Coffee Filter Flowers

Here's a little craft I did with the girls this weekend.  We made flowers out of coffee filters!

If you are going to do this with kids, it's a good idea to get some prep work done ahead of time.

The night before, I colored the filters and let them dry.

You need water soluble paint.  I used the craft paint that comes in little bottles at Michaels or Hobby Lobby.  You need one color for the center of your flower, and then another that you use is different strengths for the outer layers. We used yellow for the center, and then did pink and aqua blue for the flower.

Put one cup of water in a disposable container.  Stir in paint, you don't need too much but just to get some good color.  Do the same in another container, but with less paint so the final color is much lighter.

Press your coffee filters into the paint/water mix.  For each flower you need one filter for the center, 2 in the darker color and 3 in the lighter shade.

Let the filters sit for 15-20 minutes.

Take the filters out of the paint water and lay them on towels (use old towels so if paint gets on them, it won't matter).  If the filters stick together, let them dry for a little bit and they will separate easier.  Let dry completely,

Here's all the finished filters, ready to go!

Now each color needs to be trimmed.  Fold 3 filters at a time into quarters. Cut the center color with sharp edges, cut the darker color with more rounded edges and cut the lightest color with slight curves.  The two colors that are not the center, needs to have the tip cut off so you are left with a small hole in the center.

Now take one filter that is for the center, fold it in quarters and then roll it, and tape in onto a green pipe cleaner.

Then take your two darker colors and put the pip cleaner through the center hole. scrunch the filters around the center piece and then tape around the pipe cleaner.

Take the remaining 3 light colored filters and repeat the process of putting the pip cleaner through the center and scrunching the filter,  Tape when all three are on.

Here's Alaina's flowers.

Here's Ruby's flowers.

A fun, economical project!