How to make a heart pop-up card
Heart Pop-Up Card: try all 10 steps in the 3D player. Turn and replay every move. Print the complete diagram sheet or save it as PDF.
Make a Valentine card with a complete red heart raised above its spine. Rounded lobes, a clear top dip and a tapered point stay together on a small V-fold support. An Origami Tutor design.
- You need
- A 14 × 20 cm sheet of thin card, a 12 × 9 cm rectangle of red paper, pencil, ruler, protractor, scissors and glue stick.
- Start
- Lay the card coloured side up with a short edge at the top. Set the red rectangle beside it, white side up, with a 12 cm edge at the top.
Your model is ready
Let the glue dry and open the card. Both rounded lobes and the pointed bottom rise together. Write your Valentine or anniversary message around the heart. The complete red heart, with two rounded lobes and a clear point, raised above the card.
Step-by-step diagrams
- 1
Crease the card
Fold the card in half, bottom edge to top edge, press the spine and open the card flat again.
- 2
Fold the heart paper in half
Fold the smaller rectangle from left to right. Keep its 12 cm edges at the top and bottom; the folded piece is 6 cm wide and 9 cm tall.
- 3
Cut the heart and tabs
Starting on the folded edge about 1.4 cm below the top, draw half a heart: curve up into a broad rounded lobe, round the outside and taper down toward the fold. Leave a 6 mm wide stem at the heart's point and the small angled tabs below it, as shown in the cutting diagram. Cut through both layers and lift away the surrounding scrap. The top dip is part of this outline, not a separate fold.
- 4
Fold the front glue tab
From the bottom of the middle fold, draw a line 60 degrees from the fold toward the right. Fold only the front tab up along this line.
- 5
Fold the back glue tab
Fold the other tab behind on the same line. The tabs point in opposite directions; the cut shape stays between them.
- 6
Position the heart
Set the folded piece on the upper half of the open card. Put its foot on the spine, 5 cm from the left edge. Its middle fold leans 10 degrees left of upright; keep the whole cutout inside the card.
- 7
Glue the lower tab
Glue only the lower tab to the card. Leave the outline, the other tab and every fold free.
- 8
Close the card onto the upper tab
Put glue on the upper tab. Fold the bottom half of the card up over it and press gently.
- 9
Secure the upper tab
Press the card against the upper tab and let the glue set before opening it.
- 10
Open the card
Open the card slowly to 150 degrees. The tabs lift the complete heart into a shallow V above the spine.
- ✓
Finish
Let the glue dry and open the card. Both rounded lobes and the pointed bottom rise together. Write your Valentine or anniversary message around the heart. The complete red heart, with two rounded lobes and a clear point, raised above the card.
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