folding

Oh, love… love, love. It bends our paper hearts backward and
forward—folding our lives into something more beautiful—or making an
unintelligible mess of us.

How's that for romantic cheesiness this Valentine's Day!? Have at it, Hallmark.

Yesterday, I took a break from working on artwork for my next fabric
collection to fold a few paper hearts for my children. My new 12×12 paper packs from Project Life have been calling my name since they arrived at the studio last month.

I'm delighted with how these valentines turned out. I wasn't sure
that cardstock would fold so well. But hey, here they are. See for
yourselves—pretty great.

There are number of techniques for folding a variety of origami
hearts. This design is one of my favorites. I like the burst of
contrasting color at the center. And they are super fast and super fun
to make. 

I suggest you take a quick break from whatever it is you're doing right
now and make one—a little play for a better day. You can use any ol'
paper, though double-sided paper is best. And, because you start with a
rectangle that is twice as long as it is wide, you can even use a dollar bill from your wallet.

To make things easy, I created a PDF instruction sheet. See sidebar under "Free Patterns" or click here. The image below gives you the general idea.

For my hearts, I used one half-sheet of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper each and wool-blend felt in Bubblegum from my designer felt collection at HeatherBaileyStore.com. Though we have some papers in stock at HeatherBaileyStore.com, these particular papers are only available at Amazon.com. Click here or search "Project Life Olive Edition" on Amazon. They come in a pack of 24
for only $7.99. However, for Valentine's Day weekend, the paper packs
are on SALE for an additional 20% off (that's $6.39 each), along with
the rest of the Project Life Olive Edition I designed—wahoo!

By the way, there are Heather Bailey for Project Life GIVEAWAYS GALORE being hosted this weekend around the web. My Olive Edition is making some special rounds for the holiday. Becky Higgins is giving away a core kit, binder and pocket pages on her blog, as are Ali Edwards, Lisa Bearnson and Margie Romney Aslett (tomorrow). I'm not even sure if that's the whole list.

I will have a GIVEAWAY here too tomorrow, so be sure to check back in. And, like I said above, the whole Olive collection is seriously on SALE for the weekend. Go crazy. Go get some.

And fold up some paper hearts for your smoochies today. You don't
even have to run to the store to have heart-felt valentines ready to go.