Coffee Filter Wreath Tutorial...Sort Of!

So I have become slightly obsessed with coffee filter wreaths...looking at pictures

of them that is!  With my Pinterest obsession (another obsession...sheesh!) it

is easy to find tons of lovely pictures of these gorgeous wreaths along with

great tutorials on how to make them.  I also went to my favorite boutique a few

weeks back and they had the most GLORIOUS white coffee filter wreath hanging

in a display.  I decided that it was time to give it a go!

Because there are so many tutorials out there, this isn't going to be a regular

tutorial as such, but rather I'll give you just a few hints that I found to be

extremely helpful.  I actually combined hints from several tutorials to make it

work right for me.  I found a lot of time saving hints.  Oh look on the left hand

side, the cardinal sin for photographers...the photographer in the mirror...what

a loser!  (*_*)  Anywho...

For my wreath, well, I wanted it big!  What is that expression..."go big or go

home"...well, yes...I followed that rule of thumb!  I started with an 18" straw

wreath form that I found at my local Hobby Lobby store.  You can use any form

obviously, but I wanted a strong one because I was going to make it rather large.

Next I went out and bought no less than 600 white coffee filters, the basket

type, not the cone type.  Yes...I did say 600!  Most tutorials out there use

around 200 - 300 filters...not this cowgirl!  I wanted it thick and big, not

skimpy!  I loathe skimpy!  (*_*)

You can see in this picture how densely the filters are packed in.  I started with

the row in the center of the wreath where the middle hole is to get it going and

then another row around the very outside edge.  I wanted to make sure that the

these two rows looked uniform.  Then I just glued in rows from the outside in...next time I would glue in rows from the inside out.  I think it would be easier because as you go along, the rows get more and more packed in and it's harder to work toward the inside edge.  A few tips that I found to be VERY helpful are...

Do NOT fold your filters.  I see alot of tutorials doing this and I couldn't figure

out why they folded them in a fan shape. What a lot of extra work!  What I did

is this...find a thick sharpie felt pen in your stash...you know, the thick ones

that are about four inches long or so.  They have a black lid and then a small

little round area on top about the size of a pinky fingernail...take

the end of the sharpie, grab your coffee filter and just put the end right in the

center of your pen and with your other hand in one smooth movement gather

the entire coffee filter down around the filter, put a pea sized dollop of hot glue

on the end and then attach it to your wreath.  No folding, no fooling around, it

is SO EASY this way!  I attached my filters in uniform rows and did not leave

any space between the filters.  Some tutorials leave 1" or 2" between each

filter while gluing it on.  I did not, I jam packed them in there and the result

was really amazing...remember, I did say almost 600 filters were used!

I also added some ribbon for decoration.  Mine has wide white organza, pink

silk, crinkled seam binding ribbon and a fabric flower in the center to tie it all in.

I didn't hot glue this on, I pinned it in case I want to move it around or put a

different decoration on it altogether.

A closeup of my ribbon and flower...

In this picture you can see how dense the wreath is.  The end result was pretty

uniform, but I did spend some time trimming the entire wreath with sharp craft

scissors to make it look even better!  See how lovely it looks and no folding

required to give it that cool, wavey look!

I will tell you that by using a sharpie to attach each filter, I did not burn my

fingers once!  That is worth it right there!  I did see this idea on someone's

tutorial, but I have no idea where I saw it so if this is your idea, write me

and I'll give you credit.  It's a really great idea!

Another thing...if you are going to use almost 600 filters like I did, be prepared

for it to take you awhile.  Those gals who say they can turn one of these out

in a few hours are definitely NOT!  Okay, they may be able to, but those are

the tutorials where they are using 200 or so filters.  Granted I did not work on

this straight through, but I'll bet it took me a good eight hours or more when
I did work on it.  It took me a weekend of working off and on...it would be

a good tv or movie watching project!

And here is my end result...a huge, fluffy white wreath for my wall.

I can't wait to make another one...it was really fun and it cost

me under $10 to do the entire thing!

Hope you enjoyed...

~Stacy~