This year I found a few tips and tricks to use on my Valentine’s table that I set for a gathering with some girlfriends. I have a new dining room table in my new home. Some of my other tablecloths no longer fit, but I was happy to find that I could fudge a little and make this red tablecloth work. Perfect for laying out the paper cutout heart wreaths I had discovered. And of course, my stash of fabric napkins included red ones that worked perfectly for these folded napkin envelopes.
Paper Heart Wreath Instructions
I had seen this charming Martha Stewart table. But visiting the sight didn’t give me the directions for the sweet paper heart wreaths that graced the table. After a little more web surfing, I found some instructions at Kids Art n Craft.
I spent a little too much on pink papers that I purchased in two sizes. I made three different sizes of heart wreaths – 4 7/8″, 8 1/4″, and 11 1/2″. Rather than fold my colored papers, I chose to make paper templates to trace and cut. This is a lot more work, but I wanted smooth heart wreaths without creases in them. Martha Stewart’s were obviously folded, and they’re also super cute if you want to skip the extra step of making templates.
You probably already know how to fold your paper on an angle to create a square. You need to start with square pieces to create the heart wreaths.
I made the smaller template sizes using 8 1/2 x 11″ printer paper. The 4 7/8″ wreath was made from a half sheet, folded to become square. The 8 1/4″ template was created from a full 8 1/2 x 11″ sheet width. For the largest template, I turned to some wrapping paper that had nice 1″ squares for cutting. If you had some nice wrapping paper, you could simply use it instead of the fancy patterned papers.
Once you have the squares, you fold your paper just like you would for a paper snowflake. Draw the shape of half a heart onto your folded paper. Cut away the rest of the paper, making sure that you leave the paper intact across the width, not cutting around the widest curve of the heart.
Folded Napkin Envelopes
I found the inspiration and instructions for the folded napkins at Sand & Sisal. She has a beautiful Valentine’s Day table as well.
Heart Stickers
I didn’t turn up any heart shaped stickers at home to seal the napkin envelopes, but then I remembered I could always print my own stickers out using Avery.com and printable Avery labels and stickers. I used Avery product #22814 and their online template #22804. For the cute heart design, I searched “heart” from the template designs. This heart was available with a text box over it, but I simply removed all text boxes, centered the heart, and then printed my finished design onto my sticker labels.
I did tuck little heart shaped paper notes inside each envelope before sealing it and placing it on plates.
Don’t forget flowers or a Valentine themed centerpiece.
I knew that I wanted two small flower bouquets so I headed to our local HyVee flower shop to look for the cheapest option. They had African violets on sale for $4 a piece. Look at how sweet they are! Most were purples and whites, but I was able to snag a couple pink ones while they were still available. Then a guest brought me flowers as well so I was able to have a tall vase of flowers placed between the whimsical African violets.
Dinner was Roasted Garlic Chicken breasts, a roasted vegetable salad that I made up, and some yummy onion flatbread. With Frozen Chocolate Pie for dessert. I’ll have to post more on these later, but for my other easy and delicious recipes be sure to check out my Recipes page.
Hope you enjoyed my Valentine’s Day table design! Be sure to leave all your thoughts in the comments below. I always love to hear from my readers!
