Coffee Filter Garland
Add a little color to your house with supplies right out of the kitchen.
To me a fireplace mantle is the equivalent of a display case in a store’s front window. It is the first thing you see when you come into the house and is such a focal point of the living room. With that in mind, my goal is to make this space window-shopping worthy. On our red oak mantel there are tiny hooks making it perfect for Christmas stockings and garland. Therefore I have developed the urge to create a garland to meet every season, theme and mood I want my living room to have.
I wanted something to shake off the post Christmas, early spring blues. It seemed that winter over stayed its welcome this year in Northern Indiana, so it was time to add some spring-like colors. I started with two vintage paint by number paintings purchased at our local antique store for $10. The art teacher in me dislikes paint by numbers, the antique lover in me wants to collect more of these.
Pulling some of my favorite colors from the painting and thinking about what you see outside in early spring, I settled on three colors. Blue, because nothing is better than a bright blue sky on a chilly day, white because it is fresh and new feeling, and brown (from old sewing patterns) for a darker, earthy color. Later as I made the garland I found out these three colors were not working so I added two more: a burnt orange/pink combo and a violet.
My inspiration come from an idea in the holiday issue of country living magazine. I loved the size and colors in this and I knew Trev would dig the simplicity. From here I gathered supplies and started to create.
Supplies:
Coffee filters
Old sewing patterns
Food coloring
Twine or rope (for a garland)
Needle and thread or floss ( for individual pom pons)
Hot glue gun
Cookie sheet
Plastic gloves
Step one: Coloring the coffee filters
Dip your coffee filters in 2 cups water and food coloring, while wearing gloves, squeeze out extra water and lay flat on a cookie sheet. Bake at 200 degree for about 10 minuets. This process makes the coffee filters have a nice texture for folding/crumpling later. If you are using old sewing patterns trace the size circle you want on the patterns and cut out. If you do not have old sewing patterns but like the color try gold tissue paper or dipping coffee filters in coffee.
soaking the coffee filters in food coloring
soaking the coffee filters in food coloring.
Using gloves is great for only dying coffee filters and not your hands.
Step two: making a single puff
Use a bead or sequence to hold the coffee filters together.
I made a pile of about 12 coffee filters, using a threaded needle I sewed up from the bottom and back down to secure the filters together. After making sure the thread was tightly knotted I starting scrunching the filters starting at the to, folding the following on around the previous. I made them way tighter than needed and then undid some scrunching to create the look I liked. At first I thought it would be fun to make separate ones and attach them to the twine, but they hung really odd, however these are awesome accent pieces.
A single pom pom is fun to add to the top of a gift in place of a bow.
Step Three: creating the garland
After measuring the length of the twine to the length needed for the fireplace I grouped the tissue paper to create different arrangements. After making 3 that were with the brown, blue and white I hung it up to see how I liked it. Once I got a look at it I was a little concerned it looked like I was throwing a baby shower for a little boy, Trev agreed, so back to the drawing board. I mixed up more food coloring and tried for peach/orange color to contrast the blue. To create each separate poof simply cut a whole in the middle of a group of coffee filters and then string them on the twine where you want them. Cut the hole very small with a scissor or exacto-knife. Hot glue the end to keep the filters from sliding to the right, then from the middle of the section start scrunching the filters to the side that is hot glued. Repeat on the other side so you have two sections pushing away from one another; pull them apart slightly to create the look you like. Once you have the pom pom the way you like, secure the other end with hot glue. Repeated this until you have filled up the twine. I would recommend every so often stopping and hanging it up so you can see it from a difference. This is one of those crafts you do not want to get to the end of and realize you do not like the symmetry of the whole piece.
I put a pompom on each end of my garland to finish it off and not see just twine on the ends.
Coffee filter garland hanging on the fireplace
Sewing patterns adding different colors and textures to the garland.
Step Four: hang up and enjoy!!!
I made my colors very spring-like, but this is a project you could color coordinate for any season. If you have any good fireplace garland ideas please let me know, I'm always trying to find fun things to put on ours. Happy crafting friends!!!
