Origami Hearts

With less than a month before Valentine’s Day, we are going to start our Valentine themed posts. We’ve got some cute crafts and some yummy recipes to try out for you so we hope you enjoy them!

This week we are going to try something a little different. We are going to make heart shaped origami creations that you can hand out to your friends, family, and sweetie or you can just use them as little decorations.

Nicole is the origami pro so she is going to do all of the folding.

You will need a square piece of origami paper or thinner paper. Cardstock is a bit too thick so you probably don't want to use it for this type of project. We’ve picked a piece of origami paper that you can buy in a pack from the craft store; it is a 5 7/8 inch square but it doesn’t matter what size you use as long as it’s square. Use a smaller piece if you want to make a smaller heart or larger to make a larger one.

1. Take your piece of origami paper and fold in half and unfold, so you have a centre line.

2. Fold the top two corners down to the centre line. Flip over.
     Your paper now looks like a triangle on top of a rectangle.

3. Fold the bottom of the paper, up to meet the bottom of the triangle portion. Flip over.

4. Fold both sides in to the centre line. Unfold.

5. This part is a bit tricky to explain. Fold the two sides in again, however, the triangle portion on the top needs to be folded 'inside-out'. Do this by opening the top corner and folding in the bottom portion first, then folding the top in. Some of the folds on the top will be opposite from the original fold, but on the same line.

6. Flip over. Fold the top point down to meet the bottom edge. Flip over again.

7. Open the flaps at the top, and flatten the sides in.

8. Fold the inner corners down to make to points at the top. Fold the points down a bit to create flat tops.

9. Flip over.

10. Lift up the bottom of the heart to find a little pocket.

Now you have a cute origami heart! You can leave it as it, or write a little message and put it inside the little pocket  to give to someone special, or you can even use it as a little Valentine card and write a “to and from” note on the front.