Celebrating spring

Here is just a little something to help lift your spirits and brighten your home during these difficult and uncertain times.

Nature and especially flowers, always seem to help brighten our day. And with these very simple paper flowers, you can add a touch of spring to your home, holiday or any celebration table decor.

These arrangements were made using coffee filters and dollar store plastic pots.

Add your own twist to an inexpensive flower pot ( these were originally orange) from your local dollar store, to create a floral vase that will fit beautifully into your decor or holiday theme. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Just have fun!

I wanted these pots to look a little aged and worn. To achieve this look, I just used various paint colors I already had on hand.

I painted one black and when dried, painted it with a second coat using light french gray by Sherwin Williams. When the paint was dry, I sanded the pot (sanding more in some areas than others) until it looked aged and worn.

Another was painted using coats of antique white and 50% light french gray. I then decoupaged the pot with (free) printable french script on basic printer paper. Adding little splotches of paint around the pot, helped to cover any obvious paper lines. The third flower pot was painted with the antique white and french gray paint as well, but this time I printed out images of flowers, then decoupaged them onto the painted pot and hand sanded until I achieved the worn look I wanted.

This was the first time I had attempted to create these simple coffee filter flowers, so I am sure that with practice they can be amazing! However, I wasn’t after amazing. I wanted to add a beautiful touch of spring to our family’s Easter table without adding stress or expectations.

Materials you will need to create your own flowers:

1) Coffee filters

2) Food coloring

3) Pipe cleaners or floral wire

4) Peat moss for embellishments

Fill a pan or bowl ( I used a disposable tin pan ) with enough water to be able to submerse the entire coffee filter(s). Add a couple of drops of food coloring to the pan of water. Of course the more you add the darker the shade will be, so it is always best to start with a couple of drops then add if you desire a darker shade.

I started with a couple drops of red to create my light pink roses and kept adding the red until it became this gorgeous coral color (see photo above) for my other arrangements.

You can dye a stack together to save time.

Next place the dyed filters onto a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil for easy cleanup, and place in the oven set at 300 degrees until dry. This only took a few minutes, so do not leave them in the oven too long for fear of burning. To achieve the veiny look, simply twist and squeeze the wet filters prior to drying them in the oven. You might want to use a pair of gloves for this, or during the entire dyeing process.When dry, take a few ( I thought three or four worked best) filters stacked together and fold once then fold again.

Take the folded filter in your hand and gently form into a cone shape. Within the cone, find the two inner most “petals” and with your fingers or tweezers, start to twist in a circle.

Fold the outer petals down and work your way inward. You will see the rose starting to take shape. These steps might seem long, but it only took a few minutes after I got the hang of it.