DIY A Keepsake Corsage

Making your guest of honor feel extraordinary on her special day usually involves a corsage. Unfortunately, corsages made from real flowers are usually pricey and last only a day or two. I’m going to show you today that you can create a beautiful, modern corsage that can become a keepsake for a long while with products from Core’dinations and May Arts, a perfect match!

Let’s get started. Core’dinations has a really lovely, textured deep red cardstock in their Retro Mod Squad 12×12 paper pad that reminded me of the color of a fresh, red rose. I found an easy tutorial online (found here at ellinee.com) for a paper rose and set out constructing it.

I printed the pdf from the tutorial onto plain typing paper, cut out all the elements except the leaves, traced the pieces onto the Core’dinations card stock (texture side up) and trimmed those pieces. A bamboo skewer and hot glue gun helped the process. Since Core’dinations card stock is sturdy, yet flexible, I had no problems with construction or tearing of paper.

To dress up the rose and turn it from a regular paper rose into a corsage, I added a textured variety of May Arts ribbon: there are so many different kinds of ribbons available that you can really go in any direction that you want! I first looped about eight inches of the ever trendy chevron 5/8” wide Twill Stripes in Black (382-34-10) onto itself and glued it to the back of the paper rose. Next, I added a shorter length of the 3/8” black grosgrain (SX03), also looping and gluing. Finally, a ~5” long piece of 5/8” black lace (361-58-08) was glued.

To cover the glue, I cut a circle of black felt and glued that over the back center of the rose and ribbon. I attached a safety pin to the top half of the felt so it functions as a corsage.

The final corsage is pretty and lightweight. The rose looks so real and the ribbon adds just the right amount of fun and trendy to the piece.

I also made a card to go along with the corsage; using the same May Arts twill ribbon and lace as in the corsage for a cohesive look. I absolutely love the texture that ribbon adds to a card. An image of a rose was stamped onto the red Core’dinations card stock twice, and fussy cut. I sanded some of the pieces to give it fresh highlights, adding a touch of realism.

Try out different colors of card stock and trims depending on why you are making the corsage for your guest of honor- you could do a yellow rose and pink and blue ribbons for a baby shower, or match the rose to the bridesmaids’ dresses and use white ribbons for a bridal shower! So many options! I hope you will be inspired to make a paper corsage, and I’d love to see how they end up!

Blog post by: Karen Baker

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37 thoughts on “DIY A Keepsake Corsage

  1. Jenny M says:

    Wow so beautiful Karen love the deep red colour mixed with the black and white :0)
     

  2. barb murphy says:

    Karen, you are a genius. Your tutorials are so clear and concise…and the finished product is gorgeous. These papers and ribbons are so lush!!! Stunning!

  3. Karen aka Soccerboyzmom says:

    Wonderful idea — think I will make one for the retirement party I am going to.

  4. Smokie says:

    That is truly one of the greatest things I've ever seen!  It's beautiful and gorgeous. The ribbons give it make you want to touch the card even more, like you can actually puck the flower from it.  You both work so well together. Thank you for this week!

  5. Trudi Wilbur says:

    What a gorgeous corsage!  I think if I would have been getting married now instead of 7 years ago when I wasn't quite as much into the paper crafting I would consider paper flower bouquets just to be different.

  6. Becky D says:

    Absolutely gorgeous! I can’t wait to try this flower – what a great idea! I think I will do this for my daughter and niece and their friend for graduation – we are having one big celebration party for them 🙂

  7. DebbieC. says:

    Beautiful card and matching corsage. This maybe just what I need for a colleague who is retiring.  thanks for sharing

  8. Charlene says:

    Wow…that rose is gorgous, Karen!  Love the coordinating card, too.  Red/black/ white is so striking!

  9. Natasha Poteraj says:

    Ohh, very classy. I like the black, white, and red. The red really stands out. What a pretty card and coursage.

  10. Dorina D says:

    What a gorgeous flower and creative use of the paper and ribbons!  How fun and it looks so real.  Loved your tutorial.

  11. Angie Hall says:

    What a grand idea. Artificial flowers are so trendy these days. The paper is perfect and the ribbons finish the look beautifully. Thanks

  12. erin says:

    Wow, this is fabulous!  Love these colors and now you've got me thinking I could have a garden that never wilts…

  13. Miriam Prantner says:

    Love how graphic this card is!  That chevron twill is my favorite!!!  Great job with the piecing and that corsage is amazing!

  14. Elizabeth Parham says:

    This is so perfect and light and I can see these on skewers in a bunch. Thanks so much for sharing this !

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