Recycle all that cardboard laying around your house into cardboard hearts this Valentine’s Day! Here are 5 easy steps to inspire you to turn that cardboard into decor or gifts!
5 Easy Steps to Create Cardboard Hearts
- Download a heart template and pick a size
- Trace the heart onto your cardboard
- Cut out the cardboard heart
- Wrap your cardboard heart with material of your choice
- Embellish as desired (optional)
Step 1: Download a heart template
Visit Ginger Davis Allman at The Blue Bottle Tree where you’ll find a Valentine Hearts printable with heart templates in a variety sizes, but you can absolutely draw your own hearts without a template if desired!
Step 2: Trace your heart onto cardboard
Trace your desired heart size onto a piece of cardboard (or draw your own heart).
Step 3: Cut out cardboard heart
Grab your scissors and cut out your cardboard heart.
Step 4: Wrap your cardboard heart with material of your choice
- Pick your favorite material or use what you have on hand. You can use yarn, twine, raffia, ribbon or anything you have around the house that would work!
- Secure an end of your material to one side of the heart. You can use any glue you have on hand, although hot glue will dry very quickly so you can begin wrapping. If working with littles, you can also use tape to secure the end.
- Wrap your material around your heart going in any direction you’d like. For these hearts, the material was wrapped in a random manner until all the cardboard was covered.
- Secure the end of your material to the back of your heart. Again, hot glue dries quickly and allows you to move on to step 5 if you choose, but a craft glue will work as well.
Step 5: Embellish as desired (optional)
You can embellish your hearts in a variety of fun ways, but this is totally optional. Embellishments to consider:
- Ribbon
- Bows
- Buttons
- Keys
- Tags – you can make them with brown paper and stencils or markers. See the Chalk Couture Stencil Guide to learn more about these mesh silk screen stencils shown below.
- Rhinestones
Supplies needed:
- Heart template (optional)
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Cardboard
- Glue (hot glue, craft glue or whatever you have available)
- Wrapping material like yarn, twine, ribbon, raffia
- Embellishments of your choice (optional)
How to use your Cardboard Hearts
Here are some ideas on how you can use your cardboard hearts:
- Attach tags and use the hearts as Valentines instead of buying cards. This would make someone’s Valentine’s Day so special!
- Add them to a gift wrapped package for a special touch.
- Gather them up in a bowl or on a tray to add texture and dimension to your decor.
- Use them to make a garland.
This is a super easy craft you can do with your kids or grandkids. If they’re old enough to use scissors and glue, they can do most of the craft by themselves. If not, you can help with the tricky parts!
I hope this gives you inspiration to use up some cardboard and make adorable cardboard hearts for yourself or to give as a special Valentine!
Sustainably yours,
Luana