Saturday, 31 January 2015 by Irene Hoofs

DIY Watercolour hearts garland by Laura Murray

Valentine's Day is almost upon us so why not bring a little love into your world with this watercolour heart garland! This simple paper-craft project involves some fun watercolour washes and is great for kids of all ages!

What you'll need:
* Watercolour paper (I used A3 but you could definitely use a few A4 sheets)
* Watercolour paints, a large brush and water
* Scissors
* Glue (I used white craft glue but a blue stick would also work fine)
* Baker's twine

Step1:
Begin by using your watercolour paints to create a colourful wash on your paper. Make sure to load your brush up with plenty of clean water so as not to muddy the colours. If you don't have watercolour paints, you could use poster paint or acrylic mixed with a little water. Allow the paper to dry.

Step2:
Once the paper is fully dry, take a ruler and divide the paper into vertical columns (I chose to space my 5cm apart but if you'd like larger hearts just make the columns larger). Then cut along every second line and, once the piece is cut, fold in half along the remaining pencil line.

Step3:
Now take your folded pieces and, using a ruler once again, divide them into 5cm columns and cut along the lines to make squares. Now take a square and flip it so the painted sides are facing in. Draw two lines - one down the vertical middle and one horizontal 1.5cm away from the top fold. Cut from the bottom of the vertical line up to the horizontal line on both sides to create the bottom of the heart. Then cut from the diagonally from horizontal line to the top fold, stopping about 0.5cm away from the edge on both sides. Now you've made the top of the heart! Add a little v-shaped cut in the centre of the top fold and then flip the heart back so the colours are facing out. You can either continue drawing out the guidelines on each heart of just use this first heart as a template.

Step4:
Once you've cut all your hearts, take your baker's twine and place it along the inner fold of the heart. Then dab a little glue on the point and press both sides together. Make sure to only place the glue on the point so the hearts can be easily shuffled along the twine. Repeat for all the hearts until your garland is complete! - Laura Murray