Heart Ornament Perfect for Valentine's Day with Plastic Canvas

As you probably already know, I like to make things with plastic canvas.  Despite being a bit retro, this versatile material allows you to create a wide range of items from simple magnets and ornaments to complex 3D designs.

For Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be fun to make some plastic canvas heart Valentine's Day ornaments.

To make these adorable Valentine's Day ornaments, you'll need some heart-shaped plastic canvas.  You can easily find pre-cut hearts at craft stores and even on Amazon.  The pre-cut hearts make this craft super easy to do. 

Each plastic canvas heart takes around 45 minutes to stitch and then additional time depending on the embellishments you choose to add.

You can learn how to stitch free plastic canvas heart patterns by watching our video or keep reading this post for a photo tutorial with step-by-step instructions.

how to make a plastic canvas heart Valentine's Day ornament

the supplies you will need to make the heart ornament are:

• 3" Heart-Shaped Plastic Canvas (Purchase at Amazon)
• Yarn - Use colors from your stash
• Gathered Lace Trim
• Embellishments - buttons, sequins, beads, whatever you have on hand
• Plastic Canvas Needle (Amazon or Joann)
• Thread
• Felt
• Sewing Needle
• Scissors (Amazon or Joann)
• Glue (Amazon or Joann)

Before we begin this project, let’s look closely at the plastic canvas heart shape. You’ll see some tiny incomplete holes. For this project, you will sometimes stitch into those small spaces.  The plastic canvas has some stretch to it so that you can use those holes, but you will have to push your needle through the tiny hole to get the yarn through.

INSTRUCTIONS for making a heart ornament :

STEP 1: Gather supplies

Gather all the supplies needed for this project. This is an excellent Valentine’s project to use up leftover yarn,  gathered lace, beads, sequins, buttons and pearls – whatever is handy.

Before starting the project, decide on the color combination you want to use for the heart. 

The most common colors for Valentine's Day are pink, red, and white.

Now let's get started making the plastic canvas heart ornament.

STEP 2: filling the middle of the heart-shape plastic canvas

For this ornament, I decided on pink and white yarn with white lace and button.

Start by filling the the middle of the plastic canvas heart.  Don’t stitch in the outside border holes.

Choose the color you want to use, cut a strand of yarn and thread the needle. 

Work across the rows from top to bottom, beginning with the horizontal row from right to left across the canvas. 

To start your stitching, leave a small tail of yarn on the back and catch it with your first few diagonal stitches to hold it in place.

Using the Continental Stitch, which is a very basic diagonal stitch, that completely covers the front and the back of the canvas, bring the needle up from the backside of the plastic canvas in the second hole in the second row.

Then go down with the needle, diagonally, in the first hole in the first row.  Continue continental stitching filling in the center of the heart with diagonal stitches.  

If you don’t know how to do the continental stitch, check out our tutorial. Although the back of the heart ornament will be covered with felt, my habit in needlework is for the back of the project to look neat and tidy, with NO Knots.  NO YarnTails! Above is a picture of the hidden yarn tail.

Once the entire center is filled in, move on to the next step.

Step 3: stitch border

Choose a different color of yarn and fill in the border holes using the continental stitch. Again these stitches will be slanted and occasionally you may have to put two stitches in the same border hole. Done!

Step 4:  Overcast Stitch the Edge

It is time to cover the edge of the heart with stitches.  Overcast stitch is used to create a nice finished edge on your plastic canvas work.  

Use the overcast stitch to go around the edge of the heart. Find out how to do the overcast stitch here.

Step 5: Attach gathered lace to Valentine’s Ornament

Gathered lace trim is great for adding a finishing touch to many craft projects including this Valentine's Day Heart Ornament. 

Cut a 12" length of gathered lace.

Double thread a needle with sewing thread that matches the border color and tie a knot at the end. 

Beginning at the top of the heart, hand sew lace trim to the back of the heart so the lace extends beyond the edge of the heart.

STEP 6:  Embellish It!

You can embellish it with beads, sequins, buttons or pearls to add a little extra sparkle.

Stitch on the embellishments using sewing thread and a needle.

Now all that is left is finishing the back and hanger.

Step 7: cover the back of the heart ornament with felt

Finish off the back of the heart ornament with felt.

To make the felt backing, place an unstitched plastic canvas heart shape on top of the felt.  Trace around it and cut it out.

Use fabric or felt glue to glue the felt to the back of the heart.

Now your Valentine's Day Heart Ornament is complete. You can add a loop for hanging with ribbon or yarn. You can create this decoration item for holiday ornaments (even Christmas ornaments), wall hangings, room decor and anything else you can imagine.

You may want to see another example of a finished plastic canvas heart.  Here is one:

Another great idea is to make several hearts and string them into a garland. 

Thank you for reading this article and I  hope I have inspired you to do some stitching!

Wishing you a very Happy Heart Day!

I love crafting with plastic canvas and have a few more tutorials for you

• Easter Basket for 18" Doll
• Wreath Christmas Ornament
• Basket Ornament
• Snowflake Christmas Ornament
• Patriotic Flag Coaster
• Plastic Canvas Coaster (Version 1)
• Plastic Canvas Coaster (Version 2)
• Minecraft Creeper Keychain (Zipper Pull)
• Minon Keychain (Zipper Pull)
• Patchwork Keychain (Zipper Pull)
• Christmas Pine and Berry Napkin Rings
• Thanksgiving Leaf Napkin Rings