This is a Valentine’s Day craft at its finest — simple, sweet, and fun. It requires only strips of paper and a stapler and can quickly be made. You can choose to make a really long paper chain, and hang it across the room. Or hang it so it falls vertically. But you can make also make it into a wreath! The method is simple, it is up to you and your time, energy, and paper supply.

I chose two types of paper, an old Paris map that I thought we could appreciate more as a chain than in the box I have stored it in for the last nine years! It was a great pattern, but had lots of holes so didn’t work for framing or actually using.

What I found thou was that the vintage paper was thin, and it only kept the heart shape for about a dozen hearts, or the hearts soon sagged.

But I also used card stock, and that worked well, but it was too hard when stapling thru four pieces of paper thick for my children to help with the stapling. The good news is, it kept its shape beautifully.

I recommend:

• Cutting the same width of paper, use the ruler to determine the width to save time and eliminate all measuring!
• Cut different lengths of paper for various sized hearts, unless you are a fan of total symmetry!
• Have your children fold all the paper in half so it is ready to use.
• Then staple (as seen below) by pinching one rounded heart with the bottom of the next heart pinched inside of it. So you only need to staple it once.

And if you like other last minute Valentine’s ideas, here you are for some of my favourites in the past… Valentines cards, bunting, and food!

Enjoy

Lara

x