How to Make Valentine's Day Hearts to Print & Cut Out

It's easy to create a variety of holiday decorations as long as you have a bit of creativity and a connection to the internet.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• clip art software or internet connection
• colored paper
• printer
• scissors
• glue, glitter, tissue paper, etc (optional)

1. Start out by exploring the clip art program of Microsoft Word, Picture It, or by using the Google Images directory on the internet. There are a variety of other programs that have clip art and shapes to add to documents, as well. If you are doing a keyword search try "heart", "valentine", or "Valentine's Day".

2. Locate an image that you like and paste it into a basic word document (Microsoft Word or Works, or the Apple equivalent). The image may come up very small, or may take up the entire page. DO NOT GET WORRIED ABOUT THIS! For those who aren't sure how to "cut and paste".... Use the right mouse button (usually the smaller one) to click on the picture you want. You will see a box pop up with a lot of options. Somewhere near the top will be the option to "copy". Select it. Then go to the document you are using and use the right mouse button again to click anywhere on the document. You will see the same box again and this time you will click on the option that says "paste". This should make the image appear in your document. It may take a couple of seconds to see the image depending on the speed of your computer.

3. Now that you have the image you want, you can adjust it however you want. When you click on the image once (with the left mouse button) you will see a black line appear around that image. A you move your mouse cursor over the edges of the picture, arrows will appear that point in different directions. If you click and hold your left mouse button when one of those arrows appears, you can change the size or shape of the image to be what you want. When the arrow points straight up or down or to the sides, you are only changing the picture in that direction. When it points to one of the corners of your screen, you are going to make the picture bigger or smaller.

4. When you are ready, you can save your document (click on "file" and then "save" at the top of your screen)to save it for later or just print it. When you print it, remember to consider the color and thickness of paper, as well as remembering to make sure your printer is set for either "text and image" or "image". This will give you better print quality (but also uses more ink).

5. Cut your hearts as needed and add whatever decorations you want (marker, glue and glitter, tissue paper, lace, noodles, or cereal all work well). You can make this as easy or as involved as you choose, depending on the age of the artist.

Tips & Warnings

• Using a black and white shape from within the "auto shapes" option in either Word or Works will allow you to play with not only the size and shape of the heart, but also will allow you to put text into it or change the color of the heart.
• For coloring pages, print one or more of the "auto shapes" hearts on a page and "skew" them by changing the picture in one direction but not the other (taller but not wider or wider but not taller), to give them more character and encourage creativity.
• For easy valentines, insert a table or otherwise divide the paper into 4 parts on your screen (see the help section of your program if you are not sure how to do this) and then use each smaller rectangle / square as one page. When it prints, simply cut the lines around the four sections and you have 4 valentines that are appropriate to give to friends at school.