Paper Rose Blossom Tutorial

 Here is the Paper Rose tutorial you have been waiting forever for!  Sorry, I'm so tardy. 

 "Let Us Begin"...

Materials:
-Printed sheet of Paper Roses & Leaves Template Set OR flowers and leaves cut from the SVG version on a digital cutting machine.  Printed on a thinner white Card Stock
-work surface for inking and spritzing ( non-stick craft sheet)
-scissors
-pinking decorative scissors ( optional)
-embossing/foam/mouse pad
-embossing stylus or something round and pointy LOL
-something to curl with eg a skinny end of a paint brush
-distress inks
-sponge applicators
-white or tacky glue - I used Aleenes Fast Grab Tacky Glue
-shimmer spray ( mine is a mini mister with interference gold pearlex mixed with water and a bit of gum arabic)
-a stamen punch and glitter glue to color it; or another punch or a brad/pearl/dewdrop, anything for a flower center.

For this one I hand cut 2 large and 1 medium flower and leaves with stem.

I used a proto-type... it now is a variegated leave BUT you can still use pinking scissors to get the variegated look... or not, it is easy to hand cut.

LEAVES:

Colour the unprinted side ( "right" side) by sponging Bundled Sage distess ink.  Emboss the center line and the veins using an embossing tool/mousepad on the wrong side of the paper. Flip the leaves over and skim your sponge ( with Forest Moss -darker green ink) over the vein lines.  The veins should darken.  Use stronger pressure and ink near the center line to give the leaves more dimension.  Bend/crease the leaves along center line using your fingers and then mould the  outer edges to give them gentle curve and dimension.  Sponge the stem with either a green or brown distress ink.

FLOWERS:

Sponge all over with the lightest color of your rose ( I used Spun Sugar ).

Sponge from the center out, with a darker ink ( Aged Mahogany )- use lighter and less pressure the further to the outer edge.

Cut between the petals a quarter of the way in around all the flowers BUT, on a large and medium flower, cut all the way to the center on one of the cuts.

On the embossing pad, score lines ( maybe 4 - 6 ) down the length of each petal on the wrong side.  On you work surface, do like on the leaves and ink these these veins with your darker ink on the right side.  This step is optional but it gives a rich variegated appearance to your rose.. I just like it :)

-click to enlarge and you get a better view of the veins.

One the 2 flowers you have a cut-line to the center... on that line, glue one petal over the next petal with the tack glue.  Some people use a paper clip to clamp them together until the glue sets.  My glue was fast grab so didn't need to do this.

Curl the edges of the petals around a skewer or skinny paint brush.. whatever will work for you ;)

On your embossing pad, smush the center down a bit on the 6 petalled flower, with a big embossing stylus or eraser end of a pencil.  On your work surface, spritz it all with shimmery spray ( optional)  or paint some shimmery lines on the petals or kiss them with glitter glue or chunky glitter .

Glue ( with a generous amount of tacky glue on the bottom of flower on the pointed part) in this stack from bottom to top.. Large 6 petal flower -> Large 5 petal flower - Medium 5 petal flower ( you might want to hold the pieces together for a few minutes for it to set ).  ...then add a "stamen"... mine is a Big Sky Flake punch inked with yellow ink and stickles and a gem on top.  I glued my stamen in using silicon glue so it stuck up a bit from the center.

My card was totally coloured with distress inks.  The oval has chunky glass glitter on it (Twinklets Diamond Dust ).  The background paper was done by layering several inks on my craft sheet, spritzing with water, and sweeping the CS through it.. and drying with heat tool... then used cuttlebug and embossing folder, then brayered gold encore ink on the embossed parts.  The dark green background is various greens sponged together with a bit of aged mahogany.

Here is another leaves and stem variation from the same Roses & Leaves sheet:

NOTES:

There are so many different ways you can make flowers with this set.  There are tutorials all over the internet for paper roses.  Tim Holtz is the instigator with the  Grunge Rose.  oooh I loves that Timmy!  This will give you a realistic rose center - I have done several with this set but haven't shown yet ;)

Tim uses grunge paper that is more pliable than card stock.  But here is a tip for you to make your card stock flowers more pliable.  Run the cut flowers through a crimper several times while changing the angle you run them though with.  Then, flatten the texture using something round and smooth like the bottom of a spoon on an embossing pad.  The fibres in the paper are now more pliable. Now your flowers are less likely to tear when moulding them.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it made sense LOL!

Have a great day!

:)* Fred