easy crepe paper rosette tutorial...

today i figured out a really easy way to make crepe paper rosettes to decorate little holiday packages. forget about gathering the edge of your crepe paper with a needle and thread! i was decorating the front of some tiny boxes and wanted a crepe paper rosette about one inch wide. here is what i did:

step 1.
cut a piece of ruffled crepe paper garland 2 1/2 inches long. (instructions for a flat piece of ungathered crepe paper is at the end of the post) and piece of thin craft wire 4 inches long.


step 2.
gather up the center of the crepe paper ruffle along the stitching and fold the wire over the middle of your bow tie. twist the wire a couple times in the back until it is snug and trim the wire ends. fold the sharp ends over flat.


step 3.
spread out the ruffles evenly around to unfold the rosette into a full circle. it worked out that the one inch wide piece of crepe paper made a one inch rosette...
simple huh.
i left the sides a bit open at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock for you to see how it unfolded and if you look closely you can see the wire band around the center.


step 4.
to finish decorating the rosette i used aleenes tacky glue to attach two velvet leaves on the front of my little paper box, then added three tiny stamen buds on each side and glued the crepe paper rosette in the middle. i added a nice round glue blob to the center of the rosette and sprinkled coarse silver glass glitter over the glue and shook of the extra. let the glitter dry with the rosette right side up.


such a sweet little box to package my holiday selection of vintage glass garland beads. brand new in the shop today. happy weekend, julie


here are the instructions for starting with a flat piece of crepe paper.

to get a piece of crepe paper one inch wide i either trim off a one inch strip from the flat fold crepe paper all in one go without unfolding it. you can use a rotary cutter and a ruler for this or just eyeball it and use some sharp shears.
or if you are using the 2 inch wide streamer rolls, unroll a length and cut the strip in half. for a one inch rosette like the one i made above here is the first step.

step 1.
cut a piece of crepe paper one inch by 10 inches. lay it on your work surface straight out from you. gather the center with your fingers pinching the crepe paper as you move up the strip. when you have your bow tie shape continue with step 2 of the instructions above. have fun. j.