Hi friends,

Let’s take a stack of coffee filters, food dye, and hot glue, to turn plain paper into beautiful blooms for your Fourth of July party.

Not only are the flowers as colorful and unique as you make them, they can be placed on tables, clipped to fabric for a patriotic photo booth, or hung on a rope for an easy garland option. Check out our patriotic paper flowers below.

*Click photos for a closer look

What You'll Need

Table Cover
Gloves
(16) Coffee Filters per flower
Dessert Paper Plate per 2 flowers
Scissors
Glue Gun
Food Dye
Small Bowls + Water
Old Towel/Rag
Optional: Large Bowls, Newspaper

The Steps

PREP

Cover your workspace, then cut 1 plate in half for every 2 flowers.
For each flower, fold 1 filter in half 3x, then cut narrow strips about 2 inches long. Set the plates & the cut white paper aside.
Place 15-20 drops of red, blue, and yellow dye(for an ivory color) in water bowls, then mix.
Separate 15 filters per flower.

DYE

Put on the gloves, place all 15 filters in the bowl until they’re fully covered, and then squish as much dye from them.
Open up the wad of filters and spread them out onto newspaper to dry or over a large bowl temporarily.

DYE

3. Repeat the same process with the next 15 filters in a different color(dry the gloves before moving onto a new color) or dip them with two colors as above:

a. Scrunch 5 filters together, dip the points in red, then squish the red out. Flip the filters over and dip them in the blue, then squish the blue out. Repeat with the next 10 filters.

b. Spread the dyed filters over the bowls temporarily.

4. When you’re done dyeing, move the filters from the bowls and lay them to dry on grass or onto newspaper.

a. Empty the dye bowls and dry one for the next step.

GLUE

Place 1/2 plate inside the bowl, add hot glue, and begin layering 5 sheets of paper, carefully pressing down between sheets. Turn the bowl as you layer and continue with 2 more layers of 5 sheets.
In the center glue one white filter with the cut strips.
Remove the flower from the bowl, press the center down well, and fluff up the layers.