Rosettes - Easy as Pi!

 

Supplies:

Strips of Designer Series Paper and coordinating card stock (I used Paisley Petals DSP from the 2011 Idea Book and Catalog along with Bravo Burgundy, Marina Mist, River Rock, Always Artichoke and Tangerine Tango card stock)

Sticky Strip Adhesive Tape

Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets or Sticky Sheets

Scallop Edge Punch, Antique Brads, Scallop Circle Punches, Circle Punches, Blossom Petals Builder...

Cardboard from Designer Series Paper packaging (for wreath backing)

Dinner plates or large circle templates, pencil or marker, scissors

 

Rosettes, or lollies as they're sometimes called, are a fun way to add some dimension to a card or a scrapbook page. Grouped together and they make delightful holiday décor. Look at the inside of the Holiday Mini Catalog for 2011 and you'll see a wreath made of paper and card stock rosettes on page 6.

They're very easy to make. Remember making paper fans as a child? A rosette is a rectangular strip of paper fan-folded with the ends joined into a ring and pressed down onto an adhesive circle. While there are some great videos on the internet of how to assemble these little cuties, I wanted to share a little of the math that makes customizing the size of these very easy.

Remember Beginning Geometry?

  C=π2R or C = π D

C is the length of your paper strip (which becomes the circumference “C” of the circle),

“2R” or “D” is the diameter of your rosette (R is the width of the paper strip) and

π = 3.14.

 

The trick with rosettes, since there's the up-down of the edge that eats up some of your circumference, is to make the paper strip about 15% longer than the mathematical circumference should be.

For example: To make a rosette approximately 3” in diameter (D):

C = (3.14) x (3)

C = 9.42 (mathematical circumference)

increase by 15%: (9.42 x 15%) + 9.42

(1.41) + 9.42 = 10.83→ this is the adjusted circumference.

So the length of your paper should be greater than 10.83 inches. It's a minimum. Go ahead and round up to 11”.

 

2R = D

2R = 3

R = 1.5

...and 1.5” is the width of your paper strip.

 

 

By playing around with this concept, I've found that a 4” rosette works well with a strip of paper that's 2"  x 14 ½;  4.5” rosette needs 16 ¼ “ x 2 1/4” , etc...

The diameter of the rosette will be slightly larger depending on how much space left in the center.

 

Now that you have the dimensions of your paper strip, now for construction!

1. Score! Place your paper strip squarely on your Simply Scored board so the long end runs along the top ruler, and starting at the ¼” mark, score every ½ inch. You'll be scoring on all the 1/4” and 3/4” inch lines. Next, flip it over and score all the ½ inch and full inch lines. Now your paper has the “mountains” and “valleys” for fan-folding at quarter inch intervals.

2.  Fan-fold! Go! Back and forth down the whole strip. 

3. Secure the ends together using Sticky Strip Adhesive. 

4.  Prepare your backing: Punch out a circle of card stock, any size smaller than your rosette, and a matching circle of Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet or Sticky Sheet. Adhere the adhesive to the circle and place it sticky side up on your work surface.

5.  Here's the tricky part: getting the crimped paper ring flattened onto your backing. I like to stand it up on it's side and scrunch in the top while sweeping out the bottom and gently pressing down. Takes a little practice, but once you get the trick, it becomes easy.

6.  Stick the backing circle to the back side of your rosette. Flip it over and squeeze a little glue into the center – it will find it's way into the cracks. (I like to use a little Crystal Effects – it dries clear and very hard.) Sit a punch or another weighty object on top to press the rosette to the backing and set aside. Once it's dry, you can decorate the center with punched flowers, flower petals, brads, smaller rosettes, buttons, stamped images, punch art... go crazy. Have fun. A glue-gun helps with securing all these things onto the rosette.

7.  To make the wreath: I used a dinner plate and a salad plate to trace concentric circles on a piece of cardboard from my Designer Series Paper pack.   

I cut out the ring shape and used that as my backing piece. I arranged about 12 of my 3 to 4 inch diameter decorated rosettes until I was satisfied with the look. Then I used hot glue to secure my rosettes to the backing and/or to each other as necessary. I added a little ribbon and voila! Fun and charming holiday décor.

 

To have a scallop edge on your rosette, first punch one long edge of your paper strip with the Scallop Border Punch. Then line up the inner point of the scallops with a scoring line on the Simply Scored board, scoring every other point and then flip the paper over and score every other point on the other side, thus creating the “mountains” and “valleys” in line with the scallops. Then fan-fold and proceed with the rest of the directions, making sure that your scallop edge is swept to the outside when sticking the rosette to it's backing. I also tried this with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, I found that it needed to be scored in the middle of the small scallops on one side, and in the middle of the large scallops on the other. It made tinier than ¼ inch fan folds which can get tedious on a large rosette.

 

That's how I replicated the charming wreath on page 3 of the 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog. It was lots of fun and I encourage you to try one for yourself!