Week 6 - Coffee Filter Roses

Ever since my daughter started school three years ago, we have always made homemade valentines rather than using store-bought ones for her classmates.  This year was no different.  I went through so many ideas in my head, but money was tight and it wasn't in the budget to do our original plan.  That meant searching for a back-up.

Then, a couple of days ago, I came across this pin for Coffee Filter Roses, originally posted on the Craftbits website.  Honestly, the instructions left a lot to be imagined.  It gave the basics for making the rose itself, but not really much in the way of finishing the rose.  I used my imagination, thinking back to a Girl Scouts craft we did, and got started.

I followed the instructions to make the rose, stacking three coffee filters on top of each other.  I folded each stack in half twice, then twisted at the bottom and secured it with masking tape (it seemed stronger for this craft than scotch tape).  Then I just used my fingers to separate the "petals" out, fluffing as I went to help achieve some fullness.

 The next step, in my book, was to form a stem.  Craftbits didn't give any information on how to do this.  I took a pipe cleaner, cut it in half, then wrapped one end around the taped section.

 Next I used some floral tape to secure the pipe cleaner to the rose itself.  I continued wrapping the pipe cleaner all the way down, then back up again, to give it some thickness and stiffness.

They were starting to look less like coffee filters now and more like roses.  

Next came the decorating. Craftbits suggested using some paint and a brush to color the roses.  I tried this, using both a wet brush and a dry brush.  I didn't like how either method turned out.

It was actually my husband who reminded me of a craft we did with our Girl Scouts Troop that was used to paint coffee filters. We used markers to color on the filters then sprayed them with water, watching the colors bleed together to form magical patterns.


We did a modified version of this, watering down some acrylic paint then dipping the rose into the paint, doing only the tips of the rose.

 We then placed the roses upside down on a piece of cardboard to allow time for the paint to bleed and dry thoroughly.

Some of the flowers had to be secured with a little more tape.  After doing a couple of test runs, I found that it was more effective to make the roses, then dip and dry, then attach and wrap the stems at the end.  

Daisha loved how the roses turned out and had a fun, unique valentine to present to her teacher and classmates.