Winter Roses Tutorial

Roses are my weakness - I admit it! I've been waiting to post this tutorial for a while because I needed my local Michael's Diamond Dust shipment to arrive. These flowers are so easy that you'll kick yourself for ever having paid full price for a pack. I figure each flower costs me under ten cents to make and they take very little time to do.

Here is what you will need: Two large punched flowers and three small (mine are 1 and 2 inches). All that matters is that there are 5 petals with separation and an inch difference between the large and small ones - so use whatever punch/dies you have. I used EK retro punches. You'll also need water to mist, clear glue or glitter glue, strong craft glue, Diamond Dust or chunky glitter, a thick rounded pen or paintbrush, a thin skewer or paintbrush and a foam pad/mouse pad. You can also punch a green pointed tip flower to act as your leaves later on.

Step 1: Water mist all the flowers and press the middles into the foam mat with the end of a wide rounded pen or paintbrush. Cup the small ones around the pen. Pinch one a bit and another a lot to form your bud.

Step 2: Using the skewer, tightly curl the petals of one large flower inwards and for the other do it outwards, as shown below. Doing it in opposition like this is what prevents flattening later on. Let all 5 flowers dry completely - this stiffens the paper to hold the shape.

Step 3: Glue the outwardly curled petals to the greenery and then the inwardly curled petals on top. Press all together into the foam mat with your pen to ensure glue stiffens in the "cup" shape - this is needed for your center.

Step 4: Glue the 3 small flowers into the middle, be generous with your glue as this will stiffen the flower and help with durability. Let the glue dry before moving on.

Step 5: Add a thin layer of clear glue or glitter glue where desired and then immediately press into Diamond Dust. Shake off excess. This will also stiffen the flower prevent damage.

That's it! Here is my finished rose.

Here is my rose beside a Prima brand "Marble Ice" one. You could always add a third layer to the bottom... but I like my flowers less bulky for layouts.

Thanks for stopping by. As always, your support means a lot to me so thank you for all the wonderful comments you leave - really makes my day to read them!