Final Solution.

 I've been thinking over how to achieve the soft fluffy look of the Native Rose flower  for a day or so and I think I've come up with a solution. Rather than using velvet I tried out some felt, colouring it the same way that I coloured the plain cotton with stamp pad ink and acrylic paint. The original orange felt is to the right in this picture and the left shows the treated felt.

 This is a much better way to proceed, but the calyx of the plant needs to be changed too, this beige felt is too plainly coloured without any indicated softness at all.

 The beige felt has turned a bit yellow, but I think it'll be O.K when it's all assembled. I need to add another piece to the left as well, now that I'm not appliqueing leaves all over the background fabric.

 Here all the components, including some embroidery yarn for the stamens have been adhered to the background.

 Stitching the flower adds a lot more dimension to it and it's beginning to come together quite well I think. The addition of the small piece of calyx to the left certainly improves the over all design.

 I didn't want to add leaves all over the piece, but just a few at the top left is a definite improvement.

I've added some beads to the stamen area, some white paint to the leaves and bound the back and front together with machine satin stitch. It's finished!