Valentine’s Day Tissue Heart DIY

Arts and crafts seem to go hand-in-hand with Valentine’s Day, don’t they? Years of making glittering hearts studded with jewels and doilies to pass out to friends and classmates seems to be a rite of passage for elementary school children {we have fond memories}, as it should be. I can be a wonderful way to encourage creativity as well as giving {so long as each classmate receives one}. Well today’s project is reminiscent of said handmade cards, with a little twist. Aleah was tinkering with Nick’s mom this weekend making cards and crafts in her mom’s studio and whipped up some layered tissue paper hearts – they almost read like little books. It’s a simple project that will add that perfect touch of pizazz to any card or gift.

Stay tuned as tomorrow through Friday we share more Valentine’s Day ideas in our #VDayChallenge! We sent a few crafty blogging pals a box o’ goodies and challenged them to create something festive and fun!

colored tissue paper || hot glue || blank cards || scissors

Step 1. layer piece of tissue paper in different colors {we used 5 pieces} and cut into a square. Fold in half.

Step 2. start cutting out a half-heart shape with very sharp scissors, starting with the center of the heart from the fold in the paper around to create a half-heart. You can trace with pencil if you’d like – we prefer to free snip.

EDITOR’S NOTE: post-photo shoot we determined that you can also punch three tiny holes {a small gauge hole punch works} and poke a string or wire through each in a sewing fashion, cinching the ends with a knot. It creates a spine, similar to that of a book’s. Then just glue ONE line and attach the whole heart. You’d perform that step here.

Step 3. lay each tissue heart out flat.

Step 4. draw a line of hot glue {the length of the center of your heart} wherever you’d like to place the hearts on your card. Quickly and firmly press down the center of the first heart.

Step 5. place another line of glue atop the first heart {you can slightly overlap as to see all of the hearts in a layered fashion} and press that heart down.

Step 6. keep repeating until you’ve used all of the layers cut.

Cute, right? You can leave your hearts like this or cut another glittery heart or doily atop the tissue hearts. We whipped up a few variations for fun and loved the 3-D layered heart look.

Photos and DIY: Valley & Co.

What kind of Valentine’s cards {if any} are you making this year? Have a trick, tradition or how-to you’d like to share? We’re all ears!