What Is a Heart Template?

The heart is one of the early shapes that we learn in school. And it may as well be one of the most used shapes. The two-dimensional heart icon is a timeless template for a lot of things. We see it used in a variety of media, from paintings and movies, to both written and digital communication. Its symbolism is deeply rooted in our cultures. Although its relationship with love is universally recognized, the icon is also a vessel for different connotations and usage that society associates it with.

Uses of the Heart Template

The heart symbol exudes an enduring appeal to kids and kids at heart. And we bank on such appeal when we use the icon to celebrate life, love, and happy milestones.

Valentine’s day: This is a special day when people’s hearts flutter with love and romance. Stores, establishments, offices, and classrooms put up pink and red hearts on their doors, walls, and boards to commemorate the occasion. For variety, people also use heart cut-outs, paper heart strings, and heart garlands. The partnership of anything heart and Valentine’s day probably wouldn’t be ending soon.Special Occasions: To celebrate the love and commitment shared between couples, hearts make a compulsory appearance in weddings and engagements. The wedding venue and reception are filled with love-themed designs from heart-shaped dessert flaglets, table numbers, frames, souvenirs to anything the couple can conceive. Birthdays and baby showers also enjoy the presence of heart-shaped designs in the events.Mother’s / Father’s Day: Nothing says “I love you Mom / Dad” more than hearts in the greeting cards. Kids can write a personal message of love and gratitude for their parents on the heart templates. The charm of these cards comes from the personal touches on the card, like the kids’ heartfelt message and the effort that went into making the cards.Holiday Decoration: No one said hearts are an exclusive Valentine’s day decor. Make holidays merrier with heart-shaped designs. Instead of hanging colorful balls on your Christmas tree, you can spice up the winter holiday family reunions by placing heart-shaped family photos from the whole year. It is a creative reminder of how your family spent this year and a promise of how next year will be better.

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The Heart That Loves

Today we know that the brain is the seat for our mental processes. However, that position was long held by the heart. According to an article in Time’s website, people believed that the heart is the center of our emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Although it began with the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, this connection strengthened during the Medieval period. During this time, studies on the heart’s structure were made on animals. The Church limited the knowledge on anatomy because they prohibited the autopsy of human bodies for science. But they also popularized the use of hearts in the context of love and emotions. It was said that the heart stored God’s words. It also houses an individual’s devotion to the Creator.

Another influence on the relationship or heart and love is represented in the art during that time. Paintings and poems about love feature a conical heart with a tapered end. The later images of the heart began to sport a dent on the other end as well. The change was probably due to the development in anatomical studies. The popular representation of the heart in art and literature as the home of emotions and memory stuck with the people. Although this idea is already refuted by science, it still finds its home in literature and in everyday life.

Origin of the Heart Icon

There are different tales that trace the beginnings of the figure, but no theory is confirmed. There are relics that show the familiar symbol on artifacts. Some historians say that the heart-shaped icon represents ivy leaves. The plant symbolizes fidelity and marriage, which are closely related to what the heart icon stands for today. Other people suggest that the heart figure was initially silphium seed pods. The silphium plant from Cyrene was the ancient city’s ticket to riches. Aside from therapeutic claims, people also used the plant as aphrodisiac and contraceptives. When the city was conquered by Greek then Roman forces, the silphium became more popular, and its image was printed on coins.

Meanwhile, the assumption that the heart icon did not deviate so much from the image of the human heart. In the past, it was harder to picture out how our organs looked. The outlawed dissection of human bodies influenced the limited knowledge of human anatomy. Artists relied on presumptive descriptions by physicians and philosophers to come up with an image of the heart. Early attempts were like a rough sketch that showed a depression in the middle of the heart’s chambers and a tapering end. Even though more anatomically correct diagrams of the human heart became available, the simplistic illustration already captured our hearts.

Other Uses of the Template

Occasions aren’t the only time that we can put the heart templates to good use. Every day, we can expand our creativity with activities that empower our imagination. You can send your messages to your loved ones using the templates. You can also schedule a fun arts and craft activity with the kids during weekends.

Invitation Cards

Instead of the square and rectangular invitations and RSVP cards, why not go out of the ordinary with heart-shaped cards? You can print the invite onto a heart template and cut the paper into hearts. This is suitable as wedding invites. It also works as a charming birthday invite for kids. You can even print prom proposals on the template.

Greeting Cards

Show some love to your family and friends with a personalized message inside a heart-shaped frame. You can choose to print the template as-is or cut out the heart. Use special stationery or scented paper to add appeal to your greeting card. From birthdays and anniversaries, to those days that you feel like giving your loved ones a card, a heart-shaped greeting card is a visual delight.

Gifts tags

Are you wrapping up something special for your special someone? Add a layer of charm to your present with a heart-shaped gift tag. It is not a common practice during gift-giving. That is why your loved ones will appreciate the little surprise before they even unboxed their present. You can also add a personal message on the gift tag.

Props and Design

Win your loved one’s heart over and over. If you are planning to surprise your loved one on your anniversary, you can use heart cut-outs. These paper hearts can be used as confetti. And instead of red rose petals, you can also spread small paper hearts on the table, bed, or floor. You can also customize clear balloons by placing small hearts in them via a funnel.

Arts Project

Pump life to your kids’ creative spirit through different art projects. You can print heart templates for the kids to practice color. If you want a more challenging activity, create puzzles from heart cut-outs. You can also create cut out molds from the templates. You can instruct the children to trace the pattern of the mold as they start learning how to draw hearts. You can even hold a DIY class of making paper flowers from heart cut-outs.

Fabric Craft

Sewing is an important life skill as much as it is a fun activity. Aside from learning how to fix a tear and sew a button, you can also do art. You can use paper heart templates as sewing patterns. Add heart patterns on bibs, handkerchieves, and scarves. You can also embroider names inside the heart. Do you have an old denim jacket or a pair of denim pants? Make it look brand new with heart patches and pockets.

Bookmarks

A bookmark isn’t limited to a strip of paper or ribbon inserted in between the pages of a book. You can create a heart-shaped corner bookmark that isn’t only cute, it’s also easy. There are online tutorials that will teach you how to fold a paper into a bookmark that you are sure to love. Create multiple corner bookmarks so you bookmark several pages of the book.

Writing Pad

Imagine a board filled with reminders, to-do list, and motivational quotes written on sheets of heart-shaped paper. You can use heart templates as a memo or note pad. You can scribble notes on the space inside the heart and stick it on your wall or mirror. It is a cute way to keep yourself on top of your tasks and motivated throughout the day.

Study Aid

You can also download anatomical heart templates to study. These templates feature an approximate diagram of the human heart and are complete with labels and arrows. They are a valuable learning resource to medical students and those who want to learn more about the anatomy of the heart. Some diagrams come in black and white, while others feature red and blue colors.

Digital Design

Heart icons can carry different meanings. It can connote romance, adoration, life, and health. In video games, the turns of a player are often shown as hearts. The icon is also used to imply that a food or drink is healthy for the body. Designers can use hearts as part of the logos and designs that they are creating for companies and clients.

Three-Dimensional Art

If you want something in three dimensions, you can create wonderful heart origami. You can search for online instructions on how to make a 3D heart. Origami is the artful way of producing intricate figures folded from paper. It is a relaxing activity where you can also bond with your friends and family. You can use origamis as designs for a project. If you want, you can even fold heartfelt letters into an origami instead of putting them into an envelope.

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How to Write a Heartfelt Letter

Meaningful letters crafted by hand still have a place in the world. This is despite the fact that instant messaging and electronic mail have taken over how we communicate. Although the ability to chat in real-time has drastically reduced our waiting time for responses, the messages can become impersonal. Talking with our loved ones can become an ordinary activity. The slower way of transmitting our message to someone required reflection. We put more thought into our letters than in our chats. These qualities that come with making an effort to write someone a letter make handwritten letters special. So on your loved one’s special day, write him or her a heartfelt letter.

Step 1: Decide the Occasion and Recipient

Sit down to think about why you are sending the letter and who you are sending it to. Your message can vary when you wrote the letter for Christmas and when you prepared it with a birthday in mind. The content also varies when you are writing to your parents and when you are addressing your spouse. By having a specific event and person in mind, you can focus your message to be about him or her. It makes the message more personal.

Step 2: Handwrite Your Message

Heartfelt messages stem from the heart. Handwritten letters evoke sincerity and genuine emotions better than electronic mails and chats do. They also show that you are willing to go the extra mile for your loved ones. Even though transmitting your message through old-school letters takes a longer time than instant messaging, people keep letters longer than screenshots of chats. The effort that goes into spending time to hand-write a letter shows that you care for that person.

Step 3: Spill Your Heart on a Draft

In life, people don’t have an eraser to wipe away all the mistakes they made. But writing a draft on a separate piece of paper gives you the chance to send a clean and immaculate letter. When you are writing by hand, a misspelling, wrong word choice, or an ink smudge can ruin your template. And because thoughts are not neatly linear, you are bound to make errors in writing an emotion-laden piece. To avoid this, you can sketch a map or outline of your thoughts on your notepad. Feel free to express yourself on its pages. You can still edit the letter later.

Step 4: Polish Your Message

After you have prepared a rough draft of your letter, you can organize and polish the content so that it delivers your intended message. It is easy to misconstrue a statement because of the absence of the speaker’s tone in written communication. Review and edit the message so that reading will be smooth. Do your words perfectly capture what you want to say? Editing your letter makes sure that the content is not confusing, misleading, and all over the place. Wrap up the letter on a positive, lighthearted note to properly end the message.

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FAQs

How can I create a heart stencil?

Cut a heart from the template that you downloaded. Lay the pattern perfectly flat on the surface of your paper. Dab a small sponge on an ink pad. Dab the sponge on the corner of the pattern so that the ink smudges on the blank paper. Do this until you covered all the margin of the pattern.

How should I cut out templates?

Prepare the template that you want. Find the area of the paper that will get you to the pattern the fastest. With a pair of scissors, carefully cut your way to the pattern. Cut along the outside of the template.

How can I cut paper into a heart?

Prepare a piece of paper, and fold it neatly into half. On one side, draw half of a heart. Pinch the two sides of the paper together so that when you start cutting, you will cut both sides. With a pair of scissors, cut the paper following the outline of your drawing. Open the folded piece that you cut. For your convenience, you can also use the attached heart templates in this article.

We have had a long love affair with the heart icon. It is present in the little things we do, from texting to sending love letters to our special someone. We use it to contain the abstract concepts of love, romance, and affection. The heart icon is a powerful figure that conveys our strongest emotions. It is unlikely that we would break up any time soon with our fascination for this simple yet profound image.