Pretty handmade DIY heart ornaments with folk art

Pretty handmade DIY heart ornaments with folk art

Video tutorial

As usual, I made a step-by-step video tutorial for you so you can see what my hands are doing. If the video doesn’t load on you then you can watch it on my YouTube Channel instead as well.

Step 1: Paint the hearts with a base color

I brushed black craft paint onto the wooden hearts with a broad craft brush. I needed two coats.

Step 2: Paint an edge border

After the base color had completely dried, I brushed on a red border with a small flat craft brush to the edges of the hearts. I also needed two coats. Make sure to paint the sides as well.

You can paint both sides of the heart or just one side. The back side is also a great place to add a message or names if you give them as gifts or gift tags.

Step 3: Line the border with dots

I used a medium-sized dotting tool to add yellow dots to the edge of the red border. Just dip the tool into the paint and keep dotting. I love the dotting tools and have used them for many projects. They are the easiest way of adding a dotted pattern (They are also great for adding details to fingernail designs.)

Step 5: Paint the floral pencil pattern with craft paint

I can only recommend watching the floral pattern painting steps in my video. It definitely helps seeing what my hands are doing and the way I blend the colors.

I used my special angled craft brush for most of the floral pattern. It is such a useful brush for such details.

Photos 1-3: First, I painted the stems and leaves by simply covering them in a pre-mixed darker green craft paint and then added some yellow and white details. Don’t overthink it! It will look great. You can always add more dark green.

Photos 4-8: After that, I painted the flowers and bottom heart with some red paint. I have also seen some similar tulip flowers painted in blue which looks beautiful but my color scheme matched better with the red which you’ll see later. I added the same lighter details with white and possibly a bit of yellow the same way I did with the leaves.

Photos 9-13: Now it is time for the dotting tool again. This time I added white dots though to the flowers and the single bottom heart. If you dip the dotting into the paint once and keep dotting, the dots gradually get smaller on their own. It’s so easy even though it looks like it’s not. You can always practice on a piece of paper first.

I ended up painting mostly yellow daisies and you can add some more dots to their center too if you like the look.

Step 6: Attach ribbon or twine

I used my Dremel and a small drill bit to drill a hole into the top of the hearts. Then I cut some twine and added some tape to the end so I could easily thread it through the hole, knot the twine, and trim it.

I also tried cutting the same twine and then hot-gluing the trimmed knot to the top of the heart ornament. Honestly, I liked that method better because it was faster and easier and didn’t add a hole to the top of the heart.

Photos of my finished DIY hearts

And here you can see one heart as a Christmas tree ornament outside in my pine tree and all the finished hearts in our small dining room tabletop Christmas tree.

Can you believe that this is the first time ever that I’m using traditional red in our Christmas decor? The red ribbon bows and disco balls are the cherry on top. I’m so glad disco balls are making a comeback. I used them a long time ago and I’ve had my giant disco ball under the coffee table since 2014 and still love it. It doesn’t get more magical than the sun shining in onto a disco ball and creating a sparkling pattern on the walls and ceiling.

More DIY ornaments ideas

I love making my own heart ornaments and here are a few more ideas for you.

Or check out my macrame hearts for another Valentine’s Day craft project.

Tschüß,