DIY Floral Garland using Coffee Filters

Y’all know I love unqiue table accessories so when I saw a floral paper Garland used as a table runner, I was sold. Unfortunately the price was slightly beyond my budget. Sooo……. here’s what I did…..

This is an easy and cheap way to make a DIY Floral Garland using Coffee Filters from the inspiration I saw in the Ballard Designs catalog.

I plan to use this runner on my table as you see in the inspiration photo. However I love making garlands this time of year and you can see the one I made for my kitchen window here.

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Materials to Make a Diy Floral garland

• Coffee Filters (I used the small 1-4 cup size)
• Tape
• Ribbon – I used a two inch wide ribbon
• Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
• Coffee (optional)

The Flowers for the DIY Garland

First, you want to make your flowers from the filter’s. Begin by holding the filter in the middle and twist a small amount together.

Then to secure the twisted area, wrap with a small piece of clear tape.

After making several individual flowers, then begin to create sets of two to speed up the process of gluing them to the ribbon to create the DIY Floral Garland.

The total number needed will vary depending on placement and the length of the garland.

Construct Leaves for the Floral Garland

Next, begin to make several holly shaped leaves to attach to the garland.

Fold the coffee filter in half and begin to cut half moon shapes from the open side of the filter.

Then, open the filter and fold over in the center. Twist the bottom of the leaf and once again, use a small piece of tape to secure the leaf shape.

Again, the number needed will vary. I recommend making a good supply of flowers and leaves.

Start Constructing the Floral Garland

Begin by cutting the ribbon to the length you want your garland. I plan to use mine on my table, so I measured the table length and down the sides for the drop off.

I used ribbon I had left over from a previous project but a burlap ribbon would work nicely with this project.

First, spread your ribbon out and protect your table top. Then using a hot glue gun, begin attaching the flowers and the leaves randomly on the ribbon. I referred to my inspiration photo for placement.

Here, you can see the DIY Floral Garland is starting to take shape.

If you’d like to see a video tutorial – click here.

Staining the Garland – Optional Step

I felt the floral garland was a little to white for my table, therefore I decided to stain the coffee filters.

Because the garland was already in tact, I just used a paper towel soaked in coffee and gently wiped the wet paper towel over the garland to stain both the leaves and flowers. This will leave a very subtle stain on the garland.

Note: You can use brown coffee filters, however I used what I had on hand. In addition, I only wanted mine to be lightly stained. I’m concerned that the brown filter may be a little dark.

You can see how to use coffee to stain fabric here and to age labels here.

Although I love red and white, I felt the garland needed a little toning down.

You can see another red and white Christmas Table Inspiration on this post.

The Finished DIY Floral Garland using Coffee Filters

I look forward to sharing the full Christmas tablescape with the DIY Floral Garland in an upcoming post.