3-D Heart Paper Garlands – Easy DIY Valentine Decorations

Valentine Decoration

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. This holiday seems to put everyone in that happy, love-drunk mood. But is it the season, or the decor that gets us? I’d have to say the latter. That’s why I must argue that heart decorations aren’t just for Valentine’s day.  Love themed parties can be thrown year-round! As long as the recipient loves pink, sparkle, and hearts, you can’t go wrong with the theme!

In my last post, I wrote about the fun Valentine themed baby shower I threw for my friend Kendra. I called it “Baby Love”. A day to celebrate both her, and her little bundle of girly joy that was on her way.

My goal was to make the party fun, yet classy and sophisticated. Enough of a touch of a theme to remind everyone why we were there, all while making sure nobody got too overwhelmed by baby things everywhere.

The hard part about themed parties is you are always trying to blend two things – the occasion you are celebrating with the theme you’re trying to pull off. You never want one theme to overpower the other, yet you want them both to have a presence.

I found the trick to throwing a successful theme party is the decor: can you pull off the theme without making it cheesy? There is always a fine line. And with a baby shower, it’s easy to edge on the side of cheesy.

That’s why I went with a Valentine “Baby Love” theme. Classic, easy to pull off, and celebrates the baby just as much as it does the love of the Valentine season.

My DIY Valentine Decorations

The first project I decided I was going to do for the Valentine decor were 3-D Heart Garlands. No, not like normal garlands that would be draped along my mantle and over the doorways. But I had this vision of hanging hearts, almost origami-like, so that they would create a backdrop for the party.

My inspiration actually came from a few wedding pictures I had seen, where the bride and groom were married in front of a wall of beautiful hanging origami. It was simple, yet added an elegant touch to the decor. Plus, not to mention, it’s just so freaking cool!

inspiration

Image above courtesy of Matthew Morgan Photography

inspiration1

 

Pretty awesome, right? Well, I know absolutely NOTHING about origami. But I did know that if I were to try to make hundreds of origami hearts by hand, that would take way more time than I was willing to spend on this project.

I could have probably bought a kit with pre-made hearts and string (I just saw some the other day when I was at Michaels looking around), but not 3-D hearts. AND I would have to buy about 30 kits – at $5 each – which was way more than I was looking to spend on this project.

So I came up with an alternative solution using my Silhouette Cameo, glue gun, and fishing line. This project can be done without the Cameo cutting tool, it’ll just take you a bit longer. In total, the project only cost me $10 (I already had a glue gun, and I reused cardstock I had previously used for other projects. So in reality, my only out of pocket cost was the fishing line at $2)

Below, I show you the steps to make your own 3-D heart garlands, and give you some free downloadable templates to use for your project.

Steps to DIY Your Own 3-D Heart Garlands

The Necessary Tools:

Step 1:

  • Download the large heart template here, and the small heart template here.
  • Upload the PDF to your Silhouette Cameo (if you have one). If not, just use your home printer to print the designs on the cardstock.

Step 2:

Silhouette Cameo Review Silhouette Cameo Review

  • Load your cardstock into your Cameo, and cut out sheets of large and small hearts on alternating shades of red and pink.
    • If you’re using a home printer, print the designs out on alternating shades of cardstock, and cut them out by hand.

Step 3:

hearts3 hearts4 hearts5 hearts6

  • Take 2 hearts of the same color, one that is whole and another that is cut in half. Put a line of glue on the straight edge of one of the sides that is cut in half, and glue it to the center of the whole heart.
  • Repeat the instruction above for the second half on the opposite side of the whole heart.
  • Now, you’ll have a 3-D heart. Make as many of these as you’ll need to cover the area you’re looking to string the garland (you’ll need more than you think, so better to edge on the side of making too many than too few).

Step 4:

heart garland heart garland

  • Take your fishing line, and cut it to the exact length you want for the space you’re hanging the garland.
  • Take a 3-D heart, and place a line of hot glue along one of the 3-D crevices.
  • Then, Immediately take your fishing line and hold it in place along where you put your hot glue.
    • Wait a few seconds for the glue to cool down and the line to set.

Step 5:

heart garland

  • Repeat step four all the way down the length of your fishing line, alternating between shades of red and pink and little and big hearts.

Step 6:

  • Repeat steps 4 and 5 for as many strands of garland as you’ll need to cover your desired area.

Valentine baby shower theme

And that’s it! Pretty simple, huh? So much more cost effective than buying something pre-made, and less time consuming than crazy origami.

I have the old 1970’s style bannister on my stairs, so I used my heart garlands to line my stair banister and give the room a fun, Valentines feel. It also hides the ugly banister 🙂 What do you think?

Other Options For Your Heart Garland

There are so many other ways you can utilize this garland. Other options I had entertained were hanging them from my outdoor awning, creating an almost curtain-like decor. I had also thought about lining amy entire back wall from floor to ceiling with these garlands to create a backdrop for a photo booth (which would be a great idea for a wedding too. Weddings, just like baby showers, can utilize the “Love” theme year-round).

Try it out yourself! It’s a fun project that everyone at your party is sure to enjoy and appreciate.

Again, here is the supply list if you want to DIY:

Comments

  1. Heather says

    I found that cutting a slit in the hearts wasn’t producing an even heart when putting it together (I also kept accidentally tearing the pieces apart lol).

    I ended up folding two hearts and gluing two sides together to create a three-sided 3D heart instead of a four-sided 3D heart.

    Thanks for the idea!

  2. Emily says

    Cute idea! I saved some effort by just folding both hearts and stapling them together at the fold line. And then using the glue for attaching the line. Thanks for the inspiration!

  3. Tawny Leste-Carlson says

    This is so cute and so easy! Thank you for sharing your creative ideas for these adorable crafts with those of us who have all the supplies necessary but are lacking imagination, creativity and artistic talent to come up with these ideas on our own!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *