There are a zillion ways to make paper flowers – one of our favorite methods is this simple process using coffee filters! This is a great project for budget wedding decor, or cheap decor for your house, since coffee filters come in large packages for cheap.

Project estimate:

Coffee filters, on hand or $1

Food coloring, on hand or $1

Hot glue, on hand

Poster board, on hand or $1

Total: Free and up

Dye the coffee filters in groups of 25 in the colours you want. Experiment using one at a time allowing it to dry so you will know the exact colour. To dye a filter two colours, dip the bottom part into the colouring and let it completely absorb the colour. After about thirty seconds, remove and turn it over and dip it into your second colour. Remove the filters and place them on a surface covered with plastic with a layer of newspaper on top. Let dry until the filters start to separate and take them apart to dry on the newspaper.

Stack five filters on top of one another. Using scissors, cut in a circular pattern as shown.

Take one filter and fold it over to where it has about a three inch “tail”.

Start rolling the filter towards your body with both hands. Once you reach the end, put a small spot of hot glue to hold the end to the “bud”.

Cut the tail off and generously hot glue it to one of the square pieces of the poster board.

Put a small dot of hot glue on the end of three filters. Put a dot of hot glue on the end and glue it to the base of the bud. Roll the three pieces around about four times and add another spot of glue at the base of the bud. This will keep the filters from unwinding and will start to shape your rose.

Repeat Step 6 until your rose is large enough. If you’re making larger than normal roses, you will need larger pieces of poster board.

Once your rose is finished, trim off the excess poster board and your rose is ready to use in your design.