How To Make A Paper Heart Box With Free Template
Celebrate your special occasion by creating this adorable Paper Heart Box.
This gift box is a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or use them as wedding party favors. To keep this craft simple, I’ve created free templates, step-by-step instructions, and video tutorials for you.
These free patterns are designed to be cut on an electronic cutting machine like a Cricut or Silhouette Cameo and the Paper Heart Box pattern is available as an SVG, DXF, EPS, PNG, and PDF, to accommodate most cutting machine types.
Each box measures 6 inches high, 6 3/8 inches wide, and 1 1/2 inches deep. These paper heart boxes are the perfect size to add fun things like small gifts, sweet treats, paper flowers, or candy.
How To Access The Free Resource Library
To access these files in my free resource library (over 60 files) and receive my latest craft projects via email, just subscribe on the top right sidebar or at the bottom of this post.
Once you subscribe, you’ll receive an email confirmation. Just confirm your subscription and you will be sent a Welcome Email with the password and instructions for using the free library. Then, just click on the Library tab on the top menu bar and enter the password in the empty box at the bottom of the page. Once you are in the library, please watch the video to learn how to download the files to your computer. Most of the files are available as SVG, DXF, EPS, PNG, and PDF.
Watch The Full Video Tutorial To Create A Paper Heart Box
This video includes step-by-step instructions to show you how to bring these files into your cutting machine’s software (both Cricut and Silhouette), prepare them to cut, and assemble the paper heart box.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure statement here.
Supplies To Create A Paper Heart Box
- Cricut or Silhouette Cameo
- Light Grip Cricut Mat or Light Grip Silhouette Mat
- Cricut Scoring Tool (If Using a Cricut)
- Brayer
- Weeding Tools
- Scraper Tool
- 65 lb Card-stock (2 colors)
- Vellum
- Precision Craft Glue
- Glue Stick
Cricut Design Space – Uploading, Preparing, and Cutting The Paper Heart Box
Cricut Design Space: Uploading The Files
We’re going to learn how to upload the Paper Heart Box into Cricut Design Space, then prepare the file to cut by changing the score lines and cut settings. When working in Cricut Design Space, you will want to use the free SVG file version of the Paper Heart Box. The file will be where you downloaded it to on your computer from the library. If you’re not sure where you saved it to, it’s probably located in your Downloads folder on your computer.
Open Cricut Design Space. On the left side of your canvas, choose the upload button. Then we’re going to choose upload image, browse and select the Paper Heart Box (SVG version). Then select Open. Once you are on the Prepare To Upload screen, you will see the cut image you are about to upload. Select the Upload button on the bottom right corner of your screen. Next, click on the image under Recent Uploads. Your most recent Uploads will be on the left. Click on the image until there is a green box around it. Then choose the Add to Canvas button in the bottom right corner.
Cricut Design Space: Preparing The File To Cut
Now that the image is on your canvas, the first thing you need to do is ungroup it in the layers panel (located on the right). Then select the two black hearts and click on Operation (on the top menu bar). Choose the drop-down menu, then select Score. This changes the solid lines to dashed score lines. Now working in the Layers panel, select the six black lines (located in the six pink rectangles) and change them to Score under Operation. Once you have changed them to score, click off of them and you can see they now have dashed lines, which indicate they now are score lines.
Next, we need to Attach the score lines to the panels, otherwise, when we go to Make It, they’re going to be floating around on a different canvas. So, drag your mouse over both of the hearts until the score lines and the hearts are selected, then choose Attach (at the bottom of the Layer’s panel). Then select the 6 pink rectangles and black lines together. Then select Attach again at the bottom of the Layer’s panel.
Cricut Design Space: Material Settings and Cutting The Files
Now we are ready to make the project. Click on Make It (the upper right corner). Each of the groupings of cut files will be positioned on different mats, based on their color. If you see individual black lines on any of the canvases, you did not Attach them before choosing to Make It. You will need to cancel the cut and go back, then Attach the lines.
If everything looks good in your Prepare section, select Continue (lower right). The very first file is a vellum background heart. So, choose Vellum as your base material. Then load your vellum on a light grip cutting mat and load it into your machine. Ensure that the Fine Point Blade is also loaded and then click on the Cricut or Go button on your machine.
The next mat is going to be the background hearts for the small heart sentiments. You only need to cut as many of these as you are making boxes. Change your material to Card-stock for Intricate Cuts. Then load the card stock on a light grip mat. Rollover it with a Brayer to ensure it is attached to the mat well. Then load the mat into your machine. You should have the Fine Point blade loaded into the machine as well. Then press the Cricut/Go button on the machine.
The next mat is the Conversation Heart Sentiments. Make sure you are using the material type as Card-stock for Intricate Cuts. Then choose more under pressure. Again, load your 65 lb. card stock on a light grip cutting mat and load the mat into your machine. Ensure the Fine Point Blade is also loaded. Then click the Go button.
Now we are on the mat with the heart that has a scroll pattern. This is a very detailed pattern and it’s best to use a clean light-grip mat with 65 lb. card-stock and a newer cutting blade to ensure all of the details in the pattern cut out nicely. Under material, select Card Stock for Intricate Cuts and choose more under pressure. Next, change your tool to the scoring wheel on your machine. Then load your mat into the machine and press Go. When it is finished scoring, change the scoring wheel out for the Fine Point blade and then press Go. Do not unload your mat from the machine in between these steps. When the machine is finished cutting, you can unload your mat.
Now we are on the last mat with the 6 rectangles. You will need to put the scoring wheel back in your machine. Load the card-stock and press Go. Then switch to the Fine Point blade and press Go again. Now that all of your pieces are cut, you can skip down to the assembly section of this blog post.
Silhouette Studio – Opening, Preparing, and Cutting The Paper Heart Box
Silhouette Studio: Opening The Files
Open Silhouette Studio on your computer. I am working with the business edition of the software in case you’re wondering why my screen looks a little different. Let me show you how to bring the Paper Heart Box files into Silhouette Studio and prepare them to score and cut.
Begin at the top menu bar and click on File and then we’re going to choose Open. Now select the file that you downloaded from the Library earlier. If you are working in the basic version (free version) of Silhouette Studio, you will need to open the DXF file. It will look a little different, but you should be able to figure it out by following along. If you are working in the Designer or Business Edition of Silhouette Studio, you can choose the free SVG file version and it will look just like the one I am using.
Silhouette Studio: Preparing The Files To Cut
Once the file is on your canvas, you may need to zoom out to view all of it. Moving from left to right, the first item is the yellow heart, which will be cut from the vellum. Then you have the two hearts that have a score line and intricate cuts. Next are the 6 rectangles, which also have score lines. The rectangles are the sides of the box with the support inserts. Then we have the background heart for the word hearts and then finally the word hearts.
For reference, I am using a light grip mat and 65 lb. card stock to create this project. All of the settings I reference are for 65 lb card stock. If you are using a heavier or lighter card stock you will need to adjust your cut settings.
To begin, let’s set our line colors so we can cut by color. Start by clicking on the Vellum (yellow heart) so you can see the bounding box around it. Then move your mouse to the color selection area. It’s in the upper left corner. There’s a Fill Drop-down Menu and a Line Drop-Down menu. We are focusing on the Line Drop-down Menu. Select the dropdown arrow next to the line color and the color palette box will appear. Select the dropper tool and then click on the yellow color in the yellow vellum heart. This will change your line color from red to yellow to match the fill color.
Repeat this process for every object in the project. You can bulk select, by left-clicking, holding, and dragging your mouse over multiple items that are the same color. For instance, the two hot pink hearts are the same color as the 6 rectangular side panels. You can rubber band select all of these items with your mouse and change the line colors all at once. However, you will need to reselect them all and then deselect the hot pink to isolate your score lines. Then change the scoreline (fold lines) color back to black. The end goal is to have all of the line colors match the fill colors of each object. The scoreline colors should remain black.
Now, make sure that the items you want to cut first are moved on your canvas. Let’s move the light pink word hearts off of the canvas and place the yellow vellum heart on the white canvas. Then click on the send panel in the upper right corner of your screen. There are four menus under the Send Panel. They are Simple, Line, Fill, and Layer. Click on the Line Menu. In this menu, you should see all of the colors that are represented in your cut file. There should be black, light pink, hot pink and yellow.
Now we can cut by the color of the object. So, for example, we have the yellow heart on our canvas. Deselect the black, light pink, and hot pink for now. This is just removing the check marks by clicking on them with your mouse. At this point, only the yellow box has a checkmark by it. Now working under the material column, click on the downward arrow to open the materials menu. Scroll down to Vellum and select it. At this point, you can see the cut settings at the bottom of the Send Menu for Vellum.
My sheets of vellum are 8.5 inches by 11 inches. So, I clicked on the heart and moved it to the upper left corner of my mat on the screen, so it was located where the vellum will be on my mat. You should also know that vellum comes in different thicknesses, so you may need to adjust your cut settings to accommodate your vellum. I recommend sending a test cut first, to ensure your settings are correct for your material. Then you can send the actual project if everything looks O.K.
Before we continue, you might find it helpful to set up Custom Cut Settings for your material. You want to do this if there is a specific vinyl or card stock that you use frequently.
Silhouette Studio: How To Set Up Custom Cut Settings
For a long time, I would just guess at my cut settings for the materials I was using. After much frustration, I decided to go the extra mile and set up custom settings for the materials I use regularly. This was a game-changer for me and saved me so much time in the long run.
Let me show you how to do this. We are working under the Send menu. There are a few ways to do this, but for this tutorial, we will work in the Simple menu (located under the Send tab). It’s the one on the left of the send menu. Click on the Simple menu.
Working under Carriage 1, click on the drop-down menu next to Material. At the bottom of this menu is a blue button that says Add New Material Type. Click on that blue button. At this point, you will see a User-Defined area show up at the very bottom of your Materials panel. If you click on the dark grey bar that says New Material, you can name your material. I’m calling my material (65 lb Card-stock Score Setting).
Once you have named the material setting, you can change the Force, Speed, Passes, etc., and then Save your settings. There is a Legacy column for older machines and a Carriage 1 column for the Cameo 4 and Portrait 3. In my software, if I save the Carriage 1 settings, it automatically asks if I want to update the Legacy settings. I always say yes. If you’re using different machines, you will need to consider if this works for you. If all you see is the Legacy settings, just change them and choose Save. Here are the settings I use to score or create a kiss cut on card stock.
Score Settings (Kiss Cut) For A Cameo 4 Using 65 lb. Card-stock
Force=1, Speed=5, Passes=1, Blade Depth=1
Now let’s create a custom setting for cutting 65 lb. card stock. Working in the User Defined area under materials, click on the plus button in the bottom right corner. Now name your material. I called mine, 65 lb. Card-stock Cut Settings. Then change the settings as follows:
Cut Settings For A Cameo 4 Using 65 lb. Card-stock
Force=25, Speed=5, Passes-1, Blade Depth=6, Line Segment Overcut turned on and set to .50 for the Start and End
Don’t forget to save your settings.
Vellum comes in all different Grams per Square Meter (GSM). The higher the GSM number the heavier the paper. So, this is a difficult setting to share if you don’t know the GSM of your vellum. The vellum I have cuts well with the following settings.
Vellum Cut Settings For A Cameo 4 (This Will Vary Based On The Thickness Of Your Material)
Force=19, Speed=6, Passes=1, Blade Depth=3
Once you have saved your custom settings, choose the X in the upper right corner of the Materials box. If you have an Auto blade on a Cameo 4, your machine will adjust your blade depth for you when you send the cut job. If you are working on an older machine, you will need to manually adjust the blade depth before you send the project.
Now that you’ve set your custom cut settings, go to the Line menu under the Send panel. At this point, you will see all of the colors within your project. Repeat the process for all of the pieces. Make sure to set the correct material under each color. Black is the score lines. Yellow is the vellum. Both of the Pink colors are 65 lb. card-stock. For the panels with two colors, kiss cut the black score lines first and then cut the patterns out.
How To Assemble The Paper Heart Box
Start by removing the extra card stock from the mat and then slowly work your way around the edge of the heart. Be sure that you don’t damage it when you lift it off of the mat. I use a scraper tool underneath the center of the pattern to help lift it off. Next, remove the bottom piece of the heart off of the cutting mat and then use the scraper tool to remove the extra card stock bits from the mat.
Heart Box Pieces
Once everything is cut you’ll have a front heart panel, a back heart panel, four rectangular pieces for the sides of your box, and two support pieces for the inside of the box. You’ll also have the heart sayings with the background hearts and a vellum piece that goes behind the scroll cutwork.
Create The Top Of You Paper Heart Box
Before assembling the box use a regular glue stick to attach the vellum to the back of the scroll heart. The glue stick will dry clear and it leaves a clean non-sticky finish.
Now, let’s create the top of your box in the shape of the heart. Begin to fold each of the tabs down on the heart panel with the cut pattern. Now locate the two box side pieces (longest rectangles for the front panel). Then add a drop of precision craft glue to each tab on the heart panel.
Now we’re going to take the end of the side panel without the fold and begin attaching it to the middle of the top of the heart. The first couple of tabs will need a little extra time to dry, but then you can quickly work your way around the side of the heart. Press the inside tab (with glue) to the outside panel using your fingers to add a little pressure. This helps bond the paper together. Once you get to the point of the heart, fold the two tabs up and the side panel in towards the inside of the heart along the fold line.
Now we’re going to work on the second side panel. Fold it along the scoreline and add some glue to the folded section. Then attach it to the top of the side panel that has already been glued to the heart. Now we’re going to add a drop of glue on each tab on the other side of the heart. Slowly working our way around the other side of the heart attaching each tab to the second side panel. Lastly, add some glue to the bottom side panel tab and then close it to finish the bottom layer of the heart.
Flip the top of the box over. Locate the two support panels and fold them down the middle along the score lines. Then add the glue to the longer support panel and insert the fold line inside the side panel at the top center of the heart. Use your fingers to press the support to the side panel. Repeat this process with the second, smaller support along the inside bottom of the heart. This completes the top of the heart box.
Create The Bottom Of Your Paper Heart Box
We are now ready to create the second heart (box bottom). Locate the second heart panel and fold down all of the tabs. Next, add a drop of glue to each of the tabs on one-half of the heart. Now locate the matching side pieces. Start with one of the side strips at the top middle of the heart and begin pressing each tab to the side panel.
Then attach the other side panel, in the same way as you did the box top, to complete the heart shape. Begin with the end that doesn’t have fold lines. Close the tip of the heart by gluing the long tab closed.
Add The Word Hearts To Your Box
The last step is to add your sentiment to the front of the heart. Add some glue to the back of the word plate and press it to the background heart. Then add some glue to the background heart and gently add it to the center of the front of the box lid. Now flip the lid so the inside is facing up and press it down to help the glue on the front panel bond together. Now slide the lid over the bottom of the box and admire your awesome craft skills! 🙂
This paper heart box is perfect for adding small items to celebrate Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or even as a party favor.
FOLLOW ALONG ON PINTEREST
Do you like budget-friendly home decor and seasonal crafts? Follow me on PINTEREST. Did you know that you can hover over any of the images below and save them for later? Just click on the red Pinterest button and save it to your Cricut Crafts or Valentine’s Day board. It’s helpful to Pin It now and save it for later when you’re ready to start your project.
Did you like this papercraft? Do you have questions about this project? Let me know in the comments below. I’ve also added some other projects you might like down below. Just click on the picture and it will take you to that project. Thanks for following along!
