Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks

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Explore a new bookmark making technique and have a go at these lovely Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks with black glue! A gorgeous project for kids and adults alike. Comes with a free oak leaf template too! Party of our ecclectic set of creative Bookmark DIYs and Autumn Crafts for Kids!

Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks - these leaf bookmarks look fabulous and are easy to make. Use our free oak leaf printables to make these black glue and watercolour leaves and turn them into fabulous watercolour leaf bookmarks for Autumn. Such a beautiful Autumn craft. Love leaf DIYs.
First shared in August 2017

Clearly we are heading into the beautiful “season” that is Autumn! We love Autumn Crafts for Kids. I have many fond memories of crafting at this time of year when I was a child. I particularly enjoyed crafting with nature finds – such as conkers or acorns – but also enjoying all the leaves you could collect – the different shapes and colours. All those warm reds, oranges and yellows, make for beautifully firey Autumn Crafts. Today’s Leaf Bookmark is inspired by said nature finds – Oak Leaves and Acorns. They combine a wonderful “Black Glue & Water Colour technique” (learn how to make Black Glue here) and the results are just stunning. Lovely little Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks for your favourite book or make them as gifts to a friends or teachers.

I have included an Oak Leaf printable for you, however.. you could go out and find your own oakleaves and trace them to make this a truly unique leaf bookmark DIY.

If you fancy more Black Glue projects – we have a fantastic set of Under the Sea Black Glue Project ideas (including free templates!) and many more great DIY Bookmark Ideas for you to browse.

Black Glue Leaf Bookmarks – Materials Needed

  • Black Glue (learn how easy it is to make black glue)
  • Your leaf printables (or you can find a leaf in nature and trace it)
  • Watercolours
  • Cardboard (for backing, or you can print onto cardstock)
  • Bakers twine
  • Scissors, tape, glue stick

Materials needed to make black glue:

  • White Glue/ PVA Glue – such as Elmer’s Glue or School Glue (e.g. US/ UK)
  • Black paint (we used these paints US/ UK)
  • A small mixing container with a nozzle (US/ UK)
  • A stirrer of sorts (we used a coffee stirrer)

As mentioned you can simply buy black glue it here too – US/ UK

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If you want to try out different shaped leaves.. head over to my friend’s site Rhythms of Play for more leaf printables!

Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks - these leaf bookmarks look fabulous and are easy to make. Use our free oak leaf printables to make these black glue and watercolour leaves and turn them into fabulous watercolour leaf bookmarks for Autumn. Such a beautiful Autumn craft. Love leaf DIYs.

How to make your Black Glue Leaf Bookmarks

Working with black glue is really fun and the results are stunning. Some tips for working with black glue for best results:

  • Make sure the nozzle of your glue dispenser is clear – I use a needle to make sure it is clean before starting
  • Wipe the nozzle with a damp tissue
  • Shake your bottle to make sure all the glue is near the nozzle and there are no (or few) air pockets
  • Squeeze a little of your black glue onto some test paper first – so you can get a feel for flow and also avoid any “blobs” of glue squirting out
  • Try and make long continues lines – but break every so often to give yourself a rest
  • Remember.. the black glue may look “splodgy” in places.. but once you have added watercolours, you won’t noticed them and the results will look great. So don’t fret too much about “mistakes”
  • It is important to let your glue dry FULLY before using your watercolours!
Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks - these leaf bookmarks look fabulous and are easy to make. Use our free oak leaf printables to make these black glue and watercolour leaves and turn them into fabulous watercolour leaf bookmarks for Autumn. Such a beautiful Autumn craft. Love leaf DIYs.

To make your Black Glue Leaf Art Bookmarks, start off by printing off your FREE Oak Leaf Bookmark printable. I have designed it that you can get two bookmarks per sheet of paper. You may wish to print straight onto cardstock.

If you do not have a printer, find an Oak leaf in nature… and trace it. This will give you are really unique looking bookmark -note, it is likely to be a little smaller than the ones made here today.

Careful apply your black glue to your leaf outlines – check out the black glue art tips shared above for best results.

Once FULLY dry, you can get your watercolours out. Be brave, explore and have fun with your water colours – mix reds, oranges and yellows, as well as greends, yellows and oranges. For the acorns, I mixed browns ands reds and browns and greens.

Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks - these leaf bookmarks look fabulous and are easy to make. Use our free oak leaf printables to make these black glue and watercolour leaves and turn them into fabulous watercolour leaf bookmarks for Autumn. Such a beautiful Autumn craft. Love leaf DIYs.

Once your black glue and watercolour leaves are painted, let dry fully.

Then carefully cut out your watercolour leaves and acorns.

I used bakers twine to connect my acorns to my leaf bookmark. I unravelled one end slightly, so I could tape on the two acorns. Don’t worry if the tape overlaps, you can trim it aftwards.

Watercolour Leaf Bookmarks - these leaf bookmarks look fabulous and are easy to make. Use our free oak leaf printables to make these black glue and watercolour leaves and turn them into fabulous watercolour leaf bookmarks for Autumn. Such a beautiful Autumn craft. Love leaf DIYs.

For a neat finish and to strength my acorn and leaf bookmarks, I now glued the leaves and acorns down onto some light card. This will hide the tape as well. Again, cut out your watercolour leaves and acorns and your lovely black glue leaf bookmarks are FINISHED!

If you enjoyed these black glue and watercolour leaf bookmarks, you may adore some of these other DIY Bookmark Ideas (including a set of Black Glue Sharks & Seahorses)

And if you love Autumn as much as we do… you will also want to check out these fantastic Autumn Crafts for Kids: