On Decorating with Paper Hearts

While, unlike other holidays, Valentine’s Day does not bring about the same degree of decorating, it certainly is not one to be skipped over either. And while there are any number of things that can be made to decorate the home or workplace for this holiday, foremost among them are paper hearts.

Now when it comes to making paper hearts one can go about it in several ways. First there’s the method of just taking the paper and going at it with the scissors. In many cases this method will result in some rather uniquely shaped hearts. One will also probably succumb to the urge of wanting to even out these hearts, which, in turn, will often bring about a growing pile of oddly little shaped triangular figures.

Then there is the method of folding the paper in half, drawing half a heart, and cutting it out. While this is an easy way to get a symmetrical heart, there is always the matter of making sure that the half heart drawn on the paper is not going to result in a somewhat squat and oblong heart that looks like it could be a paper butterfly wing. When making them this way there is also the additional downside that the otherwise perfect heart will have a crease down the center. However, the crease could also prove to be beneficial if one where planning to make something three-dimensional like a mobile.

And finally (at least in the case of this post), there are always the options of using a stencil or drawing templates for oneself. Not only does this provide beautiful hearts instead of weird vaguely heart shaped cut outs, but multitude of similarly sized and shaped ones. It also allows for the convenience, provided the paper is thin enough, of tracing them onto just one sheet of paper, placing several additional pieces under it, and then cutting through several layers at once.




 

(Some authors I love...Lewis Carroll, Mervyn Peake, & Rumer Godden)


No matter the method used, before one knows it one will have a small handful of hearts (or maybe about eighty or so), which can then be decorated, taped, hung with thread or string, or displayed in whatever way one wishes for Valentine's Day! ♥