Crafting Coffee Filter Flowers

Fun upcycled flowers!

I love recycling coffee filters into fun blooms that you (and even your kids) can make for Earth Day, Mother’s Day, or Cinco de Mayo.

Supplies:

• 4-6 round coffee filters
• food coloring (red a green for Cinco de Mayo, or your choice)
• cardboard egg carton
• 1 button per flower
• 1/2 12″ chenille stem per flower
• bamboo skewer
• floral tape
• green acrylic paint (optional)

Tools:

• craft blade
• hot glue gun & stick

To start, you’ll need 5 or 6 used coffee filters. After I brew a pot, I usually just take out the filter, grounds and all, and lay it on a plate to dry out. That way I get interesting color variations on the filter. When they are dry, I just brush the grounds off of the filters with a stiff paintbrush.

To make your color to dye the filters, put a few drops of food color into a spray bottle and fill 1/2 with water. My kids LOVE making the color spray as well as misting the coffee filters.

Mix a few drops of food color and water to make a color mist.

I use an old box lid to make an overspray box, and mist the coffee filters as desired. While the filters are drying, cut out the “cup” portion of the egg carton (one per flower) and if you like, paint it green.

After everything is dry, it’s time to assemble your flowers. Using the craft blade, cut a small hole in the bottom of the egg cup.

Take the chenille stem and run it up through the bottom of a button, around the top, and back down through another hole. Twist the end underneath the button to secure it in place. (It’s going to be the center of the flower.) It’ll look like this:

Next you’ll thread on the coffee filters- the stem wire is sharp enough that you won’t have to pre-cut a hole. (This is the other part that my daughter LOVES to do to “help” mommy!) When all of the flowers are threaded on, add the egg cup. As you pull the stem down, it’ll force the button into the egg cup and push the filters UP creating a ruffled flower.

To create a nice, sturdy stem insert the pointy end of the bamboo skewer into the hole in the bottom. Secure with a dot of hot glue.

To cover it all up and make it look nice, wrap the chenille stem and bamboo skewer with floral tape. Start at the top and work your way down, pulling and wrapping. The floral tape has a wax on it that will make it stick to itself.

Once you get to the bottom, just tear off the floral tape and smooth it down. Ta-Da! Your bloom is ready for a Mother’s Day bouquet or an Earth Day decoration!

PS… if you like the vase in the picture, you can make it yourself! Read that post HERE.

Also, if you really like tissue paper flowers, you’ll love the Cinco de Mayo blooms by Aliyce- read that post HERE.

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