Happy Bookmarks

"A FROG?! In love with a PIG?!"

                                                          (Muppets take Manhattan; 1984)

Autumn is far from being the most cheerful time of the year. Each of us has fresh memories of the summer and we don’t have a warm welcome for the cooler months. Of course, they also have some charm of their own, but autumn is mostly associated with passing away, reflection and quiet contemplation. Rainy evenings are a perfect opportunity to catch up on books you haven’t read. As for adding some optimistic aspect to your meeting with reading, I’ve decided to show you how to make happy bookmarks. I hope their happy faces will chase away the autumn blues. It is also a nice tutorial for kids, because they usually get bored on rainy days.

difficulty: easy (kids may need to ask their parents for help)
estimated time: 20 minutes

You need:

• a printout on a piece of stiff paper of the template from the downloadables section at the bottom of the post (there are three templates: a frog, a kitty and a piggy, but basing on them you can also make any other animal)
• EVA foam in the proper color
• a pair of googly eyes stickers
• a pair of scissors
• nail scissors or a paper knife
• a pen
• glue
• a black marker

Tutorial steps:

 1. Cut out the template and copy its shape on the piece of EVA foam..

2. Cut it out and draw the details using the black marker. If you’ve chosen a piggy bookmark – copy the shape of its snout on the EVA foam, cut it out and glue to your bookmark.

3. Using the pair of nail scissors or the paper knife cut along the animal’s mouth. If you’re making the piggy, cut along the bottom of its snout to the half on its length. You can also cut along their paws – they will look like they’re trying to get out of your book.

4. Stick the googly eyes to your bookmark.

5. Cut out the paws from the foam, glue them and it’s done.

Downloadables:
- Printable version (pdf)
- Bookmarks templates (piggy, kitty, frog)

  Next tutorial: Halloweeno Decorations