Make these 3D Origami Hearts out of any paper, like white paper, coloured paper, or old book pages. Perfect for Valentine's Day decor, wedding decor, a baby nursery, or for gifting to your sweetheart.
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What’s better than a bowl full of hearts for Valentine’s Day? Nothing. I love adding cute neutral Valentine's Day decor to my home to celebrate the season of love. These yarn hearts are another favourite.
These 3D Origami Hearts are super easy to make too. Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. These small trinkets of folded paper are often given as origami gifts. You may have seen origami cranes in the past, but you can also make a 3D puffy heart out of paper too.
An easy origami heart is the perfect lovely heart project to give to your Valentine this year, use for decor, or incorporate into your party decor.
Materials:
For this project, I made lots and lots of the 3D Origami Hearts out of
- plain white paper,
- brown kraft paper,
- old book pages
- watercolours
Variations:
Some of the book pages were painted with pink watercolours before I folded them, for a little bit of pretty colour.
You can make your hearts as big or small as you like.
Cute origami paper would be a really good choice too. If you're making this for decor, use any color paper or scrapbook paper that matches your home or party.
Top Tip:
You could use any square piece of paper for this project, as long as it's not too thick, since thicker paper can be difficult to fold precisely. Card stock is not the best choice for this craft.
Origami Heart Instructions:
1. To begin our origami heart tutorial, we must start with a square paper. If you have a rectangle, fold one corner down to meet the opposite side, then cut off the bottom to leave a triangle. Next, unfold the paper to reveal a square.
You can make a paper origami heart in any size, but to begin with I wouldn't make it too small or too big. Our paper here is about 4 inches square.
The first step is to fold the paper in half and create a center crease in it, then unfold it.
2. Next, turn the sheet of paper so that it is open with the fold crease line running vertically. Fold up the bottom of the paper about ¼ of an inch. Then use that new folded edge as the new bottom of the paper, and fold the paper in half horizontally.
3. Making sure the open part of the fold is at the top, fold the top right corner to the bottom edge, bottom corner, to form a triangle on one side.
4. Do the same on the other left side with the top left corner folded down to the bottom edge to form a matching triangle on the other side. The whole paper now looks a bit like the roof of a house.
5. Working with the top layer of paper, take the bottom middle corner of the triangle on the right side and fold it so that the edge lines up with the top triangle edge. Do the same on the other side, creasing hard. Then unfold both of those folds leaving the crease marks.
6. Starting with the lower left tip of the paper, fold it to meet up with the crease line you just created, on the middle edge. Do the same with the other side.
7. Next, open up the open edge of the triangle you just created on top, and tuck the piece of paper from underneath into it. Crease it hard. Do the same on the other side.
8. Then fold in the edges of the top four corners just slightly to make the whole shape more heart shaped.
9. Lastly you're going to blow some air with your mouth into the bottom point of the heart to inflate it, while using your finger to gently push down the centre and form the heart shape.
How To Make A 3D Origami Heart Video
Origami is one of those things that is easier to explain in video tutorials than in writing.
With a bowl full of hearts for Valentine’s Day, life really is a party!
Frequently Asked Questions:
You can use any paper for this craft, like regular copy paper, scrapbook paper, origami paper, brown kraft paper, or old book pages. We don't recommend using card stock for this craft as it's too stiff and thick, which makes it hard to work with.
The folds are a little tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, these 3D origami hearts aren't too hard to make. Most 7 -12 year olds should be able to make these.
We used ours as Valentine's decor in a large bowl. They'd also be cute for a wedding shower or baby shower as decor. They're also cute for gift giving, especially around Valentine's day.
All you need is one square of paper to make a 3D origami heart.
Equipment
- 1 Pair of Scissors
Materials
- 1 piece paper any color or pattern
Instructions
- To begin our origami heart tutorial, we must start with a square paper. If you have a retangle, fold one corner down to meet the opposite side, then cut off the bottom to leave a triangle. Next, unfold the paper to reveal a square. The first step is to fold the paper in half and create a center crease in it, then unfold it.
- Next, turn the sheet of paper so that it is open with the fold crease line running vertically. Fold up the bottom of the paper about ¼ of an inch. Then use that new folded edge as the new bottom of the paper, and fold the paper in half horizontally.
- Making sure the open part of the fold is at the top, fold the top right corner to the bottom edge, bottom corner, to form a triangle on one side.
- Do the same on the other left side with the top left corner folded down to the bottom edge to form a matching triangle on the other side. The whole paper now looks a bit like the roof of a house.
- Working with the top layer of paper, take the bottom middle corner of the triangle on the right side and fold so that the edge lines up with the top triangle edge. Do the same on the other side, creasing hard. Then unfold both of those folds leaving the crease marks.
- Starting with the lower left tip of the paper, fold it to meet up with the crease line you just created, on the middle edge. Do the same with the other side.
- Next, open up the open edge of the triangle you just created on top, and tuck the piece of paper from underneath into it. Crease it hard. Do the same on the other side.
- Then fold in the edges of the top four corners just slightly to make the whole shape more heart shaped.
- Lastly you're going to blow some air with your mouth into the bottom point of the heart to inflate it, while using your finger to gently push down the centre and form the heart shape.
Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist says
These are easy to make and look amazing as decor.
Leonard B says
I usually never reply to videos. I found this on Pinterest, love your presentation and the video was awesome. Kudos to your production team LOL. Keep up the great work the origami looks intimidating but the video made it look so simple I'll definitely browse your page. Have a great day from my lil fam. To yours hearts and stars
dnr says
Kathy, thanks so much for the lovely feedback and Happy Valentine's Day!
Dannyelle
kathy schultz says
Thank you for the video. The little hearts are wonderful. I plan to give them to friends on V day. Easy, inexpensive and really, really cute. Your video made it so easy to learn to make them.
dnr says
Debbie, thanks so much, so glad it worked out for you.
Best,
Dannyelle
Debbie says
That is easy!! I just spent 30 minutes making a 3D heart with lots of steps to it ...yours is much easier!!
Thank you!
dnr says
Thanks so much Kristine!
Best, Dannyelle
Kristine says
I used to have a substitute teacher that I LOVED and this just brings back memories of my little kid self great video so easy to understand
dnr says
Hi Cathy, you must have had your paper upside down, there's a point in the video where I remind you to make sure the open side of the paper is at the top. Hope this helps, best of luck!
Dannyelle
dnr says
Hi Jennifer,
We used all different sizes of paper -from average paperback book size to a little larger and a little smaller. Hope this helps. Just play around with it and see what you like.
Best of luck, and I;d love to see some pictures of the party, please share over on my facebook page.
Thanks so much,
Dannyelle
Jennifer says
I'm going to use these for the craft at my son's friendship party next week! I found some really pretty wrapping paper to use from the dollar store, and I think that it will satisfy both the girls and boys in the class. Thanks for your very clear instructions! You guys made a great video! Just wondering what size your squares of paper were...