If you're looking for a cute and special Valentine's Day craft project, this pretty garland made from simple materials like cardboard, glue, decorative paper and stickers or whatever you have on hand to decorate your photos will serve as a sweet decoration or a thoughtful gift.
1. Make some hearts out of cardboard! You can either use a premade stencil to trace hearts onto the cardboard, or make your own by folding a small piece of paper in half and tracing half a heart, then cutting it while folded.
When you unfold the paper, you will have a heart you can trace around, and also a heart cutout that you can trace inside, whichever is easier. Trace out your hearts on the cardboard and cut them out. I made these hearts about 3 inches tall.
2. Pick some photos that you want to include in your garland and make photocopies. I used some old family photos from my mom's scrapbook. It's best to use an odd number of photos so that you will have one right in the middle. Cut out the photocopied picture by centering the heart on the image and then tracing around it to cut out the shape.
You may need to tilt the photo one way or another to make it fit well on the heart. Don't worry if the photo doesn't cover the heart entirely, since we will be adding collage materials around the edges or wherever they are needed.
3. Find some pretty paper to cover the back of the heart. I used scrapbooking paper, but you could also use wrapping paper or colored tissue or even some pretty colored photos from a magazine or calendar. I chose paper with a slightly more orangey red, since the color copies had a warm yellowish tone. Also, I decided to alternate the patterns on the backs of mine.
At this point, you can punch holes out on each side of the hearts. Make sure to do this from the photo side so you don't accidentally punch out an important part, like someone's face!
4. Once everything is glued together, it's time to have some fun! You can use leftover scraps of the backing paper or photos to cover any areas of the heart shapes that the photos didn't cover. I also used some paint around the edges to unify any places that didn't quite line up. That covered the white edges that were peeking out, and it also let me paint a little bit of tone on the photos to make them look even more antique and hand-colored. Add little stickers and cut-out shapes to emphasize and frame your photos.
4. After you lay out your photos to decide what position they look best, you can use thin ribbon, like I did, embroidery floss, string, or yarn to tie your hearts together into a garland shape.
This will make a wonderful decorative gift, especially for an older relative! It can easily be mailed in a Valentine card.
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