For a while now, bedtime has been a special ritual between Alice and her dad.
He wrangles her into her pj's. She pulls a few books from the shelf. They settle down and cuddle up.
Most days, I pick Alice up from nursery school and the two of us have at least a couple of hours together before my husband gets home from work.
The evenings speed up, then, as dinner is made and eaten, as the bath is drawn and drained.
So, story time is a precious cozy-quiet time for Alice and her dad - and it's one I am so glad they can share.
Lately, they've been mixing some longer books - a Beatrix Potter anthology and the Uncle Wiggily stories - in with the usual mix of picture books, and I thought a simple, little bookmark might make a sweet Valentine's Day token for the two of them.
This project takes a bit longer than the homemade valentines I shared last week - but not much. And it's a craft an older child could easily put together as a gift for teachers or friends.
You'll need:
Felt - just scraps are fine
Scrapbooking paper or cardstock - something with heft
Glue
Embroidery floss and a needle
Buttons, sequins, ribbon - whatever your favorite embellishments are
Step 2: Next, for each bookmark, cut two identical hearts - just smaller than the felt hearts - out of your cardstock. Set these aside.
Step 3: Choose one of the felt hearts to be the front of the bookmark and embellish. I kept mine pretty simple, but you can go as fancy as you please.
Step 4: Glue the paper hearts to the backs of the felt hearts. This step is sort of optional, but it will make the bookmarks sturdier and help them "grab" the page.
Step 5: Starting halfway up the heart, stitch or glue the front and back sides of the bookmark together. If, for symmetry's sake, you want to continue your stitching all the way around the heart (I did), just make sure the stitches along the top of the heart only go through the first layer of felt - you need a pocket for those book pages.
