Lacey Paper Rosette Tutorial

**Posting early so I can have a free Wednesday to treat myself!**

I had several comments and emails regarding the rosettes I was working on in last week's WOYWW post.  It seemed that no one could find the tutorial, and when I went searching on Pintrest, I couldn't find the tutorial I had seen either.  So, I took some photos as I made one, to give you this little tutorial.

You're going to need: strips of paper to create the rosette, a way to score the paper, and a border punch (or punches) to create the lace effect.

I used two paper strips that were 2" x 11", and a Martha Stewart Around the Page border punch in the appropriately named "Swirling Lace"  This resulted in a finished rosette that was 4 1'8" across, and 3/8" high.

I began by punching the edge of the paper strip as normal.

Then I folded my strip of paper almost in half.

I placed the folded edge of the paper into the punch, and lined up the arches, then moved the edge down so the design was not QUITE all the way on the paper. This creates the lacey look, without cutting your paper into two strips.

The center arch will not be punched all the way, so the paper will remain in one piece.

I continued lining up and punching all the way down the folded edge of the paper strip.

The next step is to score as you would on a normal rosette (the peaks scored one direction and the valleys scored on the opposite side of the paper).  With this type of punching, be very careful that you don't rip through the "lace" as you score.  Also, be sure that you line up your scoring with the peaks and valleys of the punching on the edge - despite lining up the punch, it is likely that the center pattern is off a bit and trying to use it to line up scoring will result in a wonky rosette.
 

Then assemble the strips into a loop and press the center down to create the circle shape.  I use 3/4" circles, punched from scrap, to hold the shape until I add the centers I want.

The top rosette was made with paper strips only 1/4" slimmer 

This technique can and will be different by varying the different pieces.  The type of border punch used, the size/number of paper strips, and the placement of folds, will ALL change how this rosette looks.  This is a very individual project, and I'm showing only one style.  Please play and practice with this technique as it will take a bit to customize.