DIY Red, White and Blue Pinwheel Rosettes

You will need strips of paper that are sized to a 1:8 ratio. Scrapbook paper is ideal for the rosettes because the paper stock is sturdy, and the Fourth of July-themed patterns can be mixed and matched. To form a rosette with a 6" diameter, cut two strips of 3" x 12" paper, for a total size of 3" (the radius) x 24" – which is a 1:8 ratio.

Place each strip of paper on a scoring board and press a crease at the one-inch intervals. Then flip the paper over and press a crease at the half-inch intervals. You now have a score line every half inch, alternating between the front and the back.

Use the scoring lines on the strips of paper to help you make precise accordion folds. If you do not have a scoring board, you can just estimate the half-inch points as you fold the paper back and forth like a fan.

Connect the ends of the two accordion-folded strips with a tape runner to form a lampshade-like cylinder. If you don't have a tape runner, use double-sided tape, or even glue.

Pinch the top of the cylinder toward the middle and press down so that the bottom edge fans out. A rosette is born.

The rosette will want to pop back up, so it needs to be locked in place. Cut a circle out of contrasting paper with a circle paper punch and hot glue it to the middle of the rosette. Do the same on the back of the rosette for extra support. You can use plain paper for the back.

Embellish the rosette with star details. While you can cut out stars by hand, it is much easier to use a star paper punch. Hot glue the stars to the middle of the rosettes.

Wood dowels from the crafts store typically come in 36" lengths. Cut them in half to form 18" pieces. The 1/8" dowels are thin and can be easily cut with heavy duty scissors. Tie a ribbon to the top of the dowel and hot glue the dowel in one of the creases on the back of the rosette. Now you're ready to wave the red, white and blue.

Variation 1: For variety, you can also make some rosettes with scalloped edges instead of straight ones. After you have accordion-folded the strips of paper into one stack, cut a rounded edge on one side. When you connect the two strips to form a rosette, it will be scalloped at the circumference.

Variation 2: Rather than working with just one pattern of paper, you can layer different papers to form more intricate designs. In this example, a 2-inch strip of paper was glued to the bottom of the original 3-inch strip. You can add additional layers of paper, or even cutouts and words, for more variety.