Heart Bookmark

Today, as it is Valentine's Day, I am going to teach you how to make this origami heart bookmark. I'm not that good with origami, so I learned to do this from a Pinterest tutorial, but I thought I'd share the basics anyway.

You'll need origami paper, which I do not have, so I tried it once with construction paper (which was sort of difficult because of the thickness), and then again with copy paper, which is still as big, but easily bendable, so I'd recommend that more. Either way, you'll need the paper to be a square, so I folded one corner across the paper, until two sides were matched up, then cut off the excess. 

To start, fold the square diagonally, then unfold it and refold it diagonally the other way. From there, fold the top point (but only the top layer of paper) down, so that it touches the bottom edge. Now, fold the two side corners in, so it touches the folded down part. I think of it to look like an envelope during this step. At this point, unfold those to edges, and pull them up, and tuck them in where we folded down the top corner. Here, it should look like a diamond with a pocket. 

Flip it over so the pocket is on the back, and now simply cut the top curves of a heart onto the top part. 

Now you have your heart bookmark! Just slip it onto a corner of a page of your favorite book, and it will hold your spot perfectly!

DIY Glitter Box

Hey friends! Today I am going to show you how to decorate a simple box to personalize it. I used glitter to do it. It again, took me like two hours at the most, so it's easy to do! 

All you will need is a box (I got this cute pink one for $5 in the Target dollar section, but they sell some at most craft stores), fine glitter, mod podge, a paint brush, sealing/finishing spray, a stencil for the design you want ( if you don't have one, what I did was use painters tape, a cutting board, and an Xacto knife. I'll explain how, below), a piece of copy paper and paper towels.

To start, if you have a stencil, skip this part, but if you don't, get out your cutting board, and lay down rows of painters tape overlapping each other to make like a big sheet of painters tape. Only make it a little bit bigger than the size you want your design to be though. My box is 7x7in so I made the image like 3.5x4. Next you are going to want to draw the design on the painters tape, and fix and sizing issues, than go over it with an Xacto knife, cutting it out. Take the outside part, and stick it onto your box in the center or wherever you want it to be. The design I did was a letter A.

Now, you stencilers, here is where you'd come back in. Begin by painting an EVEN layer of mod podge over the whole design, and quickly dump a bunch of glitter on there. Fold your piece of paper in half, then dump the excess glitter into the fold, so you can easily put it back in the glitter holder. Let that dry for a long time, or else you'll mess it up. Now take it outside and spray a layer of finishing spray over it, then immediately dump more glitter on, and reuse it with the same paper trick. Be sure when working with spray paint or anything of the sort, to take precautions. I was crafting with a friend who has never used spray paint before, and she did not know to read the instructions, and that the odor is toxic, so be sure to cover your nose and mouth, and apply it outside. 

Leave that layer to dry, then do it a few more times to get a strong coat of glitter on there, but then, just finish it off with a layer of finishing spray (don't add more glitter), let it dry, and you are done! Have fun with your personalized box!