How to make a Valentine’s Day Crochet Heart and Paper Roses

Believe it or not, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner (yes already) and now is the time to start planning for it! 

Homemade Valentine’s Day gifts are 100% one of the most romantic things you could possibly do for your other half on the most romantic day of the year so we've pulled together a couple of ideas for you try this year, all in the name of St Valentine:

Crochet Heart
As a symbol of giving your loved one your heart, why not crochet one that they can keep forever? (Without causing you serious physical danger!). We’ve outlined a step by step guide on how to create a beautiful crochet heart for Valentine’s Day for you to give to that special someone:

1. Prep your yarn
First of all, you want to find the perfect yarn to use for this. You can use red, white, pink, purple – any colour that you fancy at all. Make sure you’ll have enough to make your heart to whatever size you want and then you can begin

2. Magic loop
Create a magic loop (find out how to here) and chain three crochets into this loop/circle

3. Make mine a triple
Then, work in three triple crochets into the magic loop. Not sure what this means? Yarn over (YO description here) your hook twice before inserting that into the circle and then pull up the loop. Next, yarn over and then pull through two loops so that you have five loops as well as yarn over. Then, pull through two loops so that you’re left with three on the hook plus yarn over. Now, yarn over and pull through the remaining 2 loops so that you have your first triple crochet

4. Two more please
Next, simply make two more triple crochets (three is the magic number afterall…). Now you’ll need to make a double crochet and yarn over before inserting the hook into the circle. Once you’ve pulled that through, you will have three loops on the hook. Again, yarn over and pull through two loops, yarn over, pull through the remaining two. Now, you have to this is again twice more until you have three double crochets!

5. From the bottom
Now it’s time to work on the delicate tip of your heart. For this, you’ll need to chain one and then make one triple crochet and then chain one again – this will be your tip

6. Two halves make a whole
Now to work on the other half of the heart… To make them symmetrical you will need to repeat all of the above but in reverse order (hope you were paying attention!). This includes: three double crochets into the loop, three triple crochets and then you’ll need to chain two

7. That’s a hook! (nearly)
Time to test your technical knowledge… Slip Stitch by inserting your hook into the circle, yarn over and pull through both loops at the same time. This will take you very nearly to the end of your Valentine’s crochet heart…

8. Pull the tail
You should have tail/end of the yarn which you’ll need to pull and tighten which will pull the two halves together thus completing the work of the magic loop. Now, cut the long yarn and pull it tightly. You can make use of the yarn and attach it to a ribbon or twine to make a garland should you be so inclined

To finish it off, gently attach one of our 'Made with love' tags so there's no mistaking that you made it - and there you have it: your homemade Valentine’s Day crochet heart! 

Now, it’s time to focus on the next DIY Valentine’s gift…

Paper Roses
Homemade paper roses are a hugely romantic thing to gift your beau with this Valentine’s Day. Not only are flowers a very traditional Valentine’s gift, these flowers will last a lot longer than your usual botanical bunch. Again, we’ve broken down the process into steps for you to follow and make these relatively simple paper roses:

1. Gather your materials
First of all, make sure you have to hand:
- Scrapbook paper of your chosen colour
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Glue gun
- Floral wire (the real type, not paper too)
- Vase/wrap

2. Sort your paper
Snip your chosen scrapbook paper sheets into 6 inch x 6 inch pieces and then trace a spiral circle onto each piece of paper 

3. Cutting shapes
Cut the spiral circles you’ve drawn and ensure to trim off the end so that it’s circular – these are your basic flower heads

4. Rolling roses
Now it’s time to start bringing these roses to life! Start with the outside and roll the paper. This starting bit should be super tight and get looser as you get closer to the base – this will relax your flower a bit. Once you’ve done this, use a glue gun to glue down the shape of your flower

5. Like watching glue dry
Wait for your hot glue to dry completely before then poking through a piece of floral wire to make your paper rose stand to attention

6. Repeat!
Whilst traditionally you should present your loved one with a dozen roses, you can make as many as you like. Repeat all of the above steps until you have the amount that you want. You can use slightly different shades of paper colour to add a more natural and diverse look too

7. Present
Time to show off your romantic creation in the best way possible. You can either choose to put them in a vase, ready for when your other half gets home, or wrap them in some beautiful paper or material that can then be handed over to the very lucky receiver 

We hope these have given you a couple of fab ideas of what to make this Valentine’s Day and of course, as usual, send us your pics if you choose to make them!