`Self-worth is a stepping-stone to Self-love
Relax your fears and spread your goodness for all to see`
I first discovered coffee filter roses back in the spring when I was searching for alternatives to live flowers for my daughter`s wedding – Martha Stewart has this great tutorial on her Website by crafter Cassie Chappell http://www.marthastewart.com/266346/paper-roses I tried making a few roses, using watercolours to tint the roses and I loved what I created, but they were time-consuming to make and I had lots of flowers to make for the wedding, so I ended up making Mexican tissue flowers instead. You can see my Mexican tissue flower creations in an earlier post. I discovered The-White-Bench Blog http://the-white-bench.blogspot.com/2011/09/tutorial-coffee-filter-roses.html by Monica who lives in Italy, I find it amazing that we can be in touch with artists sharing their talents on the other side of the world. She generously provided a tutorial of her version of the coffee filter roses in a vintage style which I absolutely loved. I decided to try Monica`s take on the filter roses and have created 16 roses to use as Christmas gifts for my special girlfriends.
I used the pattern available for download from the Martha Stewart site and instead of using florist tape to wrap the rose petals I used thread instead; once the rose petals were all attached I positioned the petals and then dipped and soaked the rose into a coffee and cinnamon mixture, and then sprinkled a bit more cinnamon on the petals, rubbing the cinnamon into the leaves. I placed the tinted roses onto a tin foil covered cookie sheet and into the oven at 350 for 15 minutes, be very careful, put the timer on, because if your oven is too hot the leaves will burn quickly. I put my flowers in before the oven was totally heated and then left them for 15 minutes then turned the oven off and left the flowers in the warm oven for another 5-10 minutes to ensure they were totally dry. I brushed off the excess cinnamon on the petals and wrapped the stems with masking tape and then attached a chop stick with masking tape wrapping down the stick until it feels secure, (who knew one day all those chops sticks I have saved would come in handy). Next I took ribbon and wrapped it around the chopstick; using the pointed end of a chopstick I curled the petals to give a

Coffee Filter Vintage Roses
more realistic look to the flower. I have saved vintage lace ( I think my grandmother actually crocheted the lace long ago) over the years and used that to embellish the rose stem. I had a roll of pearls that I wove into the vintage lace and then grouped 2 or 3 together and tied some burlap around the stems and added a vintage looking button on the knot to finish it off. I love the finished look, the

Coffee Filter Rose Bouquet
flowers are beautiful, they will last for a long time and they smell good….cinamon. I think they make a great hostess gift or a lovely gift for a friend, plus they are inexpensive to make just takes your time. The final touch was adding a little hand painted shipping tag that I stamped with Thank You, Merci, Gracia for a very special person.
Once you get into a rhythm of making these roses it doesn`t take too long may be about 30 minutes per rose and the results are well worth the time. I am pretty sure I will be making more and even some for my own home.
Until next time – happy creating!
Michelle