Wishful Thinking.

One of my favorite wreaths that I've made to date is the Farewell to Summer Wreath.  I just can't get over the nod to sunny days and the meticulously crafted roses.

Though I have been trying hard not to complain, this winter has been wretched.  The never-ending winter is hard on the soul and I miss the sun.  Which is likely why I just couldn't get this idea for an updated version out of my head.

Farewell winter - this time, even with all of your frigid beauty and quiet cold mornings, you will NOT be missed.  (The unfortunate and ironic point being that it snowed yesterday, and will likely snow again before winter is TRULY over here.)

You remember the first version?

I made the rosettes in exactly the same manner.  You'll excuse me, then, if I refer to the previous tutorial for the sake of time and non-repititiousness.  The photos are not so awesome, but that's mostly due to being in the dungeon craft room:

First, cut a bunch of tissue paper into strips the long way, about two inches wide or so.

Take your strips, one at a time, and twist them up,

then spread mod podge all along them.

Starting at the end, roll them up while twisting them - rolled rose style, like these.

Basically, you roll the middle, then fold the tail up, turn the rose 1/4, fold the tail up, turn the rose 1/4, fold the tail up again and so on until you run out of strip.  So you are turning and folding, pressing in gently to make it stick, but being careful not to squish the rose because you want it to stay somewhat fluffy.

When you get to the end, just smooth it down, it’ll look seamless with all the podge on there.

Now do this a bazillion more times.

You will probably need to make a few smaller ones, but you will want them to be the same thickness and fluffiness as the big ones, so don’t twist them any tighter or cut them any skinnier.  Just rip a little tissue paper off the ends of some of the strips you’ve already cut - maybe four inches or so - and construct them the same way as the big ones.

Yep, you're going to get mod podge all the heck over everything.  Prepare for that.
I made a few changes this time around - obviously using a normal wreath form instead of a floral foam circle.  I also used two different colors for the roses - or rather, two shades of the same color.  Below are some tips for the new sunny wreath:

I made the bow by simply creating loops of ribbon and hot gluing them around each other.  I then used a piece of skinny ribbon the same color to attach it to the looped ribbon the wreath hangs from.

I have to admit, I love the two-tone better.  The tissue paper rosettes might be a little time consuming to make at first, but after you do a few, they'll start flying by.  It's a great project to do in front of old office episodes or Zoolander.  Or Mean Girls.  Or Pitch Perfect.

Also, I have instructions for another project using these rosettes in my book (on sale on Amazon!).  It's a cute little topiary, you should check it out!

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