Make This Paper Valentine's "Kissing Heart"

I love those kissing balls that are popular around Christmas.  Although I think they are cute and kind of whimsical, I've never actually owned or used one.  I think most people associate them with Christmas, but doesn't it make sense to have them around for Valentine's Day, the actual 'holiday of love?'

I put together this paper, heart-shaped version to hang in the doorway between our kitchen and dining room - I reasoned that we probably spend more time going in and out of the kitchen than any other room in our home, so placing it there would provide the best opportunities to get caught under it and get a kiss... um, am I revealing some major ignorance here?  I'm only assuming that a 'kissing ball' is the same concept as mistletoe... you're supposed to kiss under it - if not, please leave a comment and let me know so I won't commit this faux pas again!

To make the paper kissing heart you will need:

• Three (3) 12" x 12" sheets of coordinating scrapbook papers
• Scissors
• Glue (like Elmer's) and glue stick, both
• Ribbon

To start, fold your 12" by 12" sheets into quarters, unfold and cut along the lines.  This will give you four 6" by 6" pieces... so after you do all three sheets, you should end up with 12 total squares.  (I feel like I throw down a lot of math on these paper projects).

Fold each of the paper squares in half, with the patterned (pretty) side of your paper inside. Trace a half of a heart onto one of the folded pieces and cut out.

My heart ended up being about 5" tall by 6" wide-ish.  Use this first heart as a template to trace and cut the rest of the hearts - they all need to be the same size.  You'll end up with 12 hearts, which you do not see in the picture below... but do as I say, and not as I do!

Now we need to start gluing the hearts together.  Fold one of your hearts along the pre-existing fold line, with the pretty side on the inside still, and apply glue stick liberally to the whole thing, not just the outer edges.

Stick another heart to it, matching up the edges, and repeat four more times (so stop when you've glued six of your 12 hearts together).  Again, below I'm only showing three hearts glued together, so call me a hypocrite and just keep going until you have six glued.  Thanks.

Repeat the previous paragraph of instructions, gluing together the remaining six hearts so you will have two identical chunks of six hearts each.

Now we need a way to hang this cutie up, so I cut two lengths of coordinating ribbon.  They were about two feet long each.  Lay one of your six heart chunks flat so that you only see the ugly, non-pattern side of the paper (that probably makes zero sense if you're just reading through the post, but if you are actually making the heart, it should be very obvious).  I wanted little 'tails' sticking out the bottom of my heart, so you can see I glued my ribbons (with the Elmer's glue) at kind of an angle, with an inch or two coming out the bottom, but the majority of the ribbon coming out the top.

When the glue has dried, apply glue stick liberally to your other chunk of six hearts glued together and stick it on.

Voila!