How To Make Coffee Filter Peonies {Super Easy!}

Whew! What a couple of crazy weeks! My nephew's wedding was beautiful! I made several of these coffee filter peonies for this wedding arch.  Didn't it come out stunning?

(Yes... I did a little photoshop on that photo to soften it up and make it even more romantic.... :D )

My daughter and I did all the decorating for this, I couldn't have done it without her help and designer eye. We make a pretty good team! We were even kidding about how we should go into business together!

I just love how the arch turned out! They had the arch structure and we decorated it for less than $30!

This post is going to be a bit heavy on the pics, but a very easy tutorial is included!

So, let's jump right into it!! Here are the folding steps to create beautiful full fluffy peonies.

1. Fold the coffee filter in half.
2. Fold in half again.
3. Fold in half again.
4. And one more time in half.
5. Then cut the top off in the shape of an ice cream cone.

See how pretty they look all opened up?  Now, I'm going to show you how to get all these lovely shades of pink.

For a light pink only use a drop or two of red food coloring in a bowl of water.

For darker shades of pink use more food coloring.  I went even darker for some of the filters.

For a darker edge to the petals you can color the cut edges with marker and dip into water. They come out so beautiful and make the flower look more realistic.

After you've colored them, I squeezed out some of the excess and opened them up.  Then lay them out on a sheet of plastic. They dry fairly quick!

Next, you'll want some pipe cleaners for your stem.  I chose white, because I didn't want the stems to show. Cut the pipe cleaner in half.

Pick out 8 filters for each flower.  I suggest using different shades of pink.  It really makes the peony flower look soft and realistic.

Poke the pipe cleaner through the center of the filter... Yeah, I know I'm repeating the directions on the picture.... :D

I wanted these flowers to be sturdy and no risk of them falling apart and I wanted them to dry fast. One tutorial said to use white liquid glue.... really?  Who has time for that to dry???
Use a hot glue gun, you will be happy you did.  It drys quick and creates a very sturdy flower.

Apply glue along about 1/2" of the pipe cleaner poking out.
(This was interesting trying to take the picture with my left hand..... :)

Then quickly pull the filter over the glued area, pinch it with your thumb and forefinger with a twisting motion. It was kinda hard to get that motion on camera.... You want to pinch the base, where the glue is.

If you look closely, you can see the pinched base of the flower.

Next, use the bottom of the pipe cleaner stem and poke through the next coffee filter and pull it up near the base of the first filter.

Apply glue from your hot glue gun all around the base the previous filter and pull the new filter over the glue and pinch and twist again. You will continue this same process for all 8 of the coffee filters.

This is the base I was telling you about. That end is very secure and is holding all of the filters together on the pipe cleaner.

I found eight filters to be enough for a fluffy full peony flower. This is what 4 filters looks like.

And here is 8 filters. It looks so full and fluffy!

Gorgeous! We mixed the "peonies" with some faux hydrangeas, it gave just the right romantic look.  I also made a few coffee filter roses. Those were a bit harder, but complimented nicely.

One more look...

I'm so pleased that the bride and groom loved the way the wedding arch turned out! (Btw... do you see the little 'go-pro' hidden in there? :) It was a lovely weekend spent with friends and family! Hope you try these out. I'm thinking I should put some in a vase on one of my tables.

Blessings!