Valentine's Day Craft: Flower Napkin Rings

by Dionne Christiansen / Getting Scene / Feb 7.10

Valentine’s Day is approaching, so many of us are busy finalizing our plans with our Special Someone.  Sometimes we go out for dinner at a fancy restaurant, but this year my husband and I are having a fancy dinner at home.  We are making ourselves a lovely three-course meal.  To match our fancy dinner, I wanted to make a fancy tablescape, and part of that is a set of flower napkin rings.  Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make some pretty napkin rings out of paper, and keep in mind that you could use these for weddings, or any other special occasion.

Description:

Valentine’s Day celebrates romantic love in Western society and, back in the 1800s, it was celebrated with handmade Valentine cards and gifts to the person that had your affections.  Today, it’s a much more commercialized holiday, where people buy expensive jewelry or other costly items to symbolize their love.  This year I wanted to bring it back to its roots – handmade love.  That’s why we’re celebrating with a home-cooked meal, handmade cards and gifts, and handmade decorations. 

Why is it important?

On Meylah, we are constantly reinforcing the value of handmade items.  Handmade items are so personal, and Valentine’s Day of all days seems like the perfect occasion to bring it all back to basics, instead of spending money on commercial products.  These lovely Valentine’s napkin rings would be perfectly matched with simple scrapbook paper placemats, and something especially cooked for your significant other.

What you will need:

• Scissors
• Glue
• Ruler
• Pen/pencil
• Two pieces of solid color cardstock
• Two pieces of matching patterned scrapbook paper
• An ink pad of your color choice
• A sponge, or something to rub the ink with
• Two different colored ribbons of your choice

Step 1: Cut your Cardstock

Cut the darkest color to a 9 x 2.5 inch strip, and the lighter color to 9 x 1.5 inches.

Step 2: Create your Napkin Ring Base

The Napkin Ring base involves the two cardstock pieces that you just cut.  Take your sponge, and after inking it, distress the edges of your smaller piece of cardstock to make it pop, and then after applying glue to the back, adhere it to the middle of your larger piece, creating a single band as shown.

Step 3: Mark the Band

Take your pen or pencil and mark your band at several points.  This is where we will make slits to weave ribbon through.  For mine, I made marks one inch from each end, and then 1.5 inches in from those marks, and then one final inch from those.  Once the marks are in place, cut in slits that are long enough to thread your ribbon through.

Step 4: Cut your Ribbon

Cut two lengths of one of your ribbons – one to 15 inches, and one to 20 inches.  With your other colored ribbon, cut one length of 20 inches.

Step 5: Weave your Ribbon

Weave the 15-inch length of ribbon in and out of the slits you just cut in the cardstock band.

Step 6: Create your Ribbon Roses

Fold one of your 20-inch ribbons into a V shape near the center, but make sure that one side is slightly longer than the other.  Then from there, cross one of the sides over the other, and then the other over that, and continue.  Refer to this diagrammed tutorial for step-by-step instructions.  Make sure to tie the two ends together when finished so that the roses don’t come undone.  Repeat with the second 20-inch ribbon.

Step 7: Cut your Patterned Paper

Next, cut three circles (no need for them to be perfect, no flower is a perfect circle!) out of your two patterned scrapbook papers, each one a little smaller than the previous.  You should end up with 6 paper circles like these shown.

Step 8: Create your Paper Posie

Ink the edges of each circle and then glue them to each other, with the largest circle being the base, and the smallest being the top.  Alternate the paper patterns.  Once glued together, cut in the center a slit long enough for your ribbons to fit through.

Step 9:  Thread your Roses

Thread the loose ribbons from the back of your roses through the front of your paper posie so that the ribbon roses are on top. 

Step 10: Tie it all Together

Tie the rose ribbon ends around the middle part of the ribbon threaded through your napkin ring band.  This will finish off your napkin ring.  To attach to your napkin – wrap the band around a rolled up napkin and tie at the back with the loose ribbon on the sides of the band.  This will add a nice handmade touch to your Valentine’s Table!

Dionne Christiansen is a graphic designer based in Houston, TX.  She is the face behind the Etsy store City of Dionne and writes at her blog Notes From Dionne.