Paper & Ribbon Heart Garland Decorations

These are quick and easy to make and I think that they make beautiful decorations for a wedding event. I made several of these to hang at our wedding using the simple instructions as descried below.





Heart Garland, with thanks to Tony Fanning Photography





Instructions to make one:

 

What you'll need:

• Strips of paper or card (A3 to get it long enough), patterned or plain
• Ruler
• Scissors / craft knife and cutting mat
• Something to sting them on (ribbon / wool / string)
• A punch - round or a shape of your choice (I used heart shaped)
• Stapler & staples

 

What to do:

 

1)  Measure and cut the following from your paper:

Three strips of paper 5cm wide and 25cm long

Two strips of paper 5cm wide and 32cm long

Two strips of paper 5cm wide and 40cm long

Two strips of paper 5cm wide and 50cm long

 

If you want to make your hearts smaller or larger then tweak the measurements and see what works for you...

2) Now organise the strip on top of each other as follows:
On the bottom one of the 25cm strips, then add a 32cm strip, then a 40cm strip, then a 50cm strip. Then add another of the 25cm strips, and then the final 50cm strip, then the final 40cm strip, then the final 32cm strip, and end with the last 25cm strip. Make sure that all the 'bottoms' of the strips line up.

3)  Next take a tight hold of the bottom of the strips or put a single staple in.  Take hold of the pile at the bottom of the strips to hold them in place... one by one, bend each strip back until the ends all meet where your fingers are, you will slowly see that this now forms the heart shape. Keep holding tight and staple all the strips at the base (where your first staples are). What you want at the end is basically four heart shapes, within each other. Staple where needed – I found a few staples at the bottom were all that was needed, but you could also put a few further up the “stem” of the heart, to keep the shape.

4) Now punch a  hole in the top and cut a length of ribbon for the heart to hang from.  You can hang a single heart on its own, or string a load on to one long length of twine to create a lovely long garland. Or you can stack 3 together and put them on a window ledge or mantle piece to create unusual shaped decorations.

Enjoy!