9 Uses for a Heart Paper Punch – Not JUST for Valentine’s Day!!

 [Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that are at no additional cost to you, and I may earn a small commission. Thanks for supporting the brands that support this blog.]

Did you know there are SO many different things you can create with your heart paper punch??  Hint: It’s not just for hearts and valentines day, ya’ll!  I wanna show you all the beautiful (and crafty!) shapes you can create with your heart punch.  A few caveats before we dive in:

• No, this list is NOT exhaustive; I know Pinterest, Google, and even that little piece of paper that comes with a plain ol’ pack of construction paper has some adorable ideas for how to craft with paper — so this is not meant to be a ‘100 ways to craft with hearts’ post — otherwise I would have named it that, right?  Instead, these are ways that I, personally, me, The Crafty Lefty, likes to use my heart punch. 🙂
• When I say heart punch, I mean literally every heart punch size you could think of – 1.5″, 1″ or 5/8″.  Even a mini heart hole punch!
• Some of these require a bit more creativity and scissor work than others.  If you can’t figure out how to use your heart punch for a project that’s listed, no problem!  Shoot me a line in the comments, and I’d be happy to share a DIY Tutorial for ya 🙂

Okaaaaaaaay, so let’s get this hearty started! (see what a I did there?)

1. Flowers I used two different sizes of heart punches for this flower – 8 X 1.5″ hearts and 4 X 5/8″ hearts.  I used varying shades of the same color and tiny foam squares for depth.  These would be great on Mother’s Day and Thank You cards as well as on DIY wrapping paper for a gift.
2. Single Hearts for Cards There are SO many ways you can use hearts as accents to your homemade cards.  These are some ideas to get you started, but Pinterest has – I’m sure – a gazillion more.
3. Raindrops For this ‘get well soon’ tag, I used my 5/8″ heart punch, and punched out two hearts on white cardstock.  Then I cut the  hearts down the middle in half.  Voila – the raindrop!  I added a gray cloud and text I printed on white paper to finish it off.  You could also use this shape for teardrops, but that’s a little too weepy weepy for me.
4. Hearts on a String For this cake banner, I used my 1.5″ heart punch, and punched out 3 hearts from pink cardstock and 2 from glittery gold cardstock.  I punched two holes in each heart with a mini hole punch, strung them together with pink baker’s twine, and wrapped them around some paper straws.  Sweet and simple.  Don’t wanna go through the trouble?  You can buy this heart cake banner in whatever color combo you choose in my Etsy shop.
5. CloversI came up with this idea in time for St. Patrick’s Day, and my new St. Patrick’s Day cupcake toppers!  I can’t believe how easy this was, but 4 X 5/8″ hearts put together in that formation looks just like a four leaf clover.  To finish the toppers, I just added green baker’s twine stem, and some additional enhancements.  Interested in purchasing this in time for St. Patrick’s Day?  Head on over to my Etsy shop to order your St. Patrick’s Day Cupcake Toppers today!
6. Mini Hearts Super easy to add those mini 5/8″ hearts (and a bit smaller sized heart) on toothpicks and turn them into cupcake toppers! Don’t wanna bother crafting this, and want me to make it for you intead?You can buy these mini heart cupcake toppers in my Etsy shop.
7. Lotus Flower This is one of my new favorite ways to use the heart punch!  I used two different colors of pink cardstock and foam squares to create depth.  Once I punched out 3 hearts with my 1.5″ heart punch, I cut the them in half down the middle.  For my fourth heart, I cut the cardstock so it would be in the shape of a large raindrop with curves on both sides to serve as the middle lotus leaf.  For the smaller lotus leaf hanging on the bottom, I cut the other half of the heart so it would be a smaller raindrop size, again making sure both sides were curved.  Lining these up to make this shape is a little tricky, so I did use some tape to help me keep the shapes together.  I made a tag using a printed ‘Keep Calm and Do Yoga’ phrase I made in Word and printed on white cardstock paper.  I then cut that and the hot pink cardstock out in a large rectangle, and used my corner rounders to…you guessed it — round out those corners.  Super cute, right?  Can you believe you just made a  lotus flower from a heart punch!?!
8. Sewn Hearts Did you know you could create handmade ribbon with paper hearts and your sewing machine?  I just punched a lot of 1.5″ hearts, and stacked two on top of each other.  I fed them through the sewing machine (slowly) keeping the same distance in between each heart, and used red thread to contrast with the color of my hearts.  After I sewed the length I wanted, I cut the thread, and made a double knot at the end.  Then, I folded the top heart up at that crease point to create a 3-D butterfly look, and used it as the ribbon for a gift I was wrapping.
9. Heart Outline or Shadow You can also use your heart punch to create an outline or shadow of a heart.  I did that with these valentine tags I made for my daughter’s friends.  I used a tag punch, and punched out two tags – one in white and one in pink or red.  Then, I used my 1.5″ heart punch and my heart hole punch to cut out heart shapes from the colored paper.  Then, I just glued the colored paper to the white paper, and wrote my message in the heart outline. This is a simpler version with the same tag shape. I also used my heart hole punch to create this domino card. After printing images of regular dominoes, I used my heart hole punch to punch out the dots.  I used foam squares to adhere the dominoes to a red card so the red would peek through the mini hearts and create a shadow effect.  (The inside of the card said, ‘You can ride my train any day.’  If you are a Mexican Train Domino player, that works on many levels.)

And that’s it, folks!  9 ways to use your heart punch —> year round!  Drop me a message in the comments if you have another way you like to use your heart punch.  Until next time…keep it crafty.