DIY Coffee Filter Poinsettia
Guaranteed Fabulous, Budget and Kid Friendly Holiday Craft
Supplies (yields about 16 poinsettias):
1. Large bowl
2. Spoon
3. Water
4. Food coloring or acrylic paint in red, yellow, green and blue
5. 200 white basket coffee filters
6. 32 white, 9” uncoated paper plates
7. Plastic bags or drop cloth
8. Scissors
9. Stapler/staples
10. Glue gun/glue sticks
11. 1.5” red ribbon
12. One command hook per cabinet
Directions:
1. Group filters for dyeing: 64 dark red, 48 light red, 32 yellow, 48 green, and 8 left over. Add plates to the dark red group.
2. Make dark and light red poinsettia “petals,” yellow centers, and green leaves. Fill a large bowl with about 1 cup of water. Add about 5 drops of red dye or paint and stir with spoon. Place one of the 8 leftover filters into the mixture until saturated. Remove filter from bowl and place on plastic bags/drop cloth to dry. Experiment with making different darker and lighter shades of red in additional bowls, using remaining 7 left over filters to test color. The more dye/less water used, the darker the color will be. Dye all plates, 64 dark red, and 48 light red filters. Repeat process to make 32 yellow and 48 green filters. Variation in color is great! Feel free to play with color by adding blue to make some darker or more purple shades of red. Add yellow to green to make brighter greens.
3. When dry, cut red and yellow filters into flower shapes. Pro tip: make the darkest red colors the largest and the lightest yellows a bit smaller.
Fold each filter in half 3 times. Holding the folded filter so that the point is at the top and the rounded edge is at the bottom, cut a V shape out of the bottom. This will give each flower 8 “petals.” Unfold and stack according to color.
Fold each plate in half twice. Holding plate with the point at the top and rounded edge at the bottom, cut an upside-down V shape out of the bottom. This will give each flower 4 “petals.” Make cuts more curved than straight, as pictured.
Cut green filters into leaf shapes.
4. Make individual poinsettias by stacking 9 filters on top of each other.
Use 4 of the dark red filters on the bottom, 3 of the light red filters in the middle, and 2 yellow filters on top.
Staple together in the center.
5. Starting with the top filter, gently scrunch into a loose ball.
Scrunch the second layer around the first.
Repeat with all layers.
Fluff and arrange.
6. Hot glue two paper plates together, staggered and stacked, then hot glue onto the bottom of filter poinsettia.
7. Hot glue between 1 and 3 green leaves onto the back of each poinsettia.
8. To hang on cabinets, measure how much ribbon needed to reach the outside center of cabinet to the inside and cut.
Hot glue poinsettia onto one end of ribbon and attach to cabinet back with a knot in the other end of the ribbon around a command hook.
Bonus:
Experiment with using your poinsettias in different ways. Hot glue to a wreath, lantern, napkin rings, or make a garland using a long strand of ribbon. These are also lovely tucked between the branches of a Christmas tree or attached as a present topper. Your imagination is the limit!
