Paper Crafts

Valentines day is a great excuse to make some cute crafts to show someone that you care.

	Snowflake Cut Out Heart Shape Get snipping with the scissors to create this detailed heart.
	Crayon Outline Heart Shapes Turning heart into art
	Hearts from Paper Strips These have been very popular – just a couple of simple steps to make them
	Valentine Garlands Super simple, extra effective!
	Paper Heart Lei A simple craft for the children and something fun to wear.
	Wedding Day Invite Cards These card’s ideas are very close to my heart!
	Paper Strip Hearts These hearts are mess free and very cute
	Valentine Heart Garland Another cool variation on making valentine hearts with paper strips.

Sometimes when you try a craft, you have to try all the different ways of doing it – so we are on a bit of a heart strip theme at the moment, which is perfect timing for Valentines Day.

This simple garland is perfect for Valentines Day but you could also use pastel colors to welcome a new baby or for Easter celebrations.

All you need are some strips of paper and a stapler. I have seen this done by using the strips to make just one heart at a time – but that involves sooooo much extra cutting and picking up strips of paper – so we tried to be clever and used each pair of strips to make three hearts. Seemed like more fun that way but you can make them just one at a time.

Cut strips lengthwise from sheets of printer paper. Heavy weight paper does not cope with the curves for these small hearts and tend to bend instead. They can be any width you like. Just make sure you make them a similar width to each other.

Lay two strips on top of each other and staple near the end.

Separate the strips and drag the unstapled ends down either side of the staple and pinch together with your fingers to get the size heart you prefer.

Fold the strips back up just below where you want to fasten the heart. This makes the start of the next heart. Staple together.

Drag the strips down again to make another heart and repeat the process until you reach the end of the strips. I managed to get three hearts out of each pair of strips but the number will vary depending on the size of your heart.

To add another pair of paper strips to the garland, place one strip of paper either side of the bottom of the last heart with the strips upright and staple together. I used one staple to both secure the bottom of the last heart and to add the new paper strips. Drag the strips down as you have done with the previous hearts and continue until your garland is the required length.

I loved making the simple heart decoration that we did this time last year, this version has a few more strips – a few of each would look great hanging together.

You will need
6 strips of paper in three colors
1 short strip
2 split pins or you can use a stapler
Scissors

Lay the strips in two sets of three.

Take the shorter strip and fold it in half – the intention of this folded bit is to create a loop for hanging the decoration. Place it on top of one of the sets of three strips with cut edges together.

Lay the second set of strips on the other side of the folded strip – again with cut edges together so the folded strip is sandwiched between them. Using the sharp point of the scissors, make a small hole through all the layers of paper and secure with the split pin, or staple them together.

Lay the strips on their edge on a table and pull around the outer strips to form a heart. Repeat with the other layers making each layer slightly bigger than the last. Secure with the split pin or staple.

Cut the edges near the split pins to a point to neaten them.

Tie a piece of string or ribbon to the centre loop to hang.

When my then boyfriend and I were planning a celebration to mark 10 years together, a wedding seemed like a good idea – that wedding party was 12 years ago now. We were extremely budget conscious at that stage and although my parents were covering many costs, we wanted to do things our way – the handmade way. So the invites for our wedding were handmade, the ones here are all the ideas we tried out – lots of good ideas for paper craft invites.

Or get your children involved and use them to create special cards for Mothers or Fathers Day, or Valentines Day – or don’t wait for a reason, just make them because you want to!

Dribble the shape of some hearts with some acrylic paint and when it is dry color the shapes you have made with dye or runny paint.

Dribble a heart shape with acrylic paint or PVA glue and then use that as a print base to take a print from or do a crayon rubbing.

Cut half of a heart shape out of the fold of the card and then paint a heart shape in gold.

Draw a picture into a polystyrene tray with a pen or sharp pencil. Use that as a print base by dabbing or rolling paint onto it and then using the paper to pick up the image.

Dab around the outside of a heart shape with a suitable color and some gold paint for sparkle.

This is a super-charged paper craft for children, as well as fun to make and wear, it is a great threading practice activity!

We have had fun making paper lei’s before, so when I saw the valentine version of this craft at craftzine we had to make this one too.

Very easy,you just need some heart shapes, some cut up straws, and some wool and a darning needle.

Poke a hole in the heart shapes and thread the wool alternately through a heart shape, and a straw length. Tie the ends of the wool together and you have a paper heart lei to wear on Valentine’s day.

Both of these are super sweet and one is especially simple.

Hearts and garlands are just made to go together – the shape is so easy to cut out from the concertina folded paper. It was so easy I had to do another Valentine themed garland for you to try – this one involves a bit of planning, and although I usually cut first and plan later – this is still easy enough to work out really well.

Fold a strip of paper up until the front or face of it is about the right size for a picture. Draw on your picture making sure that the edges of the picture go on the edge of the paper.

Cut out the shape making sure you leave the edge of the picture not cut – you remember, that bit that is touching the edge of the paper. When you unfold your paper you will have a lovely row of hearts, unless you did some other shape – in which case it is entirely likely that you will have some row of shapes that are not hearts at all.

I love the way that the birds are kissing each other – perfect for a Valentine card.

This is a great paper craft for children to do independently, and to help them I have a Paper Garland Tutorial. For other garland ideas have a look at the Flower Paper Garland or the Halloween Garland ideas.