Happy National DIY Day!

I found a cheap and easy DIY project for spring…Coffee Filter Peonies!

From taunieverett.com:

Hi friends!  Today I’m showing you how to make Coffee Filter Peonies.  Not only are they pretty, they are easy to make.  There are so many possibilities for colors with this project too.  Let’s get started, here’s what you’re going to need:

Coffee Filters

Scissors

Floral Wire

Floral Tape

Food Coloring

Glue or Hot Glue Gun

1.  Fold your coffee filter in half {I did two filters at a time}.

2.  Fold again in to fourths.

3.  Fold again in to sixths.

4.  Last fold so that it is in eights.

5.  Take your scissors and create a scalloped edge around the top of the filter.  You can create a short scallop or a deeper scallop depending on how you want your petals to look.

6.  Unfold to see your pretty scalloped edges.

7.  Once all your coffee filters are scalloped {I used 8 filters per flower, and the flowers are large…so you can use that as your guide for how many filters to cut}.

8.  Grab your floral wire and cut in to 12″ lengths, double that if you want your wire extra sturdy.  Using a pencil wrap the end of your wire several times in to a coil, then press your coil together after you slide it off the pencil.  This gives you a center for your flower that won’t slip through the filters.

9.  Poke the floral wire through the center of the first coffee filter petal, I used a small dot of hot glue on the floral wire coil to secure my filter to it and twist the bottom of the filter.  You can either use regular tacky glue or hot glue {if using hot glue just be careful, it’s hot and the filters are thin}.  I repeated this step until all my filters were on the wire, I glued every two filters, and the very last filter.

10.  Tear off a long strip of your floral tape, about 12 – 16″ long, once you tear it off the roll you will need to gently stretch it – this activates its stickiness.

11.  Starting at the base of the coffee filter where your wire pokes through place a dot of glue and adhere the end of your floral tape.  Start wrapping and spinning your floral tape all the way down your floral wire to create your stem.  I wrapped all the way down and then back up again to give it some sturdiness.

12.  I wanted colored peonies, but you could also leave them white.  If you choose to dye them all you need is food coloring.  Just mix a bowl full of water and tint the water with your food coloring until it’s the color you want.  You can test it by dipping an extra filter in and see how it turns out.  All I did was gently dip my peony one at a time half way in to the water.  Quickly pull it out and lay on a cookie sheet to dry.

13.  Once completely dry you can fluff your peonies and place them in your favorite vase.

SOURCE: TAUNIEVERTT.COM