Paper Medallion Tutorial

I spotted some gorgeous paper medallions at a local boutique recently and decided I had to have them.  But I have a disease where every time I look at a price tag I think "I could make that for way less than that."   So I went to Hobby Lobby and loaded up on scrapbook paper and then tried to find a tutorial online.  Only problem was I didn't know at the time that they were called paper medallions.  So I finally found several tutorials, all of which looked incredibly labor intensive and also required math which I avoid at all costs.  So I kind of combined a few and came up with my own process.  I started with a sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper.  I would suggest using double sided if you can find it.  I cut mine into three strips, each 4" x 12".  Then I folded down the edge of each 4" side and glued together to make one long strip 36" long.  I started with Tombo, which I know some people swear by and to be fair mine is several years old but it didn't hold at all.  I ended up using hot glue and I think this made it sturdier overall in the end.

 Then I accordian folded the entire thing.  One of the authors of a tutorial measured every 1/2" and then scored her lines.  Yeah.  Pretty sure measuring falls under math.  I just eyeballed it. 

As an aside, this was the third one I did, the first time I did not glue the strips together first.  The problem with this was my folds were so random that it was really obvious so if you think you're going to fold each 12" strip and then glue together you'll probably want to measure and score.  As an aside to the aside, I did measure and score one of the medallions but a 1/2" fold is very tedious and quickly became a 3/4" fold and I'm pretty sure eventually ended up a 1" fold.  So your paper should look something like this when you're done.

 Take the two ends and glue together so it forms a circle.

 Thread a needle with embroidery floss.

Leaving a longish tail, sew around the top edge about 3/4" in from the top.  Tie the two ends of your embroidery floss together.  Your medallion will end up looking something like a lampshade.

 Cut a circle out of a contrasting piece of scrapbook paper.  I traced around a spool of ribbon then cut with pinking shears.

 Push the middle of your medallion down so it lays flat and glue your contrasting circle in the middle.  Add a ribbon to hang.