Adorable Origami Bookmarks

My parents met my husband and his family here in Italy long before I did. In fact, the first time they visited Italy with a group from our church my husband was only 12 years old. They fell in love with Italy before I did, and are a part of the reason that I myself fell in love with this country later on. They continued to return to Italy every summer with a group from the church.

When I was around 11, and my husband was 13 they even tried to get us to be pen pals. They had me write him a letter so that he could practice his English! Looking back I can’t help but giggle. . .I had no idea what to write to someone who barely spoke English! I kept writing things like, “Hey, What’s up?”, or “It must be so cool…”, and then trying to explain the meaning of what I was saying! Needless to say the letter didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and in fact, I never even finished it! My parents sent it off anyways. Well, I guess my husband couldn’t figure out what I said, or just wasn’t interested, because he never wrote back!

Pretty funny, right?! Here we are almost 30 years later, happily married for 17 years, with three kids.. . .who would have thought?! Neither he nor I for sure, but I don’t think my parents would have tried to get us to be pen pals 30 years ago either had they known that their daughter would have moved across the ocean!

These origami bookmarks made me think of that first letter! They are the perfect diy Valentine for your little one to make for their friends! They are also great for holding your place in your favorite book, or keeping letters or documents together as well. I use the one my daughter made me kind of like a paper clip, holding together my piles of documents on my desk! At least it adds a little color to the pile!

They are easy to make and your kiddos can get creative, making all different shapes and characters! We made a pineapple, flamingo, narwhal, dinosaur, monster, and unicorn. I’ll take you through some easy steps with photos, so you can make your own origami bookmark!

I hope you have fun making these adorable bookmarks with your little ones! Make sure to let me know what you create together! And hopefully your Valentine will reply to this sweet gift, but if they don’t, remember my story… 6 years after I sent a letter to a pen pal who never replied to me, we met for the first time and fell in love and have been happily married for 17 years. Life is an adventure!