also available for other holidays and special occasions.
“I have always enjoyed the arts and crafting,” Bernard said. “During COVID, my family did a lot of step-by-step painting videos or painting together with family over Zoom. I started to try a different painting medium and really found a love for watercolors. Painting to me is very relaxing. It allows me to focus on the project I am working on and forget the everyday stresses of life.”
She mainly uses watercolor but also a mix medium on some of her paintings to get a certain effect that she is looking for. She also uses a black marker for crisp black lines or white acrylic to help with highlighting.
Bookmarks and magnets are her two best sellers, but she paints larger pieces and cards.
The name of her business is Squished in a Book.
“I came up with this name since I had really started with just bookmarks. I have since expanded my art options but have stayed with the name because I had started a following and people find my business name to be funny and tend to remember it,” she said.
“I love to read in my spare time. This is one of the reasons I started painting bookmarks. I always love to find a fun, unique bookmark to use while reading, and thought I could combine my two passions of reading and painting to offer some beautiful one-of-a-kind bookmarks to fellow book lovers.”
When she is not reading or painting, she is employed at Imagine NEPA. The job allows her to share her love of art and science with children in the community.
She and her husband, Stephen, grew up in Long Island, New York, where their families still live.
They have two children, Benjamin who is 9 and Madeline who is 7.
The family has a mini goldendoodle named Teddy and 10 chickens.
Bookmarks can be purchased through e mail at Mariabernard226@gmail.com or Squished in a Book Facebook page. She is able to ship to anyone not local in the area.
