Coffee Filter Wreath

After being inspired by several other bloggers out there like Nester, The Little Brown House, and The Pleasures of HomeMaking, I set out to create one of my own coffee filter wreaths.  How hard could it be, right?  It didn't seem difficult from what I read in blogland and based on the photos I've seen they look amazing......so why not?  Well...I'm going to be honest with you.  It IS beautiful and I DO love it, but it was a little bit of a PAIN in the @$$ to do.  Although there is nothing difficult about the process, it is very time consuming!  My husband even threatened to pry the glue gun from my hands when he found me still working at 1:00 am last week.  All in all, it took me about 6 hours to finish over the course of a few nights.  It really wasn't bad,  though, I just like to exaggerate and complian.  Or so my husband says.  Haha.

But, the most important part is that it was totally worth it.  I love it.

And the best part is that no one can tell that it's made out of coffee filters!  A few people at my party this weekend were shocked when I told them how I made it!  Some even asked me to make one for them since it sounded like it was pretty easy to do.  Ha...maybe if you hire me a full-time masseuse or trade me your first born child...but otherwise, no can do....

So....if I haven't deterred you with my ranting and you are still eager to make your own coffee filter wreath, here is a little how-to on the process.

Supplies:

Package of white (or brown) coffee filters (I used the larger-sized ones) - approx 200
Glue Gun
20 glue sticks (at least that is what I used)
1 Foam Wreath form

I started by separating out the individual coffee filters and pinching then at the bottom to make an almost flower-like shape.  See below....

Then I put a dollop of hot glue on the form (and occasionally right on the coffee filter) and held it in place for a few seconds.  I found that the best method was to create an almost flat bottom to the "flower-shaped" coffee filter before attaching it to the wreath to achieve the most secure outcome.  Every once in a while I would have to add a little more hot glue to the bottom to make sure it was going to stay in place.  Here is what my wreath looked like after a few coffee filters were attached. 

And then I just kept attaching them one by one next to each other until I achieved this..... 

I fully admit that I wanted to scream and throw my glue gun out the window about halfway through, but just keep pushing through and you will be so happy. It is totally worth it in the end and you will thank me. Well, actually, you will probably just thank yourself, but you know what I mean. Just keep glueing, just keep glueing.....

You can't tell in the photo, but I did not glue any coffee filters on the back.  By that point I just couldn't hot glue another thing.  And to be honest, it hangs more flat this way.  I made sure to do enough around the edges of the wreath so that you couldn't see the foam wreath form in the back when it was hung though.  I would definitely recommend that.

And last, but not least, I hung it using a piece of ribbon that I so imaginatively hot-glued to the back of the foam wreath form and hung over my built-in hutch with a thumb tack.  So easy!!!  Aside from taking a while to hot glue all of the coffee filters, this project is REALLY easy and REALLY affordable.  I totally recommend it.  I will absolutely use this in my house long after the holidays are over.  I might just put a different ribbon and hang it somewhere new to keep people guessing.  I love having versatile items that can accommodate any and all of my design whims (as they seem to change so frequently).  But when they are as cheap as this was (I think $5 total with some Michael's 50% off coupons and coffee filters that I stole from work already had) it is crazy not too!  I have even seen people making rectangular wreaths or trees out of coffee filters too.  There are unlimited possibilities with this seemingly underappreciated household item. 

So that's it for my wreath tutorial.  Have any of you made one of these before?  If not, has this inspired you to make one for yourself or hire a masseuse for me to make one for you instead?  I would love to see or hear all about it if you did!! 

Happy Glueing!!