Grab your supplies ... let's make French rosettes !!

I thought I'd take my first stab at a "tutorial" ... here goes anything ...

My way of making a very simple and pretty hand-stamped "French" rosette.

Supplies you'll need:

A silk flower of your choice{I like roses and peonies for this project}

Rubber stamps in a French theme

ink pad {I use waterproof ink}

a center piece, a crystal, a piece of jewelry ~ anything pretty that you can "wire"

florist wire

pin back

wire cutters

scissors

miscellaneous material, lace, scraps

Glue gun and glue

a little imagination ...

Let's get started by pulling apart your silk flower ...

Discard plastic stems

lay out your petals on something you don't mind messing up with the ink

and

start stamping, covering as much or little as you want ... going off the edges gives a nice realistic touch

{it's okay to go outside the lines here!}

Finish all your petals

and

gather your other scraps you want to incorporate into your rosette

 

 

I like to fold the material in half, cut out petals, open and make a small hole in the middle. Don't worry too much about size here ... just make sure your cut petals are big enough, you'll want to come back and trim them to your liking once your flower is assembled.

Wire your center with the florist wire, bringing both ends together to form a "stick"

you will gather your various petals along the wire.

Remember, you're working "backwards" in size ... small petals go on first working up to larger ones.

I usually do a "layout" of petals before I start to wire them ... this way I can change them to my liking without pulling everyone off the wire.

Once you have them all on and you're happy with the look ...

pull everything tightly together

and start bending your wire back and forth to secure your petals

wrap as many times as you wish, cut off extra wire

hot glue your pin back on

{oh, be careful NOT to glue your pin shut ... trust me, it happens!}

Take a scrap of material, cut to fit over ugly glue and glue into place for a finished look.

and lastly, my favorite part ... trim your petals to the shape and size you like

and then

start squishing and crumpling and rubbing between your hands

this will fray your raw edges giving your rosette a time-worn look

Fluff it all back out and viola! You've created a Parisian rosette!

Not too shabby, huh?