DIY Coffee Filter Flowers

It is finally here! My first DIY tutorial for your crafting pleasure. Now that we have got our invitations finished, our next adventure is preparing all of our decor. After meeting with a florist, I realized that my vision would cost way too much money (oh hi, I forgot about you for a moment, WIC), so I started hunting for ways to have the “florals” without blowing the budget. In this post, I will teach you how to make the basic building block of my master plan: the Coffee Filter Garland Table Runner*.

I adapted this tutorial from Brown Paper Packages. The original tutorial is no longer active, so I made up my own instructions. I hope you find these flowers as easy, inexpensive, and gorgeous as I do!

Materials

You only need four things: coffee filters, twine, cotton balls, and scissors.

The How-To:

Step 1: Fold the coffee filter in sixteenths (fold in half 4 times).

 

Step 2: Grab your scissors and trim. Here, we are using a basic semi-circle shape**.

Step 3: Hold a single coffee filter lightly in the palm of one hand. Take a cotton ball and place it in the center of the coffee filter.

Step 4: Push down on the cotton ball. The coffee filter will scrunch up a bit.

Step 5: Pinch the coffee filter where it wraps around the entire cotton ball.

Step 6: Take another coffee filter and pinch again.

Step 7: Repeat step 6 until you get the desired volume. I usually use 3-5 filters per flower.

Step 8: Cut a piece of twine and tie a knot around the cotton ball area. If you are feeling super thrifty, you can cut the coffee filters from underneath the twine and reuse the cotton ball.

Step 9 (optional): Sit back and admire your work of art. You did it!

Pro-tip:

If you are making centerpieces with these beauties, grab some friends. This process will go much faster if you employ Fordism and get an assembly line going. For maximum fun, have a signature Kelly craft night in. It is like a girls’ night out but better: you can wear sweatpants and be free of society’s judgmental eyes. All you need are snacks, a bottle of wine (or two… or ten***), and some of your favourite tunes. Your flowers will pile up in no time at all.

Have you ever had a craft night in? If you have, I hope you had just as much fun as I!

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* Capitalized to create maximum impact 😉

** In the next post, I will show you a comparison between three basic petal shapes. You can mix these up and create some variety for visual interest.

*** I am not promoting binge drinking, but if you have 20 people helping you out, you should provide enough refreshment. Juice and pop are also great options, if you are having a dry craft night in.

Calling all Pinners!

Here is a compressed version for your pinning pleasure: