How to Make Paper Hearts That Stick Together

Decorating for Valentine's Day, bridal showers or anniversaries is a fun activity, especially when the decorations are handmade. A fun project is a chain of hearts made from a piece of thin, red wrapping paper. The hearts stick together in the chain due to the way they're cut from the paper. Allow approximately five minutes to complete the first chain of hearts. The most time consuming portion of the project is drawing the heart template.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Thin, red wrapping paper

Instructions

1. Draw a teardrop 2-inches tall and 1-inch wide at the widest portion of the drop. Position the point of the teardrop so it is directly above the center of the bottom of the drop.

2. Cut the teardrop from paper to create a teardrop template.

3. Position the teardrop template on a piece of paper so the point is at the bottom. Trace around the outside edge of the paper template.

4. Slide the teardrop template to the right. Line up the bottom point and the left edge of the template with the bottom point on the traced teardrop and the right edge. Trace around the template.

5. Remove the paper template. Cut around the outside edge only to create a paper heart template.

6. Measure and cut a piece of thin red wrapping paper 24-inches long and 3-inches wide.

7. Place the strip of cut red wrapping paper on a flat work surface so the 24-inch edges are on a vertical axis. Flip the paper so the front side of the paper is on top.

8. Fold the bottom edge up 1 1/2-inches. Crease along the fold firmly. Flip the paper over. Repeat the process for the length of the paper.

9. Turn the folded piece of paper so the folded edges are on the right and left side and the top piece of paper is the back of the thin red wrapping paper.

10. Center the heart template in the center of the folded paper. Position the template so the point is on the bottom and the two edges extend past the folds by 1/4-inch.

11. Trace around the paper template.

12. Hold the folded paper together firmly. Cut along the traced lines.

13. Unfold the paper heart chain. Each heart sticks to the other at the fold lines.

References

• Origami Resource Center: Paper Dolls