Valentine Craft: Heart {snow} flakes

I came across this Valentine's themed snowflake craft last year in Family Fun magazine.  My girls loved doing them so much last year, and again this year.  We used sheets of tissue paper since that is what we had on hand to get the color we wanted and to be able to cut through the layers with ease.

I pre-cut the tissue paper into about 8-inch squares.

Start by folding the tissue paper as you normally would when making a regular paper snowflake - folding to make opposite corners meet, then repeating until it has been folded 4 times.  Then you are ready to cut.

I drew the pattern for the girls to cut so that the snowflake would come out in heart shapes.  The pattern is done by drawing half a heart on the fold, but the outside edge of the heart needs to come off the edge a bit so that it will all stay connected when cut.  The bottom point of the heart does not come all the way back to the fold, but juts back out to the outer edge making a triangular shape.  {Hope that makes sense}

And Lou thought it needed a bit more design so this is what she added.

Mina is too young (almost 3 now) to understand how to make the snowflakes, but she loves to cut.  I let her snip away at her own piece of tissue paper while my older girls worked on their project.  A little later on, she was able to do something else with the scraps that I will share with you on Friday.

This is how one of the heart flakes looked after it had been cut and unfolded.

After many heart flakes and snowflakes had been cut {yes, I got a bit carried away as well} we taped them to our window.  They look so pretty with the sun shining through them.

It was so sunny that Mina had to go and get her sunglasses to look at them.  I love the reflection in her glasses.

Lou insisted that the heart flakes she made be hung from her ceiling.  They worked well this way, too.

After the older girls were done cutting, I felt the need to finish with the stack of tissue paper.  Maybe I got a little carried away with the heart theme. . .nah.  

This craft is part of The Heart Project headed up by Jamie at Hands On: As We Grow.  This collaborative project, involving more than 70 bloggers is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association [AHA].  Look on my sidebar to receive a complimentary eBook [containing more than 100 heart project ideas] when you donate just $5 to the AHA.