Coffee Filter Flowers

As a treat, my husband brought home the latest issue of Scrapbooks Etc for me to read. I was flipping through all the nifty ideas and came across a feature article on different ways of decorating your scrapbook pages with paper lace doilies. One idea in particular caught my eye on how to make flowers out of the doilies. I didn't have any lace doilies lying around so I raided my pantry to see what I could find that might work. I tried using round coffee filters but the flower was huge taking up almost the entire size of my 12x12 page. Next I moved onto cupcake wrappers which performed very well, producing a cute paper flower about 4 inches in diameter. Being a perfectionist however, I still thought I could do better so my last attempt involved an old box of No. 4 coffee filters and a scalloped circle paper punch. These turned out so cute that I couldn't resist sharing. Here is my version, which I have called the "Coffee Filter Flower."

Step 1: Gather all materials: coffee filters, a scalloped round paper punch (or whatever you have), scotch tape, glue dots and buttons.

Step 2: Punch out several circles from the coffee filter. You need at least 5 circles for 1 flower. Hint: Cone coffee filters work great because there are two layers of paper so with each punch you get two circles for the work of one!

Step 3: Fold the bottom of one of the punched paper circles about 2/3 of the way to the top.

Step 4: Using the first circle as a guide, fold the rest of your circles about 2/3 of the way to the top as well.

Step 5: Fold your circle again, but this time just over halfway.

Step 6: Now fold back the last section you folded about halfway so that you have a cute little triangle in the center.

Step 7: Once you have all of your pieces folded, glue down one piece or “petal” on the corner of a piece of scotch tape.

Step 8: Continue with each piece, aligning them next to each other in a circle until you have attached all of the petals. At this point you may need to readjust a few so that the edges of all of the petals line up to make a nice shaped circle. If you need to, add more scotch tape to the back to keep all the petals in place.

Step 9: Using a glue dot, add a button to the center to finish it off.

Voila! You now have an adorable little flower. You can fluff up the "petals" if you want, and embellish it however you choose!