Recycled Paper Heart Wreath

I think my family has a cereal addiction. Really if I would let them, there are certain kids around here that would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! This is just a small amount of the cereal boxes that I save for art and craft projects (and I put alot out in the recycling bin to be picked up!)

I wanted to come up with a Valentine project using a recycled cereal box, since we have so darn many of them.

 I tore it open along the seams and cut out a heart shape from one side.

I folded the cardboard in half and cut out a half-heart shape and opened it up. I'm just no good at drawing a heart shape freehand, but you could do this any way you like.

Then I folded the heart in half and cut the center section out of it, leaving the wreath form. (save the solid heart for another project) The edges don't need to be perfect because it's all getting covered up anyway.

I was doing this very quickly on the kitchen counter last night, so my photos aren't the greatest. 

 I punched a hole at the top center of the heart form to put a hanger through.

Now I grabbed a pile of paper packing shreds  (came in a box of coffee someone sent me as a gift!)  and started gluing them to the heart shape. I covered a small section at a time with hot glue and just squashed a handful of paper into the glue.

  
Once it was all covered I checked for thin areas and just glued more bunches of paper in where needed. 

{At this point I decided to double the cardboard heart for extra stability, and reinforced the folded areas by hot gluing another small piece of the box to those spots (punching a hole in the top piece). If you were using a stronger piece of cardboard for the heart shape, I don't think it would be necessary.}

Wide fabric ribbon? Yarn? I decided to use a torn piece of cotton fabric for my hanging loop. 

 I think it turned out kinda cute for an old cereal box and some packing paper!

Now I just need to decide if I want it hung with or without the vintage hanger. What do you think?

I'll show you where I'm using this soon! 

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