DIY recycled heart wall piece

I always keep a few paper hearts around because I love paper, my one-inch paper punch (not necessary for this project!) and it’s fun to put them in gift bags or in the ribbon with my thank-you tag on all my Etsy orders. My punch isn’t very good at magazine-type paper though, so when I made some magazine letters for a different project a couple weeks ago, I just cut out hearts by hand in order to save the paper scraps. They were from an older issue of Marie Claire magazine featuring this summery photo shoot that just had the perfect lighting.

I had so many, that I got the idea to cover a piece of paper with them. I happened to have some cork board to use for a backing (though i’m tempted to try with canvas) & a piece of card stock of the same size. Using cork board is great because this can either be a little piece of art for your home or a cute background for a pin board.

If you want to make this yourself, you will need:
*Paper hearts, cut or punched. | I have them from dictionary scraps, magazine scraps, and white tissue paper scraps – the tissue paper is transparent which gives it a unique look. Also, most of my pieces use the same neutral tone.
*Scissors & Glue | A glue stick can work fine depending on your surface.
*A backing for the project | They sell 12×12″ pieces of cork board at Fred Meyer, and craft stores.
*A piece of paper to first glue the paper to, though this may not be necessary.

I first cut out hearts from less than 1/2″ wide to 1.5″ wide. If you use tissue paper, be conscious of what color paper you glue it on as it will show through a bit.

Glue the hearts one by one in rows across the page. I just put a dab of glue on the paper and stick it on, so that some sticks up. I go from left to right.

Swiping the glue downward before putting each heart on is an easy way to do it.

I kept them in a semi-straight line until the bottom row. The goal is not to have any “white” space showing, and only hearts. It’s okay if you don’t cut every heart perfectly, because almost half of it is covered anyway. Then if you are using cork board, you can attach the paper with thumb tacks and hang it on the wall.

The finished piece, shown in the first photo, has a vintage millnery flower bouquet attached by a tack. I didn’t want to use it as a tag board because I already have one of those, but it makes a nice little piece on the blank wall above my craft drawers.

It’s a cheap, easy, fun DIY project for those with a little extra wall space just waiting to be filled. Enjoy 🙂

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