Hello! Once again it's me Halak and today is about the GORGEOUS Dusk N Dawn paper stack by Papericious.

As you can see, I have made some pretty paper bows and rosettes.

The tutorial is focussed on the paper bows, simply because they are made minus the hassle and the stress of measuring, looping and gluing (well almost!).

Yup, absolutely no need to stress over a glue gun and burn your fingers or go crazy trying to figure out math and measurements!

A cool little bonus tip involving the rosettes is featuring towards the end.

Here we go :

Paper Bows, the Halak way, in 6 easy steps.... (did I mention it's a picture tutorial? Yup... ^__^)

1. First things first, what all will you need?
Paper Bows look pretty because of their shape and so you should never opt for thin paper which can bend them or lead to losing their shape.
Papericious papers are of great quality and quite sturdy. They beautifully hold up shapes and are quite suitable for other 3D projects too!

So, you need 1.5 cm paper strips, a stapler, a small square of paper with tacky tape stuck on it and some glue. (I used the generic Fevicol, a basic pva glue available in India, but you can go crazy and use whichever brand glue suits your fancy!)

Here are my paper strips and tiny tacky tape coated square. (Adhesive backing is not yet peeled off.)

Oh, which paper sheets am I working with from Dawn N Dusk, you ask? These.

2. Okay, so after this here's what we'll do. Take an end of the  strip and make a tiny loop and staple it to secure. Once it's done, trim it and repeat process. Have a look at this pic.

To make a medium sized paper bow, you need 15 such loops... 6 each for two layers and 3 for the final layer.

I made three layered bows but hey,  once again, you can always make more loops and create a bigger bow or instead of 1.5 cm go for 2 cm or 2.5 cm and create a thicker loop.

Tip : When you are done making the 12 loops and securing them with a staple pin, make the last 3 and secure those with pva glue.
Why? Cos, well the last three are in the final layer and I don't want staple pins to be seen!

Here are the 15 loops. (Note that 3 are glued whereas the rest are stapled.)

3. Now, trim the base of the loop a bit.
Why do we do this? Simply because it makes layering them super easy for the bow.
You wanna see a pic? Here you go.

4. After this it's easy. You remember that square? Yes, you remove the backing off that tacky tape and start layering the loops on top of it.

Tip : Remember how we secured loops with staple pins? This method not only saves time but also that makes it easy to position the loops on tacky tape without excessive clinging of adhesive to the paper loop!

So, now our bow looks like this...

5. Now you gotta build the second layer, but you don't need a separate adhesive square. Just cut a piece of tacky tape and add it on the first layer to build the next layer.

6. Last step! Yup, now all you gotta do is add a tiny piece of tacky tape or just squeeze some glue into that tiny space and fit the final 3 loops in there. That's it!

What did I do with the bows I made? ^__^ Packed up a gift for a friend... many more to go, Christmas is coming!!

Ta-dah! What's inside? A book. Which book? Shhh... it's a surprise!

I know I promised a cool tip for paper rosettes too and here it is....

Most people use glue gun to seal their paper rosettes but if you don't have one or are scared of burning away your fingers like me, check this out.

(Also, if you don't have a scoring board, fret not, secure your paper with a tissue tape to the cutting mat, take your metal ruler with a butter knife and score away....)

Yeah... not only did I score the lines with a butter knife, I also punched a pretty edge using a paper punch.

Tip : The greater the scoring distance, the more is the thickness of the rosette.
So let's say you want to make one for a card, then the ideal scoring distance would be to score at an interval of 0.5 or 1cm whereas if you are opting for a wall decor rosette piece which is huge, a scoring distance interval of 1" (one inch) would be perfect!

After this, use the trick that we used while making bows... take a square, stick tacky tape onto it and remove backing. Then, form a rosette and then instead of sealing it with hot glue, just position it on top of that tacky tape square and press it down firmly. Done!

Quick and easy decorations using Papericious papers from Dawn N Dusk!

I also did a couple from the Papericious paper stack Let's Celebrate which is just so perfect for Christmas gifts and decorations! (Oh yeah, decorate the Christmas Tree with these beauties!!)

This festive season, give the store bought stuff a miss and make some handmade happiness!

Till next time dear friends! *Hugs*