Today I have a tutorial of sorts to share. It is not a full tutorial because 1. I learned to make the flowers from an already pretty amazing tutorial and 2. I left my camera in Ryan’s truck and was too impatient to wait to put it together until he came home so I don’t have photos of the actual attaching to the wreath phase of the project. Sometimes you just have to go with it when the crafting bug gets you.
This wreath is a combination of a regular grape vine wreath you can purchase at the craft store, lots of coffee filter flowers and a few acorn and berry sprigs. There is a section at the craft store near the floral stuff with all kinds of glittery birds on sticks and wired leaf sprigs that I’m not really sure what they are for, but I am a sucker for them. These acorns were from that section and I’ve had them laying around for a few years never knowing quite what to do with them. But I think they make the perfect subtle autumn touch to a pretty girly flowery wreath.
Okay, so on with the tutorial. I learned how to make these coffee filter roses from this tutorial but I’ll show you how I did it just for extra clarification.
I wanted fall-ish colors for my flowers, so I used yellow, pink, red and orange paint. I mixed in brown with all of them to make them muddier. I started by dying white coffee filters, but then figured out that the natural colored ones work better for making muted colors.
Mix your paint with water, stir well, scrunch in a stack of coffee filters and let them soak up the paint. Then squeeze out and let dry.
I dried some flat on paper towels, but then ran out of room and made a clothes line to dry the rest.
Okay, now on to the flower making part. Again, you can see in detail how to create each flower from this tutorial on Aunt Peaches, but here is my rendition.
For flower #1, fold three coffee filters into quarters, cut a scalloped edge along the top and then a scalloped center.
Open up the filters and cut the outer ring open.
With the center pieces, twist in the middle to create a petal and press onto a strip of masking tape. This will make the center of the rose. Do this will all three center pieces.
Now this part is the trickiest to explain, although it isn’t that tricky to do. You just have to try it and you’ll catch on. Basically, take one of the outer ring pieces, pleat it and stick it to the edge of the tape. Continue with each of the three pieces until you have a long strip of ruffly looking paper.
Next, start at the center petals and start rolling to create the flower.
When you are done, you will have a pretty paper flower.
If you want to vary the size, can add an extra filter or two.
To make a smaller flower, cut one coffee filter into a spiral.
Now open it up and beginning with the center, start ruffling and sticking the strip to a piece of tape.
Now roll from the center :
: and you have this sweet flower.
After lots and lots of flower making {it probably took 40 to make this wreath}, I cut off the backs to make the flowers flat and glued them to the grape vine wreath.
It was really pretty with just the flowers, but I wanted it to look a little more like Autumn, so I added in a few berries and acorns {attaching with hot glue}.
I think this is my favorite of all wreaths I’ve made.
Probably because Fall is my favorite of all seasons.
Want more wreath inspiration? I have created a few other wreaths to get you started :
hello my name is Magali, I live in France in Foix,
I discovered your site yesterday I found your Couronnes roses with beautiful fall colors and I have already tried them but I can not find even coffee filters. If you know a little France can you tell me what to use as the other.
I thank you
Magali
You could try tissue paper instead, or even crepe paper. Welcome!
I made this wreath and it turned out beautifully! Thank you for this tutorial. I just need to find berries and acorns to add to it, where did you get your acorns?
Sometimes craft stores will have little floral picks with cool berries or acorns in the fall. Just check at your craft store and see what they have.
I’m sooo glad I found you! I can’t wait to get started…now…which one first??? Hmmm LOL Thanks!
Thanks so much for posting this tutorial. It was exactly what I was looking for when I wanted to make a paper rose christmas wreath for my niece. It turned out beautiful. Thanks again.
Hello, after the flowers are made what did you stick them to? This will be my first wreath and I dont know the best material to make sure its a nice sturdy wreath… thanks
I put them on a grapevine wreath. Just hotglued them. You could also try a styrofoam wreath wrapped in ribbon. Then either straightpin the flowers in or hot glue. Enjoy!
Hello, new follower here! I would love to have you link up with my Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week!
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/10/upcycled-chicken-coop-clever-chicks.html
I hope to see you there!
Cheers!
Kathy
The Chicken Chick
You were really good at the step by step instructions. The part that you said was tricky to understand- I thought, “Well. I’m going to get lost now…” But I totally understood what you were saying! The wreath is beautiful– I’ll be making one soon!
Gracias Precioso!!
Beautiful
I’m in the process of making this wreath and I’m so excited! The first flower didn’t come out quite right but after a few I think I’m getting the hang of it. You’ve also inspired me to paint my door so it’s getting a fresh coat of blue before I hang this beautiful wreath on it :) Thanks for all the great DIY projects and easy instructions!
Wow – coffee filter flowers whowudathunkit?!!! A soooo love them & everything else too! Just came across your site & will defo visit loads from now on. A canny wait tae get started yippee!
Hi! I featured your wreath and a few others on my post today. Thought you might like to see what I did. =D http://holidaygiftsandmore.blogspot.com/2011/10/autumn-wreath-inspiration.html
~ Tina
Wow, I can’t get my flowers to look right at all. They look like balls of trash. I have no idea how to get this project back on track. . . my flowers are terrible!!
Wow!! It’s just so gorgeous, and thanks to your great tutorial…I think I ca do it!!
I loved your wreath so much, it inspired me to do one for Halloween. I followed the same instructions except only used black paint. It came out amazing. Thank you for the inspiration and easy to follow instructions.
Great idea, Jocelyn!! You’re so creative!!
I love your wreaths, I made this this weekend and had a great time doing it!
Thanks for the inspiration!! I’ve had the Aunt Peaches tutorial starred in my reader since the day she posted it. Your wreath was the last push I needed to start crafting. I’m happy to report that I just completed my first wreath. I still need to do a second one since I have double doors in the front. My husband loved it too!
I’m assuming that you are putting them outside on the door–is this right? I’m really wanting to make one for our front door, but I’m terrified of it getting ruined in the rain. We do not have any cover over our door or anything. Do you have any suggestions or is there a covering over your doors so you won’t have to worry about it?
i thought they were real flowers when the first picture popped up. i thought “well that’s impractical” ha ha ha.
awesome idea.
Just wanted to tell you….I dyed my coffee filters today and made two flowers…at least at this point. There is something I’d like to ask: How long did you let the filters soak in the paint/water mixture? My colors came out extremely muted, but it’s possible I didn’t use enough paint. I’m pretty sure I used about 3 Tbsp like the other tutorial advised, but yours just seem so much darker. I will try the brown filters tomorrow to see if it helps some, but I’m doing Halloween colors and would like the blacks to come out darker. Any suggestions or tips?
i just put up my burlap ruffle wreath…now i’m thinking to take it down so i can replace it with this one..love it!
Glad you found a clever twist to make these flowers your own. I was thinking about making a CF wreath for Thanksgiving…now I might just get on it a little sooner :)
completely fooled…thought they were real!
d e n i s e
I was just thinking about needing an autumn wreath ~ and this one looks so beautiful I just might try to make one!
Wow. This is really, really lovely.
YOU ARE A LIFESAVER! I logged on to see if I could find anything to make for my MIL’s birthday on Thursday. Nothing like a little procrastination to work up a sweat. The wreath is beautiful and THE perfect gift: frugal, easy, and handmade.
I cannot believe you made this! It’s so beautiful and classy! Well done!
Hello! I love this wreath! What a brilliant idea to die the coffee filters! I started making one of the coffee filter fluffs a while ago…. But never finished! :) I absolutely love it though… It is calling to me from my cabinet as I type! Haha :) My dream is to make a giant coffee filter fluff and maybe somehow turn it into a light fixture. I wanted to also tell you I accidentally entered the giveaway twice! I was wondering if there was an easy way to cancel one of my posts without searching through all the comment? If not, no problem! Thank you so much for all you do, you are inspiring me everyday!
Julie :)
this is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! can not even believe it is made of coffee filters!
I love it! I’m going to change the colors, leave out the acorns etc and hang it in my daughter’s room – she was just asking me for a wreath. I made the following wreath yesterday and it reminded me a lot of you, since it’s made of burlap:
http://todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/2011/07/burlap-bubble-wreath-tutorial.html
Another great wreath! And here I still need to make your spring wreath that I fell in love with so long ago. Lol. This one looks like quite a bit of work but I do love the results!
Absolutely beautiful! Will be making two. One for me and one for my twenty one year old daughter who is graduating (and moving out) this year. She and I will have a ball with this project. One question, you listed four colors, mixed with brown, red, pink, orange and yellow. I see five cups. The fifth cup is…?? Thanks!
what a great tutorial! it had to take awhile! ;) thanks for the steps!
ashley
Wow you are just amazing, where do you find the time to do all this stuff? Thanks for the inspiration.
Confession: I’m not a big wreath fan. Despite this, I continue to read your blog because you make everything look good. ;)
But THIS wreath?? Oh goodness and thank you, thank you, thank you — you have a convert.
Oh, so lovely!
OH MY GOODNESS! This has to be one of the most beautiful wreaths I have ever seen! I’m hyperventilating,… okay, I’m not but I love, love it. You make such beautiful things, Emily! Thank you so much for sharing.
Brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing. I will definitely be doing this one next month as it’s still summer here in Texas.
What a beautiful wreath! thank you so much for sharing! I can’t wait to try this one. I love how you muted the colors!
I was already in love with the coffee filter wreath, now I am really in love!! I can’t wait to make one of the beautiful wreath. Thanks so much for posting these beautiful projects, and I love that they fit my budget.
Just yesterday I wishing I knew of a crafty, low priced wreath to make. Can’t wait to try this one! And I think any seasonal colors could be used for these wreaths!
that is amazing and so beautiful!! wish you were my neighbor so i could pay you with treats to make me one… ;)
You make the prettiest wreaths! I love the colors you chose for this one. I’m definitely going to have to try this project out for myself!
Totally LOVE this! Best coffee filter wreath EVER! I’m inspired!
What a stunning wreath. I’m off to buy coffee filters! :)
Wow! That is beautiful!!! It might just be my favorite of all the wreaths you have shared here!
It’s beautiful! The flowers are really really gorgeous! I absolutely love the colors and the added detail of the acorns and berries! Brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing!
Absolutely beautiful but seems like an awful lot of work. How long did this project take to complete :-)?
My secret to crafting time consuming crafts is doing it over the course of a couple of days. I just left out my supplies and made a few flowers when I had the chance. It did take a while, but when split up into chunks of time, it was only 20 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Once I had all of the flowers made, it took maybe an hour to attach them all to the wreath.
Beautiful wreath!!
This wreath is gorgeous and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the flowers look to make! I think I’ll make two: one for the fall and another for Halloween. I’ll definitely link to this tutorial when I post them on my blog!
I love your projects! Thanks for sharing!
Gorgeous!!! The flowers turned out lovely, look real! I’m loving the wreath!
What a gorgeous thing of beauty. (I especially loved your trusty filter drying line!) We are all blessed with so many gifts, and patience is not one of mine! I’d have to admit myself into some rehab program after tackling this project! Thank goodness for patient, talented people like you in the world!
so beautifully romantic. but I don’t see myself making 40 paper flowers. i’ll just appreciate yours.
This is simple beautiful! This is the first wreath I think I will attempt. Only I wish you would have shown a photo of the grape vine wreath before you transformed it into the magnificient fall wreath. The colors are so pretty!
I love coffee filter projects!! I am currently working on my coffee filter sofa, but I may have to take time out to make one of these wreaths…..
So pretty!! I would love to make one!
so beautiful!
Emily I agree. This is definitely your prettiest wreath! I love the others…they were lovely, a little edgy, and very fun. I just have to say this tutorial came about at just the right time. Two packages of coffee filters – and I don’t drink coffee – are waiting for a project. And seriously…I lost interest in the fluffy filter wreaths. But. Ta Da! Emily to the rescue!
Blessings!!!
Perfect. Thanks for sharing (and we’ll forgive you for not having your camera…this time).
Perfectly lovely – love the pic of the filters drying, and glad to know how to make these flowers – thank you much, Emily!
Well: WOW! looks really nice and soft (as Shelley says).
But sooo much time u did in this work. Well, i don’t think i have this time, because i want to do so many other things, also some of those u did. Oh and I’ve made one of those flowers for my baby girls headband :D
I honestly think those filter flowers look so much softer and better than silks would. Another great wreath Emily!
gorgeous!!
oh, emily.
I am STILL waiting for the crafting bug to bite me….
now the decorating bug? that’s another story!
hugs this day.
Thats beautiful! I thought they were real flowers!
Wow, I thought they were expensive silk flowers too. Genius idea.
This is so cool! I seriously thought when I looked at the first picture, that you must have bought some really nice silk flowers. They turned out great! I think they would also look really great attached to a package for gift giving. Love the colors too!