Paper Roses from Coffee Filters

We have another adoption home study this Friday. In addition to the cleaning of the house that I do every year in preparation, I set a goal to have the living room makeover completed. It’s been almost six months since I started. Six months! Man what a slacker I am! I figured it was about time I wrapped things up. My mom is coming over Wednesday to help me recover my chairs. In the meantime I have been working on all the little details like picture frames and accessories.

I needed some flowers to add a pop of color to my shelf. When I went out looking a couple months ago, I couldn’t find the right color of blue. So I decided to make my own paper roses.  Of course after I got them all finished, the stores started carrying all kinds of blue flowers for spring. But hey, mine are totally unique, and they were CHEAP! I made them out of coffee filters, and I love how they turned out.  I’m going to teach you how to make your own. 🙂

How to Make Paper Roses from Coffee Filters

Take your set of coffee filters and soak them in a bowl of water. If you want to add color to them, add a few drops of food coloring to the water. You can make them any color you want by experimenting with different combinations of colors. Just remember that they will dry much lighter than the color of the water.
Wring them out and then lay them flat to dry. They will look like this when they are done:
Now fold them in half, then in half again.
Cut a small rounded notch out of the bottom corner.
Then open it up and cut a slit in the side.
Now you just start rolling it up.
Roll tightly at first, but roll more loosely as you get to the outside. It takes a little bit of practice. My first rose looked like crud, so I just unrolled it and started over. No worries!
If your rose is the size you like, squish it together at the bottom.
If you would like it bigger, just add another coffee filter ring, starting at the place you ended. When your rose is done, tie it off at the bottom.
Isn’t it pretty?
Now it’s time to add the stem. Cut two leaves out of floral tape. Mine aren’t perfect, and yours don’t need to be either. 🙂
Push a piece of wire up through the bottom of the rose. You can use a dab of hot glue to secure it if you need to. Then stick the leaves to  the sides of the rose, right at the bottom.
Take your floral tape and start wrapping the rose, making sure you wrap the leaves securely inside.
Then continue wrapping till your wire is covered:
If you want, you can add leaves. I just made some out of organza and hot glued them to the stems. Now they are ready to display any way you want!
I think they would also make a beautiful wreath; you could just leave off the stems and use the paper roses. So many possibilities!