the tutorials just keep coming...

Hi Susan,
This was really a fun project! I, too, loved Michelle's large scalloped roses. Did I miss something? Did she use a specific die cut or create her own? Do you know something I don't know?!!! Please enlighten me!

smiles,
susie

Susie, I did the roses all free hand. I really like the look, but don't have the die yet. And I'm the impatient type--I want it all now! So I took a look at how the die "cuts" and decided I could do my own.

I just freehand cut a circle. For this project, my circles were about 4", but any size will work. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle, any rough circular shape will do. Then I cut around it with the scalloped scissors. You don't even need to line up the scalloped cuts neatly--just cut away. Keep cutting in a spiral until you reach the center. If you cut narrow spirals, you will get a shorter flower that spreads out more. If you cut wider spirals, you will get a taller flower. The width of the spirals is the height of the flower.

Keep cutting until you pretty much can't cut any more. There will be a "landing pad" left in the very center. This is where you put the glue and becomes the base for the flower.

Then you start rolling--but from the outside of the circle. I start rolling the flower pretty tightly, but as I go on it sort of gets away from me and gets looser. Which is perfect because the center of the rose is tight and then it sort of blooms out from there. If you don't have a quilling tool, you can just roll it by hand. No biggie.

You keep rolling until you can't roll anymore. Then I put a generous glop of glue on the "landing pad" and sort of smash the flower down into the glue. This is where hot glue works well, but any glue will work. If you use a liquid glue, you can just put something on top of the rose to keep it smashed down into the glue as it dries.

I use the larger scalloped scissor for larger flowers and the smaller scalloped scissor for smaller flowers. I like the scalloped edge that the scalloped scissors makes, but you can certainly just cut with a regular scissors.

The paper that I used was thinner paper and it works well for this. And keep in mind that you will be able to see both sides of the paper. I really like that!

Do some practice roses. I have a pack of plain white CS that I bought at Walmart that I practice with. (I wouldn't want to waste my Bazzill!) If you think that's too thick to work with, try plain copy paper. Just cut a circle, cut a spiral and go from there. If you like the rose, you can use it white or mist it with some Glimmer Mist. That's perfect for these flowers! And if you end up with a mangled mess, trash it and start over. I probably messed up one or two before I figured out how wide to cut my spirals and how to wind it.

And when I make flowers, I usually make a few extra. I have a huge pickle jar full of flowers like that. If I need a quick flower, I dig thought the jar for one. And if they are white, I can just mist them the color that I need. Perfect!

Whew! This got long. But they really are VERY easy to make. And at the worst, you've wasted 4" of paper. At best, you can make any size roses that you want!

Yes, you start from the outside. It seems weird, doesn't it?

Do a practice one. Once you actually make one, the instructions will all fall into place and they will make sense. Read this or print it off, and then go over to the blog and the photos and try one out. I promise, you will get it after your first flower!

Michelle, the flowers are beautiful! Thank you for the very detailed instructions...I am much more successful with any project when I have step-by-step guidance!

Great tutorial and project, Michelle! I was thinking you could start out with die-cutting a scalloped circle, then doing the internal cutting by hand, but I don't think that would save much time! ;D Gail

great job MIchelle .. beautiful roses.. all so fantastic together thx for showing us how it's done Sandy

{raising hand and jumping} I DID, I DID!!!!

Cindy