MONTHLY GIVEAWAY & COFFEE FILTER ROSES!

MONTHLY GIVEAWAY!
I am starting a Monthly Giveaway. I will be drawing names from
followers that comment. The drawings will be on the 1st of each month!

Sending a bunch of Prim Dried Carrots with some Dried Grass to a lucky FOLLOWER that has commented during February!
These will be perfect for your Spring Decor. Remember each new posting you comment on, will be another chance for you to win the Prim Dried Carrots & Dried Grass

BEAUTIFUL PAPER FLOWERS

Just in time for Valentines Day. Make these inexpensive paper roses to give to family & friends.

COFFEE FILTER ROSES

TOOLS AND MATERIALS:

Box of disposable cone coffee filters (8 filters will make one full bloom rose)
Scissors
Coffee filter rose templates TEMPLATES!
Go to
16-gauge floral wire
Floral tape
Water color paint
Flat brush
Bamboo skewer
Glue stick

DIRECTIONS:

1. Trace and cut petal shapes through both layers of filters, as per templates.
2. Form rose. With coffee filter No. 1, take four connected petals and poke an 18-inch length of 16-gauge floral wire down through the center of the bottom of one end petal so 1/2 inch of the wire remains sandwiched between two opposite petals.
3. Wrap adjacent two petals tightly around first two petals; wrap with floral tape around base, then 1/2 inch down wire, to secure.
4. When working with floral tape, pull it as you work to expose the sticky part of the tape.
5. With coffee filter No. 2, take four connected petals and sandwich "flower bud" between two opposite petals. On the adjacent petal pair, gently tear the perforation of the base so that you have a strip of 2 side-by-side petals. Wrap this petal strip around the other two petals and secure with tape.
6. With coffee filter No. 3, take four connected petals and gently tear the perforation at the base to create a strip of four petals. Wrap this petal strip around flower bud and secure with tape.

7. With coffee filter No. 4, gently tear the perforation at the base of petal shapes to create a strip of five petals. Wrap this petal strip around flower bud and secure with tape. (The folded petal gives rose stability and a more rounded form.)
8. With coffee filter No. 5, place three petals, overlapping slightly on rose and wrap just once (to avoid bulk) with floral tape to secure.
9. Wrap remaining three petals opposite the first three. Repeat for shapes cut from filters Nos. 6, 7, and 8. Use finger and thumb to separate petals, creating air pockets and making petals curve outward from the base. Use 3 or 4 extra single petals to fill in holes and give a rounded shape.
10. To paint the roses, use watercolor paints, mixed with a bit of water. Paint the base color, first doing the bottom, then the top, working from the inside out. Accentuate with a darker color on the tips. Use a flat brush to apply a third color of undiluted watercolor to edges. Let dry overnight.
11. Once painted roses are dry, curl left and right sides of outer petals around a bamboo skewer to create a point. Work your way from the outside to the inside of rose. Curl inner petals just slightly by wrapping top straight down around bamboo skewer.

SEPALS

12. Add five paper sepals secured with floral tape to short stem. Wrap floral tape in a spiral down wire stem several times to create a thick roselike stem. Burnish stem with skewer to smooth tape. Cut 6 paper leaves and sandwich a 4-inch wire between. Use a glue stick to stick 6 leaves together with a 4-inch wire stem.
13. Secure leaves to stem with floral tape.

RESOURCES

"Van Gogh" brand water color paint. Green fibrous paper used to make sepals and leaves is from paper zone, paperzone.com. For the Princess Diana rose base color, we used a diluted cream (a mix of "white" and "yellow ochre"); for the tips and edges, use diluted "permanent rose." for the Peace Rose base color, use diluted "cadmium lemon yellow" and "titanium white"; for the tips and edges, use diluted "permanent rose." Recommended filter brands include Connaisseur and Western Family.
From Martha Stewart

EASIER WAY

There just had to be a simpler way to make coffee filter flowers. We went from Martha Stewart (time consuming), to tissue paper (not so realistic). Thought, there must be an easier/faster way. Here's what we come up with

1. take a stack of regular basket style coffee filter (the cheaper, the better)

2. fold them in half

3. cut out a half heart shape (like we did in elementary school) by following the half circle made by your fold (you now have a stack of petals)

4. use the leftover ring to cut a stack of vaguely shaped teardrops (I say vaguely because you don't have to be precise)

5. use a hot glue gun to glue a fan of 4-5 teardrops ( the closer your tearsrops, the tighter your bud will be)

6. now make a cone with your teardrop fan and glue the ends together ( you can make about 3 of these fans to nest into one another)

7. use the same cone/nesting technique for your heart shaped petals (i found that about 3-4 fans of petals make a very full bloom)

8. you can now glue down any floppy petals, but make sure to go only half way up the heart so you have enough flexability to curl after coloring

We experimented with alot of methods in coloring the roses and found that:

Fabric dye is the most vibrant (just mix it up and dunk em' in)

Food coloring is the most realistic (you can double dip your roses for colored tips)

By coloring the edge of the roses with a wax crayon pre assembly, you can get a pretty two toned effect

Time for each assembled rose: about 5 min