These clay heart ornaments are easy to create and make perfect homemade gifts for Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. Alternatively, turn your clay hearts into wedding favors by stamping each guest's name into the clay. Easily turn clay heart ornaments into beautiful gift tags for the holiday season.
Making clay hearts is a great project, but working with clay can be tricky. Read my complete tutorial for working with air-drying clay before making your own ornaments. That tutorial for making DIY Christmas ornaments is filled with tips and tricks and will help nip potential disasters in the bud.
★Tip★ We will be pressing dried grasses into the clay hearts and therefore, air-drying clay is the best choice for this project. Polymer clay has to be baked in the oven and is therefore unsuitable for making these homemade clay ornaments.
If you are looking for more homemade clay ornament ideas, you might like these lovely boho-style Easter eggs or these pretty salt dough ornaments.
I created some clay star ornaments to string into a pretty garland. The clay garland was also featured on the front cover of Country Sampler Farmhouse Style Magazine last Christmas. You can see the clay star garland here.
Types of air-dry clay
The type of clay you use makes a difference. I was all out of the clay I used for making my air-dry clay ornaments, so I picked some up from the craft section of our local home store for this craft project.
The new clay had a different texture. On removing the cookie cutters from the clay, I noticed tiny fibers on the cut edge. Smoothing the fibers away with some water was easy enough, although, I couldn't get a crisp edge on the hearts, as with my previous clay ornaments.
I've linked to my favorite type of air-drying clay in the list of supplies below.
Table of contents
Clay heart ornaments DIY
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Supplies
- Air drying clay
- Craft rolling pin (I used a glass bottle)
- Rubber stamps (or cookie stamps)
- Acrylic paint
- Parchment paper
- Heart-shaped cookie cutters in different sizes
- Mod Podge
- Cookie sheet
- Metal straw
- Dried grass (or flowers)
- A small container with a lid
- Water
- Hairdryer or heat gun
- Paper plate
- Natural twine or baker's twine
- Wooden beads
- Ribbon
- Floral wire.
Shop Supplies
Instructions for making air-dry clay hearts
Follow the instructions in my 'homemade Christmas ornaments' post for preparing and rolling out the clay.
Step 1: Make clay hearts
Use heart-shaped cookie cutters to create heart shapes in the clay. (I used a small heart cutter and a larger heart cutter).
Press some dried grasses into the clay and roll over them with the rolling pin. (You might need to use the cookie-cutter again to get a clean edge.)
Create an initial or a small heart with a cookie stamp.
Using a metal straw, make a small hole in the top of the heart.
Transfer the clay heart ornaments to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and allow them to dry. Turn the hearts over every now and again. (Find more information about drying times in my clay Christmas ornaments tutorial).
Step 2: Paint wooden beads
While the clay hearts are drying, you could paint the wooden beads although, this part is optional. You could use natural wooden beads or no beads at all, it's entirely up to you and how you want your handmade ornaments to look.
Easy way to paint wooden beads
I've used various methods to paint wooden beads in the past, but this is the easiest method I've found so far. I'm painting my beads white, although you can paint them any color you like.
Supplies for painting wooden beads:
- A small container with a lid
- Acrylic paint
- Water
- Hairdryer
- Paper plate
- A paintbrush.
Pour a small amount of acrylic/craft paint into a small container, add a little bit of warm water, and mix well.
Add the beads to the container with the paint. Replace the lid, then shake the container until the beads are fully covered in white paint.
Pour the beads onto a paper plate.
Set a hairdryer on low to medium heat and blow the painted wooden beads around the plate until they are dry. You could use a heat gun for this part, although the hairdryer method works very well too.
★Tip★ You might need to paint the wood beads a few times to get the best coverage.
Step 3: Seal the clay heart ornaments
If you've pressed dried grasses into your clay heart ornaments, it will be best to seal them to prevent the grasses from falling out.
Supplies for sealing clay heart ornaments:
- Mod Podge
- A paintbrush.
Use the paintbrush to brush some Mod Podge over each clay heart ornament.
Repeat step one up to three times for the best protection.
★Tip★ You could use a spray acrylic sealer to seal the clay heart ornaments.
Step 4: Make hangers
If you are making these clay heart ornaments to embellish a handmade gift, you will probably want to make hangers for them.
Supplies for making ornament hangers:
- Natural twine or baker's twine
- Ribbon
- Floral wire.
Push some twine through the hole in the top of the ornament.
Thread some wood beads onto the twine and tie the ends of the string with a knot.
Make a simple bow from ribbon and attach it to the top of the heart ornament with some floral wire.
Your beautiful clay heart ornaments are finished!
Conclusion
Clay crafts are firmly becoming my favorites! They are easy projects to make and a fun way to spend some crafty 'Me' time.
With this clay project on the agenda, you could easily turn a rainy day into a fun craft day with the kiddos, or grand kiddos.
Clay heart ornaments make perfect gifts or great additions to handmade Valentine's or Mother's Day gifts.
Make some gift tags for the little ones by stamping each child's name onto a clay heart with a cookie stamp,
I hope you have as much fun making these beautiful clay heart ornaments as I did.
Please link to me on social @chalking_up_success with a photo, if you decide to make this project. I would love to see your beautiful hearts!
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More air-drying clay ideas
Kim | Shiplap and Shells says
These are just the sweetest Jayne. What a great idea for Valentine's Day. I'd love to share these on my weekly wrap-up on Sunday.
Jayne Westerholt says
I'd love that, Kim. Thanks so much!