Bookmarks with Origami Animals: Recycling cardboard and paper scraps

Here is another tutorial on recycling paper and putting it into some good use. We had some cardboard sheets lying from my daughter's previous school projects and loads of paper scraps as usual. We didn't want to throw them and at the same time wanted to make something useful using these materials. Also, I wanted to gift something to our Art Hours students and I was searching for ideas that would not only make them happy but also motivate them to continue with their good work. I decided to make some reward tags for them which they could use as bookmarks too.

We made use of the cardboard sheets and paper scraps to make something beautiful and useful. And here's how we did it.

Materials required:

Cardboard sheets, paper scraps, craft glue, origami paper for making the origami animals.

Procedure:

Step 01:

We used some cardboard of size 18.0 cm x 3.0 cm and paper scraps of size 8.5cm x 3.5cm. For every piece of the bookmark, we used 6 different colored paper scraps. 

Step 01

Step 02:

Cover the top and bottom of the bookmark with the paper scraps and then glue the paper scraps at an angle as shown below in the picture.

Step 02

Step 03:

Keep gluing the paper scraps overlapping one over the another as shown below. Use any color combination you like. We used different combinations and made use of whatever colors we had.

Step 03

Step 04:

Turn over the entire assembly. 

Step 04

Step 05:

Apply glue to the sides of the paper scraps as shown in the picture below.

Step 05

Step 06:

Fold down the paper flaps one after the other as shown below. This becomes the bottom side of the bookmark.

Step 06

Step 07:

Turn it over and the bookmark is ready. You can decorate it further if you wish to.

Step 07

Step 08:

I used 4cm x 4cm square origami sheets to make some origami animal faces. Then, I glued them on the bookmarks and they were ready. 

Bookmarks with origami animals

To fold these cute origami animals is not very tough. I have posted a picture tutorial earlier to make some of these animals. You can click the link here to get the tutorial on folding the origami animals. It shows how you can fold 10 such origami animal faces.

When I was making these bookmarks I intended to reward my talented little students who have been part of Art Hours classes for quite some months now. So, these cute bookmarks served as reward tags to motivate and inspire them on their path to exploring the art world. Hence, one last step was to write something unique for each of my student, some inherent quality that each of my students had that made them uniquely talented.

The smile on their faces when they received these cute reward-tags was my reward!

I hope this tutorial is helpful. Do post your feedback and comments. This will help us learn and improve our posts.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a good day.

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