Roses From Coffee Filters

So pretty and realistic, great for weddings, gifts, or just prettying up your place!
We were on a tight budget for our wedding, but I had done wedding flowers for some friends and family, so when I found this tutorial on Martha Stewart's site at http://www.marthastewart.com/266346/paper-roses, I was thrilled to be able to actually MAKE my own flowers ahead of time from inexpensive coffee filters! We used them in all the bouquets, centerpieces (sorry no photos, dang it!), etc. It was a blast to make them, but be careful--I still have carpal tunnel after 150 flowers and several months later! It does take practice--expect to make a few before you really get it "right," and it is a bit time-consuming from cutting the template to curling the petals of the finished flower I gave it from about 40 min-1 hour per rose depending on the method you use to color them, but there are definitely ways to save time when you have a system.
I love that you can get exactly the color that you want--I had to do a lot of experimenting and found that I could only get that dark red from straight red food coloring, but the others were a mix of watercolors and food coloring. I found that the easiest way to color them was to dip them directly in water and food coloring. That way, when you hang them, gravity helps darken the petal tips.
The project time, by the way, does NOT include drying time.
It was a very DIY wedding--my husband made the bouts and the benches, my mom made the bridesmaids' jewelry, and my mother-in-law and aunt made the candy and fudge we handed out in the favor bags...
Okay, back to the flowers--one thing I loved about making them was that the paper is actually very resilient, and the colors are somewhat fixable. If they crush, you can simply dampen and reshape them, and if the color isn't quite right, you can simply dunk them in water to remove color and start over... Now, if only they smelled like roses... Happy flower-making!