Paper Heart Garland: A (Pictorial) Tutorial

I was browsing around Etsy the other day month, as I am known to do, and I happened across the most darling little garlands.  I added them to my tumblr account so I wouldn’t forget them, and this weekend I sat down and attempted to make one.  The best part?  They were FREE!  And I finished in about 40 minutes and hung them just in time for Valentine’s Day.

So here’s a quick tutorial for those of you who might like to try it at home.  The rest of you can ignore the text and just look at the pictures (especially the last one–end product!).

1.  Cut a bunch of strips of paper of equal width.  I cut 3 different sheets of 12×12 scrapbook paper I had lying around into 1″ wide strips.

2. Cut equal increments off four of those pieces.  For instance, I took 8 12″ strips and left the first two, cut the next into 10 1/2″ strips, the next into 9″ strips and the next into 7 1/2″ strips.

3. Fold another 12″ strip in half.

4. Place the cut strips, facing in, longest inside to shortest outside, so that the two shortest pieces should be on the outside with their backs facing out (just me, or is this much harder to write than to photograph?).

5. Stick the folded-in-half piece in the middle, between the two longest strips, leaving about an inch or two of the fold sticking out the top. Also, excuse my bandaged finger in these pics…had a little incident with a razor.

6. Staple where the base of the strips meet the center piece.

7. Gather the varied-size strips, one at a time, and bring them down until they are flush with the bottom of the center piece.  It should end up looking like concentric hearts.

8. Staple that bottom part together.  Repeat steps 1-8 to make as many hearts as you’d like.

9. Cut some lengths of twine, as many as you have hearts (my twine pieces were 10″ long).

10.  Tie the twine through the top of the paper loops.

11.  Use these as ornaments or (as I did), tie these loops onto a longer length of twine and hang it.

Ta da!  Call yourself crafty.  🙂

If you make this, let me know! I’d love to see your garland!