DIY Paper Flower Rosette Bouquet

Oh SCRAP! Is it spring already?! 

If you are anything like me, your scrap cardstock collection is spiraling out of control! Time for a little spring cleaning- but what can you do with all of those precious bits too good to throw away?? "No scrap left behind!" I get it! Here's an easy DIY bouquet that you can build from even the smallest pieces. 

What You'll Need

• A pile of scrappy goodness. Grab that envelope/shoebox/storage bin/guest bedroom full of Cardstock Warehouse leftovers and pull out your favorite colors. Make sure to pick some greens for the filler, or get creative and designate one funky color as a filler and set that aside. I used Cardstock Warehouse Cardstock Papers
• Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
• Scissors
• A pencil or small wooden dowel
• Paper wrapped floral/craft wire

Take Those Scissors for a Spin

Time to cut your rosette spirals. If you've never made spiral rosettes before, it's fairly simple once you get a feel for it. You may want to lightly sketch out a few spirals to cut first, but after those, you're better off free-handing them to save time. You can play around with the spiral shapes, circles, ovals, scallops etc, but in general you want the first few turns to be equally wide and the last few turns to be slightly wider or slightly slimmer. Make sure you leave a nice rounded end in the center that your rolled flower will be glued to. 

"But what about my itty bitty teeny tiny scraps, Soooooz?? Will they ever fulfill their crafty destiny??"

Yes!! Take those leftover corners and small scraps and cut lots of little circles from them. Then slit the circles almost to the middle. 

Cut as many craft wire stems as you have rosettes (6 inches or as long as you want your bouquet to be), and then about a dozen extra pieces half that length and set those aside. Bend or loop one end of the longer stem wire flat. Your rosettes will sit atop that wire. Looped ends will hold bigger heavier rosettes better. 

Let's Get Rolling

Starting from the outside, and using your pencil or dowel roll your spirals tightly inward. The thinner your dowel, the tighter your spiral. Glue the inner circle to the bottom of the spiral to secure. If you want wider flowers, loosen your grip on the spiral just before adhering it. This step takes some practice, but stick with it. Every rosette will have its own unique look. 

Insert the bent edge of your wire into the slit of the precut circle and add a small dollop of glue. Place a rosette on top. Press and hold until the rosette feels secure. 

Fill'er Up with Grass

Take the scraps you set aside for the filler and cut it into long, thin, grasslike strips. You will need a lot of these pieces ... go ahead.. I'll wait... ... ... ok let's keep going. 

Wrap the strips tightly around your pencil either rolled on top of itself or spiraling from top to bottom. You can also curl the pieces as you would curl gift wrapping ribbon. It's better to make tight curls and loosen them as desired.

Glue the bottoms of a few grass strips together then sandwich the tip of one of the shorter wire pieces between two bundles of grass. This will help keep the grassy pieces from falling out while you construct your bouquet, and it give shorter pieces a chance to shine. 

For added whimsy, cut some longer wire pieces and wrap them around your pencil to create stiff spirals. You can use a thicker dowel or marker to loosen them up if you prefer. 

Huddle Up

Now you can start constructing your bouquet by gathering the various parts together. You may occasionally want to twist the bottoms of the wires together so the flowers don't move while you work. When you're done, wrap the stems with some pretty tape, or better yet, grab some more leftover scraps, cut them in strips and use them to wrap your stems, making sure you're strategically adding glue so the strips will hold the bouquet together. 

VOILA! You have now proven that one man's trash is another man's treasure! 

Time to start building up that scrap collection again! Show us what you're crafting on Facebook and Instagram!

Happy Crafting! 

Susan- Shayna Papir