When I originally made these for the July 4th craft section on my old site, FamilyCorner, a couple of years ago, my initial intention was to make coffee filter fireworks and attach them to paper or poster board. But as I was making them, the thought came to me that these would be even better as a 4th of July or picnic table centerpiece, a great kid’s craft, and so the fireworks flowers were born. Because it was a while ago that these were made, I’m afraid I don’t have any step by step photos. They’re pretty easy though, so the tutorial below should get you though them without a problem. Have a great 4th!
4th of July: Coffee Filter Flowers
What you need
basket coffee filters
chenille stems (red, white, blue, gold and/or silver)
red and blue watercolor paint
paintbrush
scissors
2 pieces of paper towel or a kitchen towel
What you do
Place one of the coffee filters onto the paper plate and flatten out.
Paint the coffee filter with water color paint. Paint some solid red, some solid blue and others a combination of blue and red, leaving some areas unpainted.
Move the coffee filter to the towel and lay flat to dry. Repeat with the second coffee filter.
Leaving the center of the filter in tact, cut the coffee filter in strips, working you way around the circle.
Cut a 1.5″ piece off of one end of a chenille stem and set aside.
Take the longer piece of chenille and poke it through the center of the coffee filter. There should be about 2″ of chenille poked through.
Turn the entire thing upside down and grasp the filter with your fingers. Gather it around the chenille and secure it by wrapping the extra piece of chenille stem that you cut off in an earlier step. Twist it around the part you are holding and turn the flower back upright.
Manipulate with your finger until strips are spread out and it looks the way you want it to.
More from Amanda you might like:
From the interwebs:
Patriotic Water Bracelets - from FamilyCorner.com
Patriotic Tissue Paper Wreath - from Free Kid’s Crafts
3-D Fireworks - From Family Crafts at About.com
Patriotic Charm Bracelet - from MakingFriends.com
Patriotic Paper Plate Garland - from Kaboose.com (by me) :)
these are a great idea for center pieces and inexpensive too, I like that.
How cute and fun are these! I would love to try this with my kids… Visiting from making the world cuter.
justsewsassy.com
These are adorable I love them!
Now this is a gorgeous bouquets! You are amazingly talented!
these are so cute … thanks for sharing! :)
What a great way to keep kids busy this summer and prepare for 4th festivities! Thanks for showing it to us on Modern Craftswoman Monday! Rory
Too cute! Talk about 'bank for your buck'!
would love for you to stop by Thursday and link them up to Fab Finds for the 4th!
very cute!
Thanks for your great comments everyone!
What a fabulous project – these are great for the 4th! Thanks so much for sharing.
Chelsea
SUPER CUTE! I love it!
I featured your here:
http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/2010/07/last-minute-4th-of-july-projects-from.html
Great idea! I love these. Thanks for linking up to Finished for Friday.
Really cute! And a great centerpiece idea!
Thanks for linking up with me for Friday Favorites!
Hi! I just featured these on my blog! You can check it out at http://sittingatourkitchentable.blogspot.com/2011/06/me-likey-monday.html
Have a great week!
Amy