Valentine Rose Wreath Tutorial

Update:  Scroll to the bottom for some "smaller" projects if you like the wreath, but don't have the time or patience to complete something that large!

Well....I've got to be honest and inform you that this does take some time!  I thought that I would never stop burning my fingers on pink tissue roses....but it's SO worth it!

Here is all that you need to make the wreath:

The square is just a piece of foam from The Dollar Tree and I bought 2 packs of tissue paper for $1.00 at The Dollar General.....I already had glue sticks so I didn't include them in the cost.....which was only $3.00!!!

I had my handy husband help cut the square for the wreath frame....



Honestly.....you can just use a normal ruler, but he got out his "manly" tools.....I used a utility knife to make the actual cuts....(well, he actually did....he doesn't like how I do it!...something about the knife cutting towards me and putting it into my leg???)

The dimensions:  
It is 4.5 inches thick and the opening is 10.5 inches....so the total width and length is about 20 x 20 inches......I was working with a scrap piece of foam board so that's why mine ended up this size.....make yours whatever sizeyou want!

The tissue paper had been folded in the packet so I just cut 2 strips for every fold line.....my strips were probably about 2 inches in width and however long the tissue paper was.....wider strips seemed to make prettier roses....

Now.....for the hard part!  I'm going to do my best to make something abstract like rolling a rose be as simple as I can......now realize...I am just a "creative copycat".....I am not uniquely artistic....so if  I  figured this out then you can too!!

(Sorry the carpet is in focus and NOT the tissue paper.....grr!)

Roll a tight center......a good center makes for a good rose....I made about 2 tight, complete turns and then put a dot of glue....

Once I had the tight center, I made ONE twist.....

...and I put a dot of glue......(Note:  This is not like making twisted fabric flowers....you do not twist as much.)

Then......I would go about half way around without twisting and put a dot of glue....

Continue this pattern of twisting and wrapping it.......

If you look closely at the picture you can see when I twisted the tissue paper strip and when I just rolled it...

The easy part is that you  just glue it to the foam board.....although.....you want to be prepared to have about a MILLION glue strings!  I'm not sure if it was The Dollar Store glue or the nature of the craft......but there were zillions of strings!



I've thought that the roses would look pretty with some white pearls randomly glued to them, too.....but snow and sick kids have kept me from the craft store....



I'd love to hear what you think, so if you have time....please leave me a comment! 

Smaller Rosette Projects:

Paper Rosette Frame---uses cardstock and took about 20 minutes!
Rosette Canvas Art----took all of 20-30 minutes to make the 10 or so rosettes needed.
Rosette Ball idea---Shelley from the House of Smith's did these....again, similar idea but a shorter amount of time!

I'm linking up with: