Valentine Bookmarks with Free Printables

Hey, friends! One of the funny things about my job is that I always have to be about a month ahead of whatever is going on so that I’ve got ideas here for you when you’re ready for them…which means yesterday Little Crafter and I spent our snow day making Valentines! He is in 2nd grade this year and in the last month or so, he’s developed a major love for reading chapter books. In fact, from what I’ve observed when I help in his classroom, most of his classmates are also budding readers who are getting excited about fun books and series. So, I thought a little bookmark would be the perfect Valentine treat for LC to share. After all, there will be plenty of sweets and snacks, and many of his friends have food allergies and sensitivities that can make giving food a tricky business. Since the material of the month is clay here at One Artsy Mama, we got our Sculpey out and went to work to see what we could create!

Materials:
– Sculpey Polyform Clay
– Premo! Sculpey Mini Metal Cutters: Basic Shapes
– Rolling Pin or Clay Roller
– Elmer’s X-Treme School Glue
– Wooden Craft Sticks {ours came colored, but you can also paint your own}
– Foil, Baking Sheet
– Black Permanent Marker
– Printable Valentine Messages {free printable below}
– Washi Tape

Step 1: Roll out your clay to about 1/4″ thickness and use the Mini Metal Cutters to create the shape{s} you want. We used a heart for the girls and a square for the boys. Bake the shapes according to the package instructions; ours took 15 minutes at 275 degrees Farenheit.

Step 2: Once the shapes are baked and cooled completely, glue each one to the top of a colored craft stick. Add details to the Minecraft ones using a black permanent marker.

Step 3: Print and cut the Valentine messages. To download these, just right click on the image and save it to your computer. They are scaled to 3×4″ but you can print them any size you like. You can print them on white cardstock, or do what we did and print them on regular paper then glue them to colored cardstock.

Step 4: Attach the bookmarks to the messages using washi tape. Fill out the “to” and “from” part, and they’ll be ready to deliver!

Here’s a closeup of the Minecraft shape. I personally know next to nothing about the game, so I did a Google image search for this guy and copied the design by using my marker to draw squares and rectangles. Little Crafter was thrilled and exclaimed that they looked just like Creepers…I guess that’s a good thing? If I have the six year old’s approval, it must be right?

I can’t say for sure, but I think Little Crafter’s classmates are going to enjoy these, and it’s something they can put to use right away during their Literature period.

Little Crafter can’t wait to use his to mark his place in his favorite books.

Do you know some little folks {or maybe some big ones too} who would enjoy receiving this little Valentine treat?