Wow your loved ones and friends with this honeycomb-style, three-dimensional heart-shaped Valentine. It's just like store-bought centerpieces and party favors that are fanned open in a circle to form 3-D objects. The trick to making this 3-D heart valentine is gluing the alternate edges of folded hearts together. A portion of a 3-D heart valentine can also be used as a pop-up inside of a Valentine, or as a gift box decoration.
This style of 3-D Valentine may be too difficult for many children, so Aunt Annie offers a simpler alternative.
Choose the size of 3-D Heart Valentine you want to make. There are patterns for small hearts: 2" by 2¼" (5 x 5.5 cm), medium hearts: 2½" by 3¼" (6.5 x 8.5 cm), and large hearts: 3" by 4¼" (8 x 11 cm). Download and print the pattern sheet of your choice. Be sure to print enough pattern sheets—each 3-D Heart Valentine requires 18 to 24 hearts. It's best to print the plain hearts on red or pink paper. If you don't have colored paper, print a colored pattern on white paper.
Bonus patterns: Make a Valentine for your sweetheart with a printable Valentine and half of a 3-D heart glued in the center.
Patterns are Adobe PDF files. The Adobe Reader is available for free.
All of Aunt Annie's project patterns are designed to be printed on standard letter size paper (8.5"x11" or A4). When printing from Adobe Reader, you may need to select Auto-Rotate and Center or Choose paper source by PDF page size to ensure the best fit.
Cut out the rectangle around each heart pattern. Make the cuts straight and the corners square.
Fold each rectangle in half on the dashed line. Cut around each heart on the solid line. Do not cut along the fold. Tip: Keep any extra hearts and the heart cutaways and use them to make Easy Valentine Cards.
Simpler version for kids: Another way to make a 3-D Heart Valentine is to stack four unfolded hearts together. Staple precisely through the center fold. To hide the staples, glue the center hearts together. Make two more stacks and glue them back-to-back. Glue the top of the first stack to the bottom of the last stack to form the 3-D Heart Valentine. Then, add a hanger—see Step 7. See example in the Tips section.
Glue each heart together near the top of the open edges. To do this, open a heart flat and put a dab of glue on the edge of one side at the broadest point. Fold the other side over and press. Repeat for each heart. Be neat with the glue, only tacking the edges together at this one point.
Glue six folded hearts together near the heart tip and at the top of the fold. To do this, place one folded heart on the table. Place a small dab of glue along the edge of the top layer near the heart's tip, and one at the very top of the fold. Stack another folded heart on top, aligning the hearts perfectly, and press together. Repeat gluing until there are six hearts in the stack. Let the glue dry for a few moments, then gently fan the stack open and allow the glue to dry. Be sure that only the backs of the hearts are glued together, and that there are six openings near the tip and five at the top.
Make two or three more sets of six hearts for each 3-D Valentine.
Glue three or four stacks of hearts together like you glued the hearts together in the last step. After the glue has set, fan the hearts open in a circle to form your 3-D Heart Valentine. Glue or tape the edges of the free ends together near the heart's tip. If you use a small piece of tape, you can cut through it later to store the Valentine flat for next year.
Decide how you want to use your 3-D Heart Valentine. You may or may not want to add a hanger. To make a simple hanger, tape a loop of string or thread inside the center of the 3-D Heart Valentine.
That's it! Your 3-D Valentine is
done!