‘Tis the season for summer camps and lounging by the pool with a good book. In this activity we are going to combine these two quintessential summer activities and create our very own beasts of legends bookmark. Now let’s get started!

You can also find a video tutorial of how to complete the project here:

Supply List:

  • Paper (e.g. cardstock, origami paper, printer paper, etc.)
  • String
  • Pencil or pen
  • Scissors

Beasts of Legend Bookmarks Instructions:

1.) To begin, gather your supplies and decide which legendary beast you will model your bookmark after. Be creative!
Here is a list of examples if you are stuck:

  • Unicorn
  • Dragon
  • Sphinx
  • Cerberus

A silhouette of a unicorn on the left with a hand using a pencil to copy the outline freehanded on the right

2.) At this point you may either trace or freehand a silhouette of your chosen legendary beast onto your paper. You can make it as large or as small as you like, but I find that about 5 in. (or 12.7 cm) in length makes a good bookmark size. Make sure to draw your beast WITHOUT a tail as we will be adding one later.

Cutout of unicorn figure on blue paper with a hole punched in the rear for attaching a tail

3.) Cut out your legendary beast and be sure to cut out a hole where the tail should be attached. This is the main body of your bookmark.

6 steps to making a tassel tail: gather short pieces of equal-length string into a group, fold in half at the middle, tie the folded area with another piece of string, wrap a loose piece around the fold near the knot and tie, then trim to make it all even

4.) It is time to create and add a tassel for the tail. Wrap a length of string around your fingers a couple of times until it has reached a desired thickness. Slide the bundle off of your hand and onto another length of string. Tie a knot. Cut off the short tail. Finally, take another length of string and tie a knot around the bunde near the top. Trim the ends of the tassel.

Blue unicorn bookmark with purple string tail sitting on an open book

5.) Finally, you can tie your tassel onto your bookmark.

A variety of paper-cut outs of mythical creatures with string tails are scattered atop an open book

Ta-da! We have completed making our very own beasts of legend bookmark. After all that hard work it’s time to put the bookmark to good use! I hope you had a great time crafting, and have a wonderful time at this year’s IGGPPCamp!

Contributed by Lily: 
Lily can often be found buried beneath a pile of old books cradling a big mug of her favorite tea. It’s not unusual to see her cooking up a storm in the kitchen or working into the wee hours of the night on yet another arts and crafts project. Find her on Instagram at tig3r.lily01.