How to Cut out a Symmetrical Paper Heart

Decorative paper hearts have many uses, and are very simple to make. With just paper and scissors, you can explore endless crafting possibilities. This is a great project for beginners. Read on to learn how to cut out a symmetrical paper heart.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Colored paper
• Scissors
• Ruler (optional)
• Drafting compass (optional)

Instructions

1. Make some basic decisions. Before you start, you need to decide what kind of heart you want to create. Big or small, pink or red, perfect or casual, it is important that you know what you will be creating before you begin.

2. Assemble your supplies. You will need a single piece of colored construction paper per heart, a pencil, and a pair of scissors or a craft knife. If you want your heart to be flawless, you can do so with a drafting compass and a ruler.

3. Make a basic heart. If you’re not a perfectionist, or you need the practice, we’ll start with the basic heart. Fold your piece of paper in half. Then, draw half a heart on the folded edge of the paper. Your heart will be twice this size, so make sure you know how big you want it to be. Move down from the top of the paper to where you want the center of your heart to be. Use the pencil to draw a half a circle, lying on its side. This will be the top of the heart. From the outside of the half circle, draw a straight line into the folded edge of the paper. This is the side of the heart. Cut this shape out, and you should have your basic craft heart. If you need to make many of these, you can stack paper and use one piece as a template. Keeping the heart hand-drawn instead of perfect makes it more accessible and easier to make quickly.

4. Make a perfect heart. If you want to take more time or if you have a specific need, you can take the time to make a perfect heart. Again, fold a piece of paper in half. From the folded edge, determine where the center of the heart will be. Use the compass to draw a perfect half circle from this point, calculating how big you want it to be. From the outside of the circle, use the ruler to draw a straight edge back to the folded edge of the paper. Cut carefully with the scissors, and you have your very own perfect paper heart.

5. Make it personal. You can cut out several hearts of different sizes to give a layered effect by sticking them on top of each other. You can use the heart folded in half as a greeting card. You can decorate the heart however you see fit, with markers, glitter and even scraps of lace.