There is a section on this blog I grandly titled 'Food & Craft', with some food-related posts and zero craft-related ones. I am pleased to say that I am finally able to notch one for craft, with this my debut crafty post.
Having a craft-loving daughter, we're pretty much cutting / gluing all year through. But for me personally, this is the one time in the year that I go into craft overdrive. I absolutely love decorating for Christmas, and while I love buying knick-knacks for my home, it gives me far greater pleasure when I look around and see things that we've made ourselves.
Like this wreath, for example. The idea for this sparked at my daughter's playgroup a couple of months ago, when the craft activity organized by one of the mums involved simple crepe streamers. As I supervised my daughter, I was idly twisting a piece of crepe round and round, and I thought, well that makes a really pretty rose. Voila!
If you've ever made a ribbon rose, this is the same thing. But I was so charmed by this, I got all fired up and made a, ahem, tutorial, so here goes. Pardon the photography :).
What you'll need:
1. A frame (I used a cane one, about 8" wide, but you could use a thermocol one, or wire etc.)
2. Crepe streamers / ribbons in the colours of your choice.
3. Green garland (or shiny tinsel) 2 metres long, to luxuriously cover a frame this size.
4. Floral wire (not pictured).
5. Any additional decorations (like the glittery bow I used).
Crepe Rose How-to:
1. Cut a strip of the crepe, about 20" long (less for a smaller rose, more for a bigger one). Fold the top left corner down; it makes for a neater center.
2. Take the bottom left corner and start rolling it inwards, towards the top.
3. Once the center is formed, hold the flower steady and begin draping the strip around it, pleating it occasionally (I've got a picture to illustrate this in the next set, bear with me :)).
4. Make sure you scrunch the bottom half of the rose tightly, this helps the 'petals' poof out more.
5. When you reach the end, fold the top corner of the strip down and bring it down round the base.
6. Secure the rose together by twisting floral wire around the base. I've used extra wire so that it can be inserted through and tied to the wreath frame.
Two-Colour Rose:
Being Christmas, I used white as my second colour. Place the inner crepe strip slightly lower than the outer one, to show off both colours. Make the rose as above. I find that, as you're draping the strip, slightly pleating it backwards every now and then gives the rose a more ruffled look, which I feel makes the rose prettier.
Assembling the Wreath:
1. Insert the rose's wire through the frame and secure it lightly. Don't get fussy about this, as the roses will be firmly fixed when you loop the garland on.
2. Finish attaching all your roses.
3. Pick a spot and start looping the garland around the frame, making sure you cover the starting point once. Pull the garland tight around the roses to hold them in place.
4. For a wreath of these dimensions, I looped the garland thrice between each of the roses for a nice, healthy wreath. Tuck the end point neatly away; I assume this garland must also have some floral wire in it as it stays in place, and doesn't need anything else to secure it.
You can finish the wreath with bows, or other decorations of your choice. This baby now graces our front door :) If you can't get a hold of a wreath frame, the roses also work beautifully on Christmas trees, like so:
I hope this inspires you to get crafting this Christmas too!
Having a craft-loving daughter, we're pretty much cutting / gluing all year through. But for me personally, this is the one time in the year that I go into craft overdrive. I absolutely love decorating for Christmas, and while I love buying knick-knacks for my home, it gives me far greater pleasure when I look around and see things that we've made ourselves.
Like this wreath, for example. The idea for this sparked at my daughter's playgroup a couple of months ago, when the craft activity organized by one of the mums involved simple crepe streamers. As I supervised my daughter, I was idly twisting a piece of crepe round and round, and I thought, well that makes a really pretty rose. Voila!
If you've ever made a ribbon rose, this is the same thing. But I was so charmed by this, I got all fired up and made a, ahem, tutorial, so here goes. Pardon the photography :).
What you'll need:
1. A frame (I used a cane one, about 8" wide, but you could use a thermocol one, or wire etc.)
2. Crepe streamers / ribbons in the colours of your choice.
3. Green garland (or shiny tinsel) 2 metres long, to luxuriously cover a frame this size.
4. Floral wire (not pictured).
5. Any additional decorations (like the glittery bow I used).
Crepe Rose How-to:
2. Take the bottom left corner and start rolling it inwards, towards the top.
3. Once the center is formed, hold the flower steady and begin draping the strip around it, pleating it occasionally (I've got a picture to illustrate this in the next set, bear with me :)).
4. Make sure you scrunch the bottom half of the rose tightly, this helps the 'petals' poof out more.
5. When you reach the end, fold the top corner of the strip down and bring it down round the base.
6. Secure the rose together by twisting floral wire around the base. I've used extra wire so that it can be inserted through and tied to the wreath frame.
Two-Colour Rose:
Assembling the Wreath:
2. Finish attaching all your roses.
3. Pick a spot and start looping the garland around the frame, making sure you cover the starting point once. Pull the garland tight around the roses to hold them in place.
4. For a wreath of these dimensions, I looped the garland thrice between each of the roses for a nice, healthy wreath. Tuck the end point neatly away; I assume this garland must also have some floral wire in it as it stays in place, and doesn't need anything else to secure it.
You can finish the wreath with bows, or other decorations of your choice. This baby now graces our front door :) If you can't get a hold of a wreath frame, the roses also work beautifully on Christmas trees, like so:
I hope this inspires you to get crafting this Christmas too!
Amazing! and very creative..would love to try that :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year :)
Thank you & the same to you :)
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