Coffee Filter Flowers

These coffee filter flowers are so pretty and SO easy (and cheap!) to make.  I found the idea on a darling site called Brown Paper Packages and decided to make these for my entryway (I just refinished a mirror and shelf and the poor shelf was looking awfully bare!).  Trust me, these are super simple and once you start you just might not stop... I'm thinking of making smaller flowers to affix to gifts - there are tons of things you can do with these!

Ok, here are the instructions:

Supplies:

8 coffee filters

Scissors

Glue

Wire

Floral Tape

Cut down 4 of the coffee filters as shown above (you can discard the small piece you just cut off).  

Now fold the filters individually (or two at a time) - you'll fold the filter 8 times total:

Fold 1

Fold 2

Fold 3

Fold 4

Snip the folded edge at an angle as shown above.

Open up one fold...

... and round out the edges to make a heart shape.  This does NOT have to be perfect - you won't be able to tell once you start assembling the flowers!

Once you've done this with all of the filters, separate the 4 smaller ones from the 4 larger ones.

Starting with a small filter, poke a hole through the middle and stick the floral wire through it.  You'll want to bend the top of the wire as shown above.  Dab just a touch of glue to the bent wire (I used hot glue, but really any kind will do)

Next comes the twisting!  This is a little confusing to explain, but trust me - you'll figure it out in no time!  All you need to do is start twisting the filter around the wire and onto itself.  See the picture above - this is the first filter twisted around the wire.

Next, slide another small filter onto the bottom and twist away!  You'll add all 4 small filters, then all 4 large filter - twisting in between each layer.

Here is what it looks like after the 4 small filters are on.  Really, you could stop here if you want a smaller flower.  I wanted nice big flowers for this project, so I kept going and added the larger filters!

Here is the final flower with all 8 filters.

All that's left to do is wrap the stem up with floral tape!  You'll want to wrap it really tight up around the base of the flower to keep it from unraveling or loosening.  Once that's secure, wrap the rest of the floral wire.  That's it!

You can display your flower alone or with several of them bunched together.  I have 3 displayed in a small vase in my entryway and love it!  I haven't tried it yet, but you can dye the coffee filters to make colored flowers - check out this great tutorial on how to do that.

Enjoy your beautiful flowers and happy creating!!

Spring Wreath

I have to admit, I don't LOVE the way this turned out.  I really like the version on Mad In Crafts where the oh-so-creative Jessica used magnolias (see it here).  But I like it and I'll definitely display it this year.  And it only cost me $4 and it was super easy to make, so no real loss I guess!

I found all these supplies at the dollar store - 13" wreath and 3 bouquets of (fake) flowers.  In included one bouquet of colored daffodils for a little pop, but you can keep it all one color - or make it lots of different colors!

Clip the stems off the flowers (use wire cutters - trust me, it will save you time, frustration, and your scissors!) and use a hot glue gun to attach the flowers to the wreath.  No rhyme or reason here... it's all up to you how you want to arrange your flowers!  The whole thing should only take you a few minutes, so this is a cheap, easy, and fun craft!

The dollar store has tons of spring flowers right now, so I may try this again with some different kids of flowers (maybe magnolias a'la Mad In Crafts!!).  Happy creating!

Fun and Unique Bookends

How cute are these?!?  I saw this genius idea from a great little site called Mad in Crafts and decided to try something similar!

I found these two toys from Goodwill for $1 each.  By a stroke of good luck, I found a couple of sets of plain metal bookends at Goodwill too - each set was $1!

I used my Dremel tool to cut each of the toys in half. 

***Make sure to use safety glasses and a mask.  Cutting these plastic toys kicked up a LOT of little plastic particles, so please be safe!!

UPDATE: I have found that using a chop saw is much easier to use to cut these and gives you a nice clean edge.  A Dremel will still work, just a suggestion!  And again - wear safety glasses!!!

I used Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint to give them a great bronze look.  You'll want to use several light coats of spray paint to keep the paint from running. 

UPDATE: I've found that it looks better if you glue your pieces on the bookends FIRST, then paint the entire piece.  Obviously if you want your animals a different color than the bookends, then don't do this, but otherwise try it this way :)

Once the paint has had plenty of time to dry, just glue each half onto the metal bookend (I spray painted those bronze as well).  I use E6000 glue and so far it's held up really well.

That's all there is to it!  I'll be scouring the thrift stores for more fun toys to cut in half :)

UPDATE: I have found some really cute animals at the dollar store, but they were too short to attach to bookends with the hole in the middle (like the ones with the horse attached above).  I've come up with a solution: use a small piece of wood from the craft store (mine were $.79 at Michaels).  Attach the wood to the bookend, the animal to the wood, then paint the whole piece.  Here's an example:

Have fun creating your own bookends.  Or if you really like the ones I made, check them out on my Etsy shop!  Happy creating friends!

Repurposed Thrift Store Lamp

Several weeks ago I went "thrifting" with a few girlfriends.  We spent the whole morning shopping around the local thrift stores - Salvation Army, DAV, etc.  It was so much fun and each of us spent around $10 and came home with bags and bags of goodies!  

One of my treasures was this lamp I walked away with for $2.50!  It's in great shape and it works!  Sorry for the crummy picture - it was rainy outside and I didn't realized how bad the lighting was when I took these pictures!

I picked up this lampshade at a thrift store for $2 and the vintage floral sheet for $1.  

**Here's a great tip I learned from a friend of mine who makes quilts, pot holders, etc. - you can find some really great vintage fabrics at thrift shops!  Look for sheets and curtains that are in good shape.  A lot of the vintage sheets are actually good quality and the patterns are unique and can be really beautiful.  Here's a link to my friend's blog and her Etsy shop.

Ok, now for the tutorial!  First you'll want to paint your lampshade if it's not already white.  My fabric is mostly white, so I didn't want the shell pattern on the shade to show through!  If you find a white lampshade, you can skip this step.

To measure out the fabric, just lay your lampshade on its side and using a pen or fabric marker, draw a line next to each side of the shade (top and bottom) as you roll the shade in one complete circle.

It's hard to see in this picture, but you can (sorta) see the two lines on the back of the fabric

You'll actually want to cut about an inch or so outside of the lines you just made and just a bit longer than what will fit around the shade.

I used hot glue, but you can use a spray glue or fabric glue.  Glue one end of the fabric to the lampshade then roll the shade up with the rest of the fabric.

TIP - I didn't do this, but I learned my lesson.... if you cut your fabric a little longer than needed, you can fold over the fabric and glue it at the seam.  It just looks a little nicer than what I did, which was just to cut off the excess fabric (leaving a rough edge).  See how I fixed this below.

Once your fabric is glued around the lampshade, you'll need to glue the excess fabric over the edges.  I knew my lamp would be right about eye-height, so I didn't take too much care making this look very neat.  If the lamp will be on a table where people may be able to see down inside the shade, you'll want to trim this over hang so it barely lays over the edge.

The bottom side is easy, just flip it under and glue it.

The top was a little more difficult since it has the place where it attaches to the lamp base.

Just cut a line into the fabric perpendicular to the edge of the shade to  get it to lay flat and go around the metal pieces.

At this point, you could stop.

I decided to add a little ribbon to the top and bottom of the shade for a little more detail.  I also added a strip down the back of the shade where the seam in the fabric is (just because my seam was a little messy).

Unfortunately you can sort of see the shells through the fabric, but only when the sun is shining right through it!  Even with the light on, you can't tell.  Next time I'll look a little harder and find a plain white shade to prevent this!

Here's the final product again:

I love the way it turned out and for about $6 total, I have a unique and chic lamp to go by my crafting desk for a little more light on these cloudy and rainy days (ick).

Good luck with creating your own custom lamp!