Beautiful DIY Space Bookmarks

Make your own space bookmarks with easy watercolor nebulas! Ink and bead stars make these fun and gorgeous.

You can never have too many bookmarks! Add this fun craft project to a space week schedule or make some to save your page in your summer reading books.

These look so pretty, but they’re really easy to paint! Start with thick watercolor paper (ours is 98 lb.) and a classic watercolor palette. The trick is to get your paper good and wet to begin with, then add more water with the paint and the colors will swirl.

Space is really colorful! Look at these pictures from the Hubble telescope for inspiration before you start painting.

How to make space bookmarks

Supplies

• watercolor paper
• watercolor paint
• paint brushes
• scissors or paper trimmer
• hole punch
• embroidery floss
• star beads
• ribbon
• black or white gel pen

Instructions

1. Watercolor the paper.

Start by watercoloring a page of paper. Brush the whole page with water. This will help the paint spread organically. Add dabs of paint randomly.

Start with dark blue as the main color, then add other shades of blue, purple, green, and whatever other colors you like.

Add more water to blur the colors together. When the paper is full, set it aside to dry. It will probably curl, so when it’s dry enough to touch, put it under something heavy to flatten.

2. Cut the bookmarks.

Use scissors or a paper trimmer to cut the page into bookmarks. Trim off any white space. We made our bookmarks 2 inches wide and about 7 inches tall.

3. Attach the tassel.

Cut a piece of ribbon about 10 inches long. Punch a hole at the top of the bookmark and loop the ribbon through. Cut pieces of embroidery thread, loop them through the hole, and thread beads. Tie a knot in the ends to keep the beads from sliding off.

4. Draw stars.

Use a white gel pen (or black) to draw stars on the paper.

The fun part of these bookmarks is that you can make a ton and they’ll all be different! Use different colors to create the clouds and nebulas. Draw planets or spaceships or whatever else you want.

Printable instructions

Space Bookmarks

Print

Prep Time 10 minutes

Active Time 15 minutes

Dry Time 20 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Estimated Cost $1

Materials

• watercolor paper
• watercolor paint
• paint brushes
• scissors or paper trimmer
• hole punch
• embroidery floss
• beads
• ribbon
• white or black gel pen

Instructions

1. Watercolor the paper.
   Start by watercoloring a page of paper. Brush the whole page with water. This will help the paint spread organically. Add dabs of paint randomly. Start with dark blue as the main color, then add other shades of blue, purple, green, and whatever other colors you like. Add more water to blur the colors together. When the paper is full, set it aside to dry. It will probably curl, so when it's dry enough to touch, put it under something heavy to flatten.
2. Cut the bookmarks.
   Use scissors or a paper trimmer to cut the page into bookmarks. Trim off any white space. We made our bookmarks 2 inches wide and about 7 inches tall.
3. Attach the tassel.
   Cut a piece of ribbon about 10 inches long. Punch a hole at the top of the bookmark and loop the ribbon through. Cut pieces of embroidery thread, loop them through the hole, and thread beads. Tie a knot in the ends to keep the beads from sliding off.
4. Draw stars.
   Use a white gel pen (or black) to draw stars on the paper. The fun part of these bookmarks is that you can make a ton and they'll all be different! Use different colors to create the clouds and nebulas. Draw planets or spaceships or whatever else you want.

More fun ideas from Backyard Summer Camp:

• 10 Children’s Books About the Moon
• 24 Outer Space Books for Kids
• DIY Corner Bookmark Paper Craft