Elegant ribbon rosette

Inspiration can come from anywhere! Recently, for her A-level course, my daughter was replicating a piece of artwork by Robert Rauschenberg (there's a link here but please be aware that the painting features a nude - I don't want to be responsible for anyone fainting!) She asked if I knew how to make the rosette so, my professional interest aroused, I settled down to work it out. Here's what I came up with:

First I cut a large circle out of multi-purpose adhesive sheet with my beloved 2 1/2" circle punch. TIP: To get a clean cut, I found it was best to cut through a piece of scrap card stock at the same time. These sheets are double-sided, but I only wanted one side of adhesive to start with so I peeled off the backing and laid the circle sticky side up on my work surface. Then I was able to start at the centre of the circle, pull the Crumb Cake seam binding towards the outside and loop it back to the centre again, repeatedly until the circle was covered.

I cut a smaller circle out of the multi-purpose adhesive sheet with a 1 3/8" circle punch, peeled off the backing and stuck it to the centre of the Crumb Cake rosette. I peeled off the other side - this is much easier to do than I thought it would be! - and repeated the looping with the Vanilla ribbon. For the third layer, I cut an even smaller circle of multi-purpose sheet with a 1" circle punch and looped some Night of Navy ribbon in the same way. The rosette was finished by piercing a hole through all the layers and adding one of the gorgeous Antique brads.

These rosettes certainly make a plain parcel look much more exciting! The parcel above, wrapped in brown parcel paper, is perfect for a man and here's another one I made for my mother in law's birthday:

I used Always Artichoke and Pear Pizzazz (retired) seam binding for this two-layer version and another of the beautiful Antique brads. The label is stamped with one of the images from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and cut out with the coordinating framelit.

Here's what you'll need for the large rosette
Punches: 2/1/2, 1 3/8" and 1" circle punches
Other: Multi-purpose adhesive sheets, seam binding/satin ribbon, Antique brads
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.
• I still have a few places available for my Stampers 6 club in February and you'd be welcome to join in. With the Sale-a-bration promotion coming up and a new mini catalogue coming out soon, it's a great way to buy your wish list gradually and get lots of freebies too! Let me know if you'd like more information or to reserve your place.

My daughter tried to make off with the rosette I'd made from the picture but I was having none of that. "You seem to have mistaken me for your father!" I said. "No!"

See you tomorrow,