I know a lot of people recommend gum paste when making flowers because it dries so hard so fast, but it dries out a little too fast for me as I work with it. So to make these petals I used Wiltons Fondant (homemade would be way too soft) and as I rolled it I added Gum Paste Powder so that the end result would be more firm than just fondant.
The center of the flower was all connected like a typical rose (about 4 layers of petals, I let it dry between each layer I added) and then I started adding the dried loose petals one by one. (Let the petals dry on gobbled tissue paper or the edge of a cookie sheet so they don’t dry flat.) Sometimes that made it harder because obviously the petals didn’t dry together like a puzzle, but they were hard enough that I could break off an edge or two to make them fit in.
a little faith and a lot of frosting