DIY Coffee Filter Garland

This coffee filter garland has got to be one of my favorite crafts ever! I was able to use the garland for my baby shower and I kept it as decor for my daughter's room decor. I hope you enjoy this DIY project as much as I did! 

*Video instructions at the end*

You'll need:

• Coffee filters (100)
• food coloring
• glass bowl (glass to prevent staining)
• gloves (to prevent staining your fingers)

Fill the bowl with warm water about one third of the way and add your food coloring of choice. I used the same food coloring for 75 of the filters. You can make the color more intense by adding more food coloring or by double dipping your filters. 

For 25 of the filters I wanted more of a light brown color so I used black coffee to stain those.

Once you have the color you like in your water, add about 10 filters at a time making sure they are fully submerged.

The longer you leave the filters in the more intense the color will be. If you want extra intensity, or a different variation of the color, take out the filters, squeeze the water out and re-insert them in the water once more. 

separate the filters and lay flat to dry or you can also toss them in the dryer for about 7-10 minutes to dry them quickly. I chose to lay them flat to dry because well, I just didn't want to warm up the house with having the dryer running since I am in SoCal :)

For this next part you are going to need:

• A needle
• Thread, string or ribbon

For this small sample, I used thread but on the original garland I used ribbon. Stack the fully dried filters in order that you want them on the garland, make sure to interchange the different shades you dyed.

Place the needle with the string through the filters and scrunch in small sections, separate and adjust according to your liking.

All done! My garland with 100 filters was about 10 feet long. I hung it for my baby shower all the way across and use it for room decor for my baby now. 

(I lightened the color of the garland to match decor by leaving it out in the sun a couple hours.

DIY: Simple Painted Pumpkins

For several years, I've been meaning to give this a try. I used to love carving the pumpkins but as time has gone by, I've been dreading the clean up more and more. In addition I also get irritated on how short the lifespan of the pumpkin is once it's opened.

I wanted to create something that I could display in my home as part of the fall decor through November so I gave these a shot.

Note this is my first time trying it so go easy on me.


Besides the pumpkin (duh), heres what you'll need:

1. Your choice in glitter
2. Acrylic paint, or any other craft paint you have lying around
3. Mod Podge

I took a cup a loosely traced a circle on my pumpkin. I then proceeded to draw lines all around the pumpkin to add a little something extra. You can add your own design if you'd like! Once all your tracing is there, fill this in with your base paint, mine is white. Let the first coat dry and add a second coat

Once my second coat was dry, I painted on my design. I chose the letter A (for my daughter's name). Additionally I outlined my white design with paint color #2 (black). 

Once these coats dried, I not added the mod podge with a paintbrush to completely fill the letter "A". Once I had a sufficient coating on there, I sprinkled the glitter on to fill the area. After the are was covered, I carefully dabbed a bit more mod podge on top of the glitter to help it stay in place. 

I tried several methods of applying the glitter and this is the one I felt gave the best result.

And there you have your final product. Even with the drying time, this took me less than an hour! Happy Crafting :)

*Tip* to add a gloss to the rest of your painted area, coat with a light layer of mod podge.