‘grass’ sticky page markers
I’ve been avoiding paper crafts since I stopped writing for Folding Trees. Trying to scan the web every day for paper craft resources to highlight was exhausting and ultimately put me off papercrafting. But I’ve started to miss coming up with my own crafty paper tutorials – I think I’m out of my paper funk!
Here’s a really simple paper project. The idea came from these GreenMarkers that Kari found in a Japanese online shop:
When you need to mark up a lot of pages of a book, you end up with a swarm of sticky arrows sticking out of the edge of the book. I love the idea of forming a little clump of grass ‘growing’ out of the book instead, so here’s my simple 5-minute DIY version:
‘Grass’ Sticky Page Markers
They look especially cute in my papercraft book, Paper Chains and Garlands, don’t you think? 
You will need:
- Green sticky notes (if you can’t find green ones, you could colour normal coloured notes with a green pencil or paint before you begin)
- Pair of sharp scissors
- Bone folder (optional)
I found these recycled paper Post-It notes that include a lovely spring green colour:
Take a sticky note and make sure the sticky edge is at the bottom:
Cut out blades of grass from the note. You need to make a long thin triangular shape with a slight curve, starting from the bottom (sticky) edge and tapering to a point. Cut the shapes freehand – if they aren’t exactly the same size and shape they will have a more organic, natural feel.
Note: Make all the blades curve in the same direction – it saves paper, and when you stick some on left-hand pages and some on right-hand pages of your book, you’ll end up with some blades curving in each direction anyway!
Stick the blades down on a piece of paper.
Turn the paper around so that the sticky edge of the blades is at the top. Use a bone folder or the wrong side of the edge of your scissors to score a line down the middle of each blade, drawing the folder towards you from the base to the tip of each blade.
You don’t have to be too exact! If you look carefully you can see my scored lines on the 4 rightmost blades:
With your fingers, pinch the sides of each blade slightly so that it folds up around the scored line. This adds a little dimension and realism to the grass!
Use your blades of grass to mark up your reference books without damaging them!
A touch of spring, whatever the weather! I hope you like my grass markers 
devi said
I love these! Loved the Japanese but not the price.
It’s tempting to make a bunch and put them in the gardening books at the library. Patrons fill books up with sticky notes so why can’t librarians?
Silverlotus said
That, June, is why I think you are great. I saw the Japanese ones and thought the shipping was too much, so I forgot about them. You, on the other hand, decide to figure out some way to make them. Way to go!
izzy said
SUPER CUTE! will have to try it sometime! maybe even spice it up with a tulip or something :p
Kari said
I actually found them via 10Marifet.org, a Turkish craft blog, just fyi.
I LOVE your DIY version, so cute, quick and easy!
MoonsCreations said
These are great! I’m definitely going to make some. You can also make mushrooms in much the same way, for those books that sit by the wayside a little too long.
IdaDown said
The whole thing was news to me. It’s adorable !! Love it! If you had oodles of time, you could make the leaves from green vellum, and apply the Zig glue (or similar) that dries tacky (repositional) and voilà, another crop of grass.
Jessica said
What a fantastic idea – thanks for sharing it!
Wendy said
Wow, how super cute! I had never seen or heard of these before, and as a student who goes through TONS of sticky flags, I love this idea. So glad you got the itch to do some writing on papercrafting again =)
Bookmark said
[...] Als je meerdere boekenleggers gebruikt, bijvoorbeeld om mooie stukjes later terug te kunnen vinden, moet je zeker deze graspost-its overwegen. Ze komen van de hand van een Japans designduo en worden vanuit deze webshop verkocht, maar je kan ze ook zelf maken, klik hier. [...]
tru said
I wonder if you could use “silk” grass and non-permanent glue… Just a thought, but I love the idea of making them yourself rather than buying the expensive version.
June said
That’s a great idea! I wonder if there’s a ‘repositionable’ glue designed for scrapbookers (to help them with their layouts) – it sounds like a vaguely familiar concept.
Miami Web said
this is so creative, how do you come up with this stuff. thanks for the post
Geekery & Gadgets - Leuke Boekenleggers | Readerella said
[...] is het misschien een goedkoper alternatief om ze zelf te maken. Een stap-voor-stap tutorial vind je hier. . Of wat dacht je van deze liquid boekenleggers. Ik ben zelf vooral dol op de rode, omdat het [...]
Roshni said
Hey, thanks a lot for the tutorial. My mom has a huge recipe book where she’s marked a lot of pages. And I’ve been planning to make some different and nice gift for her. This looks like the perfect one. I’m sure she’ll love it. She loves anything related to nature and leaves.