Sunshine watercolour bookmarks are such a simple, fun kids craft that’s ideal for a Summer’s day. A Summer bookmark is a great addition to your Summertime reading. They also make really sweet gifts. This blog post will tell you what you need and how to make these Summer bookmarks inspired by a YouTuber.
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I got the inspiration for making these lovely bookmarks from a YouTube video by Liz Chaderton (see below). I’d highly recommend checking out Liz’s YouTube account. My interpretation isn’t as beautiful as Liz’s yet these are a simple watercolour project ideal for kids and complete beginners.
What You Need to Make a Summer Bookmark
Here’s a list of the resources we used to make Summer bookmarks with ideas for alternatives that you may already have at home.
Summer Bookmark Must Haves
Paper
- A4 Watercolour paper 300gsm – you could use other paper but ideally you want watercolour paper of 300gsm or more. If you prefer larger bookmarks this is a larger size watercolour paper. Other paper is likely to buckle with the amount of water we will be using.
Paints
- Watercolour paints. We used Stockmar brand wet watercolours. These are ideal for use with children as they give such a vibrant colour with little effort. They come in small bottles – I’ve had them about 5 years now and I think they’ll be just as good in the next 20! You can mix up a small amount of pigment to make a wetter paint to use. We use mini jam jars to mix pigment with water. These jars lasts ages and you can mix colours to get the colours you would like. For this project we chose yellows and oranges. You can absolutely use any other watercolours you have. We have various palettes we love, use whatever you have. You could also use tubes of watercolour too.
Extras
- Scissors or paper trimmer
- Paint brushes – use whatever you have. We used a large flat brush and a smaller round brush
- Containers of water – we use an old jars (one jar is your dirty water jar and another jar is your clean jar).
Optional Extras
- Tape down your paper with low tack tape. This isn’t essential but gives your final piece a lovely, professional finish. You could always use Washi tape.
- Paint palette
- Salt
- Metallic paint/ inks/ pens
- Paper corner/trimmer. You could just leave corners as they are or cut them with scissors but a corner cutting leaves a professional finish
- Hole punch
- Tassels – you could make these from embroidery thread or yarn but this pack are such good value with a great range of colours.
- Sealant
How to Make Summer Watercolour Bookmarks
Cut Bookmarks
Cut your watercolour paper into bookmark size. If A4 cut in half and then half again.
Tape Down Watercolour Paper
Tape your paper to a suitable surface. This step is optional but well worth doing for a professional finish.
Prepare Wet on Wet Watercolour
Take a paint brush (we used a wide flat one), wet it in water and paint the water all over your watercolour paper. The technique we used was wet on wet watercolour. This means you wet your paper first and then apply wet watercolour. Even little ones can get great pigmentation and saturation of colour with little effort.
Prepare for Mixing
You can continue using the same brush or switch to a different brush. We went between the same brush and a smaller round brush. Dip your brush into your paint. As I said earlier you can use whatever you have but I do highly recommend Stockmar. They’re expensive but last so well and are great for kids. Our Stockmar are ready made up with water in jars. We used a paint palette for any additional colour mixing.
Like a lion’s mane sprouting.
Get Creative
This part is the best bit. You get to play and explore with the paint and how it behaves on the wet paper. I like to get creative alongside Floss and it’s a great time to chat together. Floss was loving adding small dots and watching then spread – like a lion’s mane sprouting she said as the orange paint met the wet paper. You can really do whatever you want with whatever colours.
Salt Sprinkling and Paint
A sprinkle of salt it a great way to experiment with how the paint reacts and make interesting patterns.
Leave to Dry
Leave your creations to dry. Once dry brush of any left over salt granules. If you want to add any other details now’s the time – acrylic pens and fine liners are great at this stage.
Remove Low Tack Tape
Remove low tack tape. If the tape is stuck use a heat gun or hair dryer. This heats the gum and stops the tape from ripping the paper.
Additional Extras
You’ve now made some wonderful handmade bookmarks. Optional extras you can do to make your bookmarks even more snazzy include rounding off the corners with trimmer. Make a small hole using a punch and insert your choice of tassel or hand make one.
Sealing Bookmarks
Final stage (again optional) is to seal your Summer bookmark. The reason this is beneficial is so that you don’t get any transfer from the bookmark on your books. We used the wax sealant recommended by Liz. If you want to gift the bookmark – write a message on the back before sealing.
Pin it for Later
Summer Posts
I’ve got several posts you might like to check out for some Summer seasonal inspiration:
– Summer Solstice Celebrations – Waldorf Inspired
– Summer Solstice Candle Crafts for Kids – Bees
– Sunflower Crafts – Spring & Summer Creative Play Ideas
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