Celebrate - Red, White & Blue!

This month's theme for the Designer Crafts Connection blog hop is Celebrations!  

If you're a Facebook friend, you probably already know that my internet has been down since last Wednesday, so I've been visiting my daughter to use her internet to try and keep up as best I can.  It's scary how dependent we've become on our Smart phones and the internet.  OMG - if it doesn't get fixed tomorrow, I won't be able to pay bills!!!

Not wanting to overstay my welcome, you'll have to excuse me if I re-post a project from 2011.  It's a cute table decoration the grand kids and I made and will no doubt be making again this week.  Not only is this project a great accent piece or a table decoration, but the technique is all about creating a "Rosette".  Once you get the hang of this you can make rosettes in any color for any occasion.  Add to banners, garlands, gift bags and more!

1.  Cut two, 2" wide strips of blue paper and two, 1 1/2" strips of red & white striped paper.  These can be either 11" long, or 12" depending on what size sheet of paper you have.

2.  Score each strip at 1/2" intervals.  TIP:  I cut one, 4" wide strip, scored it then cut it into two, 2" strips.  This way I only have to score one strip, instead of two......

3.  Accordion fold each strip.

 

4.  Overlap the ends then glue the two blue strips together, then overlap and glue the opposite ends to create a circle. 

5.  Create a red & white circle in the same manner.

6.  Folded circles have a tendency to pop up, making it a little tricky to hold the centers together to make the rosette.  You can either enlist the help of a crafty friend to squish and hold the folds down while you glue a punched circle over the center, or drum roll please

You can hold them together by placing inside a circle cookie cutter!! I bought a set of four just for making rosettes...... EZ PZ...... 

7.  Punch a circle from cardstock then glue it over the center at the front of the red & white rosette.  Let dry.

 8.  Glue a circle to the back of the blue rosette.  When both are completely dry (depending on what type of glue you use) set the smaller rosette on top of the larger one.  With a little coaxing, the folds should nestle into the folds of the blue rosette quite nicely.

9.  I glued my rosette to the end of a dowel which I had glued inside a wooden spool base.  I decorated the spool with strips of paper, then added a star to the front and tails to the rosette.  I also covered a second red circle with glitter then glued it over the front of the rosette.  Gotta have some sparkle for the 4th!

Rosettes are fun embellishments and now you know how easy they are to make.  Enjoy!  Y'all come back now.............

Please Note:  If you would like to know more about becoming a CHA Designer, or just more about the Arts & Crafts Industry please feel free to join the #CHADesigners, for a twitter chat this Wednesday evening at 6pm PST https://www.facebook.com/events/369074133214273/
I sign in thru tweetchat.com.  Enter  #CHADesigners to join the conversation.

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Wrapping Paper Rosettes

I was wrapping a wedding gift the other day when I suddenly realized I didn't have any kind of decoration to add to it.  I could take it without, of course and pretend it had fallen off in the car, but when in a pinch - create!

I had strips of wrapping paper left over so I decided to make a rosette.  They are so easy.  All you have to do is accordion fold a strip of paper.  Depending on the length of your strips, you may need to glue 2 together to make it nice and full.  The depth of your rosette will depend on the width of your accordion folds.  For example, if you wanted a rosette about 1/2" deep, then make your folds about 1/2".  There's really no right or wrong way.  What it's to be, is up to me...... right......  Your finished rosette will be about twice the width of your paper strip.  My strip of paper was 2" wide, so the rosette ended up being 4" across, but you can make these any size. 

Once you've accordion folded the strip, overlap then glue the ends together.  So far so good. 

The hardest part is squishing it together to meet in the center without the center popping up.  If you want to glue something over the center, popping up is not an option.  So here's a tip I came up with a couple of years ago when designing a rosette project for Scrapbook Soup.  All you need is a set of plain,  round cookie cutters, or even the metal ring from a mason jar.  It all depends on the size of your finished rosette.  This one is 4" across, so I needed a 4" round cookie cutter.  Place the rosette in the cookie cutter, then gently push the center down so it lays flat.  How cool is that...   Glue any additional embellishments to the center then glue to your package, or whatever.  Don't forget to remove the cookie cutter!  I added silk flower circles and a button to the center of mine, then an adhesive jewel to the center of the button for a little wedding bling!

The step outs are from a project I shared last year.  In this project, the smaller rosette was pushed onto the folds of the larger one then I glue them to a dowel, which, in turn is glue into the top of a decorated wooden spool.  I made these with my grandchildren for our July 4th get-together.

Enjoy!  Y'all come back now...........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!