Paper Strip Hearts

Do you see this - HEART paper strip ornaments?!?!  When I thought of this, I considered myself a genius.  Now I'm thinking this idea was probably out there all along....but I'll share with you anyway, with a quick and easy tutorial:

One of my favorite Christmas decorations this year was the paper strip ornaments, and recently I thought I could do the same thing for Valentine's decorations.... see, Christmas on the left, Valentine's on the right:

 Let me walk you through it, and once you made one you'll see how you can make it fatter, taller, more strips, less strips, etc.  First, you'll need strips of paper (mine are about 1 inch wide), scissors, and a stapler.

 Line them up on the floor like this - - cut 2 long ones and put them in the middle, cut 2 about an inch or two shorter than them and put one on each edge, then cut 2 short ones about an inch or two shorter than the middle ones and put them on the outside.  Sounds confusing, but just see the picture and it'll make sense:

 Then, working from left to right, stack them one on top of another.  Then staple the stack at the bottom:

 Now, pull those short outside two strips back over the staple and hold:

 Then pull back the middle strips and hold in the same spot:

 Then pull back the long strips and staple all the strips together where you were holding them.  That's it!

 You can see the 2 staple spots better in this picture:

Sidenote, these are tricky to get a picture of - especially with my helpers.  The preschooler was supposed to hold the hearts on strings while the toddler held the white background.  I got that one picture at the top and that was about it - but hey, they love to help....

 Enjoy!  You can make these - go try it!!  It's a craft for even the non-crafter!  I think they'd also look super cute as a banner swagging across a window or doorway, but I just love mine hanging over the table.

 And once again, super hard to take a picture, with the mirror there and all - - but you get the idea of the fabulousness - -