He First Loved Us

Below is a great post from (in)courage.  Get crafty with these cute heart garland. 

REblogged from (in)courage.
February 2, 2012

I thought it would be fun to share with you a sweet little heart garland project. Perfect for February. What better time to create a project that reminds us of God’s love. Oh, how He loves us. Through our faults and joys and mistakes and sorrows.

I want the reminder. I need the reminder. No matter what happens in this world… He loves me. I have His consistent love. His love for me has taught me to love. I can love with same beautiful, unconditional love.

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

The love we receive from God allows us to return that love and to spread that love to others. True love originates in God.

So let’s get started!


First you need paper. Any kind of paper will work. I wanted to use a paper that had color on both sides since you will be able to see both sides when the project is finished. I didn’t have any double sided paper, so I simply made my own.

I used just plain 8 ½” x 11” white card stock and brought out my watercolor paints.



I painted both sides and let them dry overnight. I did weight mine down so the paper would not wrinkle, which it will do a little bit as it dries.



Next, I cut each sheet into 1” strips. That gives me 11 strips from each piece of paper. If you want larger hearts, you can cut longer strips.

Each heart will take 6 strips of paper plus a center strip. Leave 2 strips the full length. Cut 1 ½” from 2 strips and 3” from 2 strips. (For the center strips, I cut some full length strips in half. You will see where this is used a bit later.)



I wanted to put my reminder of  God’s love right on the hearts. We love because He first loved us. I added white paint to the watercolor and used vintage letter stamps to stamp out the verse. You can use stamps to do this, letter stickers, or write it with your own handwriting! You can also use ink instead of paint.



Stamp your words on the longest strips.



Now you can lay out each heart. Start with one of your center strips. Put one long strip on either side, then a middle size strip on either side, and then a smaller strip on either side.



Stack them up in this same order. If you made any words, make sure they are facing in towards the center strip. That way when you get to the next step, they will bend to be seen on the outside.



Now, if you want to, you can secure these together. You could staple or clip them together while you do the next step. Or, like I did, have your husband step in and give you an extra hand. I decided to use decorative brads, so I did not staple anything.



I put my brad through, starting with one of the longest strips, then through the middle strip and then the smaller strip.



Next, push the brad through all the strips at the bottom. (If you stapled the bottom in the beginning, I would bring both sides of the heart down and then staple.)



Bring the other strips down and secure the brad.



Now do this process over and over and over for as many hearts as you want on your garland.



Punch a hole in the top of your center strip to hang. I strung my hearts up on a simple piece of twine.




I love to walk by and read the beautiful truth, “We love because He first loved us.”

I hope this simple heart garland will inspire you to create something to remind you of God’s love this February.

By Jennifer, StudioJRU