Valentine Bead Hearts

Looking for a last minute valentine idea?

This one is super simple, takes little time to make and I've got a free printable template for you.

Oh, and it's fun to make too!

What you'll need:
Perler Beads (or Ikea Pyssla Beads)
Perler Beads Pegboards
Baking Paper
Iron
Photo Paper or thick card
Printer
Card Template (which you can find here)
Hot Glue Gun or craft glue

These Perler bead cards are really easy to make.

To start, choose which color beads you'd like to use. I made ours multi colored using all of the colors in the bead jar, but if you'd prefer to make them one color or just a few colors that fine too. I placed the beads in a random order but they also look great in patterns. You can see some patterned hearts we made a while back here.

Following the heart pattern in the picture below, start placing the beads on the board. I found that I could fit four hearts easily on each board but with more careful placement you may even be able to fit six hearts.

Once you have made all of the hearts that you can fit on one board it's time to melt the beads together. Carefully transfer the pegboard to an ironing board or other flat surface for ironing. Place a sheet of baking paper (or the paper provided with the pegboards) over the top.

Using the hottest dry setting (no steam) on your iron, press down on the covered beads and gently move the iron backwards and forwards to ensure that all of the beads melt. This should take about a minute.

Once you're happy with how the beads have melted it's time to flip them over to melt the other side. You may find that the beads lift off the pegboard and stick to the baking paper as you lift it up. If so then just flip the paper over, cover the top of the beads with another piece, and iron away as per before. Alternatively, you can wait until the beads cool a little and lift them off the pegboard one by one. Turn each heart over, place the baking paper on top again, and iron away until they have melted.

There are always a few beads that don't seem to melt as well as the others. I actually quite like this as it adds a little variety, but if you'd prefer that the beads are a little more uniform, keep on ironing until you're happy with how they look.

While you wait for the bead hearts to cool, print out the card template onto a thick piece of card photo paper and cut the cards out along the dotted lines. I chose thick photo paper for this project.

Using your hot glue gun (or graft glue if you don't have one), dab a little glue onto the back of a heart and stick it down on the blank square on the card. Repeat with all of the hearts and cards.

And that's it!

If you'd like to label the valentines with names, it's best to write on the back of the card before sticking the heart on. Alternatively you could write names on the front or place the unlabeled cards in a labeled envelope.