One Sheet Wonder Valentine Bookmarks

Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by today. I have a very cool project to show you today. If you're looking for some little goodies to make for Valentine's Day then you're in luck. My project is cute, simple and you can even let the kids in on the fun.

It all starts with Papertrey's Simple Valentine patterned paper and Stamper's Select White Cardstock. I'm working with two sheets of 8.5" x 11" white cardstock today but you can use just one or as many as you like. Cut the white cardstock to 8" x 11". Then cut strips from the 8" x 8", approximately 1".......but make some narrower and some wider. It doesn't matter and you don't really need to measure. Just start cutting strips from each pattern. You'll need about 20 strips.
Arrange the strips on the white cardstock in an alternating layout. We're just getting the design here, don't adhere anything just yet.
Next up, we're going to adhere the strips. I'll explain the reasoning later, but start adhering the strips at 5-1/2", the center of the 11" length of the white paper. Just lay down a ruler and adhere the first two strips of patterned paper, leaving about an 1/8" gap at that 5-1/2" measurement. Don't get all worried because you have to get a ruler out. This is so easy.
Now you can go crazy and just adhere more strips until the white cardstock is covered. I left approximately an 1/8" gap between the papers. Don't measure and don't worry if the strips are a little crooked. That's the look we're aiming for. You will want to use adhesive on the entire strip of patterned paper so it will stick well all over.
When you get to the ends of the white cardstock, you may have to trim down those last pieces of patterned paper to fit. Don't measure......just adhere the paper and trim it off with your paper trimmer or scissors.
When you're done adhering the strips, you'll get full sheets of cardstock full of patterned paper strips. Very cute, huh? But we're not done.
Next up, we're going to cut the paper in half at that 5-1/2" mark. That's why we left that gap...so that we didn't end up with little tiny slivers of patterned paper at our cut line. I'm always thinking...just for you.
Now we want to cut those pieces into 2" strips. The wheels are turning now aren't they as you develop a mental picture of what's to come? Exciting, isn't it?
Next we want to make some cute circle accents. Use the dotted circle from Take Note to stamp Pure Poppy circles. Punch out with the 1-3/4" circle punch. If you use 2 sheets of cardstock for the above steps, you'll need 16 circles.
Stamp the circles with cute Valentine images from Tiny Treats: Valentines. Be sure to use an ink that is compatible with coloring with Copic markers. I use the Palette Black Noir ink pad.
At this point, you can color all the images........have your kids color the images......or do what I have done and adhere the images to the bookmarks uncolored. I'm going to let the girls color the images or perhaps the girls will just let their friends color their own images. The choice is up to you. Are these cute or what??????
I chose just a few Copic Sketch markers, shown below, for my girls to use. Limiting choices for the kiddos simplifies the process. I would definitely let kids that are the ages of my girls use my Copics. But if you have younger kids, you might want to hide your Copics. Have you been in a room full of Kindergartners lately? Just sayin'.
If you want to add a little fancy schmancy look to your bookmarks, you can do a few more steps like I've done below. I rounded the top corners of a bookmark with a corner rounder punch.....then punched a hole with my Crop-a-Dile......then added some thick string I've had in my stash for a while.(from Michael's). I also colored the cute dinosaur image using the Copic colors shown in the photo above.
Isn't this just the most fun idea you've seen today? It's so simple...the one sheet wonder idea just steam lines the entire process. I think I'm going to make up some of these in papers that the high school kids would like too......my librarian friend is always needing new bookmarks. Soooooooooo............go ahead and tell me what you think? Do you love? I hope you do.