Rosettes and Challenges

Paper craft is a passion of mine - the way paper can be manipulated, transformed and altered into something new and dynamic, I always find fascinating. For this blog I want to share a project I have worked on for the past year within my commission with BEST (Basildon Education Services Trust). I was delighted when alongside delivering various projects for the Basildon Challenge, I was asked to create a rosette to record and celebrate the completion of each challenge for the schools taking part.

The Basildon Challenge started in 2011 as an annual programme of monthly challenges for pupils to complete at school, at home and in the community. The process involves motivating pupils to rise to each Challenge and show what they are capable of doing, aiming to instill a sense of pride and self-confidence in our youngsters that will help them to grow and develop as learners.

Challenges included Growing a sunflower, counting the stars, writing a letter, taking part in a debate, photographic challenge and Sing along to name but a few.

Challenge poster complete with rosettes

 Here are some of the rosettes created

The Giant Picnic

Sing-a-long a Basildon

Photography Challenge

The Great Debate

Spring in your step

The Great Book Sleepover

Basildon History Month

Write a Letter

Christmas Card Design Challenge

Watch a Firework

Watch this space for the new poster and rosettes for this years challenges!!!

Felt Jubilee Rosettes

Day four of my Jubilee art special bring you -Felt Jubilee Rosette

Key Skills: Colour, form and Shape

Materials: Felt material, ribbon, PVA glue, thread, sewing needle and glitter glue

Vocab: Rosette, cut, sew, layer, language relating to sewing such as thread, stitch, blanket stitch, cast off

  

Learning Objectives :

To make a rosette that represents the Jubilee celebrations

To develop sewing and embroidery skills

To understand the importance of design work

To explore the use of felt material to make objects

To develop cutting skills

Process:

Step 1: Take some time to draw your design out on a piece of paper. Think about what is going to be your central image for your rosette, what colours you want around your rosette and what ribbon you would like hanging from the rosette.

Stage 2: Collect the fabric you require. As you do not need a lot of fabric for this activity, this is a great way of using up scraps of material.

Step 3: I have chosen to create a traditional red, white and blue rosette. Cut out three layers, make sure you check with your design to clarify which colour you need the biggest circle to be cut from and which colour will be in the centre of your rosette.

 

Step 4: Cut out any embellishments that you are going to sew onto the centre of the rosette. You could also attach a button, a badge or use sequins to create your centre piece. I have decided to cut the number `60` out of yellow felt material.

Step 5: Now that you completed your preparation work you are ready to start to sew the piece together. For the rosette you work in the reverse order and start with the centre piece. Sew the yellow numbers to the red centre piece using a running stitch.

 

Step 6: Sew around the red section to the white section using a blanket or running stitch.

Step 7: Before you sewn the white section to the blue section secure the ribbon with a couple of stitches to the back of the white section. The ribbon for this rosette was purchased from the Fabric Warehouse.

 

Step 8: Sew the white section to the blue section using a blanket or running stitch.

Step 9: Use a running or blanket stitch around the outside of the blue section to keep a uniform look to the rosette. For a final touch I have added glitter glue around the 60 on the rosette.

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An alternative design, on this piece I have made a small teacup in the centre with a teabag hanging from the cup with the quote “Keep calm and Carry on”.

Differentiation:

Key Stage 1: You can use a hand held hole punch such as http://www.fiskarscraft.co.uk/Products/Craft/Punches/Eyelet-Setter/Eyelet-Setter-Pack to make holes in the felt to make it easier to sew for younger pupils. Alternatively younger children can use PVA glue to stick their rosette together. You could also make the rosette in the same manner using tissue paper of funky foam. Why not experiment with a few materials?

Key Stage 2: Instead of cutting images out for the centre of the rosette, think about images and words that can be embroidered. You can add beads and sequins to create a dynamic and decorative centre of your rosette.

Don't forget to email your pictures if you want them featured on my blog lisamart@hotmail.co.uk

Christmas Craft 5 - Rosettes

Day five brings you some beautiful rosettes. These can be hung on your Christmas tree, used and Christmas present tags or strung together to make a stunning seasonal banner.

To make these you will need the following materials:

Card, patterned or painted paper, ribbon, glue, glitter glue and embellishments.

When I am making any of the crafts blogged on this site, I like to spend time to cut out and prepare all of the pieces prior to assembling an item. However some people like to cut and prepare as they go - this is a personal preference to your working process.

To make this rosette I started by cutting a circle out of card about the size of a cup coaster. Next I cut out a circle of the same size from patterned paper. This is then repeated with a circle about half the size. So at this point you should have two large circles, one card, one patterned paper and two smaller circles, one card and one patterned paper.

The next step is to prepare what you want to put in the centre of the rosette. I chose to cut out a wiggly circle shape and my initial "L".

Now we get to put it altogether. To start glue the large card circle to the back of the large patterned paper and then the small card circle to the back of the small circle patterned paper.  When you have your two patterned paper circles you are ready to add you ribbon. On the back of the smaller circle, add quite a bit of glue. Carefully stick the ribbon around the outside of the circle allowing it to overlap at regular intervals to create ruffles. You can add tape to secure the ribbon if you find it is not sticking to the glue. Add plenty of glue onto the back of the small ribbon edged circle and adhere in the centre of the large circle.

Next add your embellishments to the centre of your rosette. I use sticky pads to secure my wiggly circle to the centre of the small circle and then glued my "L" or reindeer in the centre. For a finishing touch I lined the edge of my wiggly shape with glitter glue and secured a piece of ribbon with tape to the back of the rosette to act as a hanger.

Don't forget to send through you pictures of your crafts to lisamart@hotmail.co.uk the best ones I will blog at the beginning of December.

 Here is a picture of my completed rosettes. On one I have put my initial and on the other I have glued a felt cut out reindeer. These can be purchased from paperchase for £4.95 for 72 pieces. Have a look on their website http://www.paperchase.co.uk/

A close up of the reindeer rosette