DIY Candy Hearts Valentine’s Day Gift Bags
How to Make Candy Hearts Valentine’s Day Gift Bags
You know I can’t get enough of candy heart designs for Valentine’s Day! You may remember my Candy Heart Keychain tutorial and my Candy Heart Baby Onesies tutorial. Well, my love of candy hearts must run in the family because my daughter wanted to use my candy heart SVGs to decorate Valentine’s Day candy gift bags for her classmates this year.
These Valentine’s Day Candy Heart designs – cut from heat transfer vinyl with a Cricut cutting machine – are perfect for pressing onto these dark pink burlap gift bags (link in the Materials section below). You can make this project with the Cricut Maker, the Cricut Explore Air 2, or the Cricut Joy.
If you want to make these Valentine’s Day Candy Heart gift bags, I’m sharing the SVG cut files for “You Rock,” “Love Bug,” and “Cutie Pie” FREE. The files are in my Free Resource Library on my blog, and you can get the password in the Materials section of this post. I have even more fun candy heart designs in my shop, too (small business commercial license available).
Ready to make these fun candy conversation heart gift bags with your Cricut? Let’s get started!
Want to see all of my Cricut earring & jewelry tutorials? CLICK HERE
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DIY Candy Heart Gift Bags – Materials List
- A vinyl cutting machine. You can use the Cricut Maker, which you can get at Amazon here or at Cricut.com. You can also use the Cricut Explore Air 2 or even the new Cricut Joy!
- Cricut Standard Grip (Green) Cutting Mat. Use the green mat that came with your Cricut machine.
- Cricut Easy Press or a traditional heat press. I like the 9×9 size Easy Press from Amazon here and from Michael’s here.
- EasyPress Mat to press your items without damaging your work surface. I used the 12×12 size from Amazon here and Michael’s here.
- Fabric gift bags. I bought these burlap bags in the color Rose from Amazon.
- HTV Vinyl in the pastel, candy heart colors of your choice. I used Siser Easyweed Heat Transfer Vinyl in Mint, Sea Glass, Yellow, Lilac, Light Pink and Pale Blue.
- A cover sheet. You can use a Teflon sheet or parchment paper.
- A weeding tool. I love the weeding tools in my Cricut tool set, which I got from Amazon here. You can get also get the basic Cricut tool set at Michael’s here.
- My Candy Heart Gift Bag SVG files. They are design #167 in my Free Resource Library. You will resize them according to the dimensions of your candy bags. Fill out the form below to get the password to the library emailed to you instantly.
If you want even more Candy Heart designs, or want to buy a commercial license for these designs, visit my shop here.
PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1 – Download Free SVGs
Download the SVG files for my free candy conversation heart gift bag designs from my free Resource Library (Design #167).
Save the zipped folder that downloads to your computer. You’ll need to locate your zipped file after you save it so remember where you are downloading it to! You’ll have to unzip or extract the files FIRST before you can upload the cutting file to Cricut Design Space. Make a note of the file location after you unzip it so you can find it in the next step.
STEP 2 – Upload SVG to Cricut Design Space
When you open Cricut Design Space, click on NEW PROJECT to get started. Then click on UPLOAD from the left hand side menu.
Click on the UPLOAD IMAGE button, then click BROWSE to locate where your unzipped SVG files are saved on your computer.
In your downloaded folder, you’ll see I’ve included separate SVG files for each candy conversation design – You Rock, Love Bug, and Cutie Pie. Click on Upload Image, then browse for the unzipped SVG file for the desired design.
Double click on the candy heart SVG file of your choice to bring it into the upload screen in Design Space. If you get an error message that says “unsupported file type,” you may have clicked on the wrong file, or your SVG file is still zipped.
You’ll see a preview of the candy heart shape you’ve selected for this project. Hit the green SAVE button.
After you’ve selected your file to upload, you’ll see it as the first item in your “recently uploaded designs” row.
Click on it your newly uploaded file so it is outlined in green. Then click on the green INSERT IMAGES button in the bottom right corner. This will bring the design onto your canvas.
The hearts are sized at 4 inches wide, but they may need to be resized according to the size of your candy bag. Measure the width of your bag and then allow at least a half inch on either side. I resized my candy hearts to 3.25 inches wide by typing the new width in the size box on the top toolbar. Be sure the lock icon is “locked” so the SVG shape will resize at the correct proportion.
You can also resize the hearts by dragging the arrow handle in the lower right hand corner as desired.
Then make copies of your candy heart shapes by clicking the DUPLICATE button at the top of the Layers panel.
I found I could fit 9 hearts on my 12×12 mat comfortably.
Then click the green MAKE IT button.
STEP 3 – Cut & Weed the Vinyl
In the mat preview screen, be sure to toggle the green MIRROR button to ON. Drag your hearts apart on your mat if necessary.
Double check that your text has been mirrored on your mat preview.
Click the green CONTINUE button in the lower right side of the screen.
Choose the material setting that corresponds with the material you are using. I chose Washi Sheet with “more” pressure. You can also choose Vinyl or Everyday Iron-On.
Place a trimmed piece of heat transfer vinyl shiny side down on the mat and load the mat into the Cricut. Press the C button on your Maker or Explore Air 2 to begin the cut. If you’re using the Cricut Joy, follow the prompts on the screen to begin the cut.
When the cut is complete, unload the mat and remove the vinyl.
Using a sharp weeding tool, remove the excess vinyl from around the heart and the letters inside the design.
Set the weeded heart aside.
STEP 4 – Heat Press the Gift Bags
You can press your Valentine’s Day Candy Heart gift bags with a traditional heat press, or a Cricut Easy Press.
NOTE: I closely supervised my daughter while she used the Easy Press during the entire project.
If you are using an Easy Press like we did, place the gift bag on a heat pressing pad.
Turn on your Easy Press and set the recommended time and temperature according to your bag’s material and your vinyl type. I suggest referring to the Cricut Heat Guide here. You can select your base material and pressing material and it will recommend the exact time and temperature for you.
We pressed our bags for 20 seconds at 320 degrees. They are made from a thicker, burlap type of weave, but they pressed very well.
Place the vinyl candy heart in the desired location on top of the gift bag.
Then cover with a piece of parchment paper or a Teflon sheet to protect your heat press and your materials.
Place the Easy Press directly over the design, avoiding any drawstrings or bumpy parts of the bag, and press the C button to begin the countdown timer. Press firmly with both hands for the duration of the recommended pressing time.
You can see below how we were careful to avoid pressing the bag drawstrings.
When the Easy Press timer beeps, carefully place the heat press back in it’s cradle. Then remove the cover sheet and slowly peel away the vinyl’s carrier sheet. If it doesn’t peel away cleanly, repeat the pressing by covering again and pressing for 5 seconds at a time.
It’s best to keep the bag flat as you peel away the carrier sheet. This keeps the vinyl candy heart wrinkle free.
That’s it! Aren’t these candy heart gift bags for Valentine’s Day adorable?
I loved making these candy heart gift bags with my daughter for her classmates! Are you going to try this super cute Valentine’s Day project? If so, I’d love to see your creation! You can tag me on Instagram: @amyromeucreative
Want More Candy Heart Sayings? Check Out My Mega Bundle!
Do you want to make this Valentine’s Day Candy Heart gift bag, but want more candy heart sayings? If so, you’ll want to check out my Candy Hearts SVG File Mega Bundle featured in my shop here. These word SVG files are perfectly sized to fit with a baby bodysuit – or you can use them on candy bags, T-shirts, or any other item of your choice. Just resize as needed in Cricut Design Space.
Want to see all of my Cricut earring & jewelry tutorials? CLICK HERE
Until next time… and happy creating!
Want the FREE SVG files you so you make these DIY Valentine’s Day Candy Heart Gift Bags yourself?
Get them from my FREE Resource Library! You’ll receive the password for the Resource Library instantly after filling out the form below!
Want to remember this? Post this EASY DIY VALENTINE’S DAY CANDY HEART GIFT BAG project to your favorite Pinterest board!
Those are so cute and so nice that she did most of that work herself. She did great!!! I could also see if you don’t have bags, but white fabric, you could sew your own, or even make an insert for a plastic/paper bag. The possibilities are endless
Thank you so much for your comment, and the great ideas! 🙂
So cute! And your daughter did a great job at helping!
Really cute! If you did on card stock, it would make a pretty card.
I forgot to say thank you. Thank You