I hope you’re in the mood for DIY!  You will be once you try out this simple and elegant  paper project.  This project will be available at MADE’s make-and-take station at Craft-O-Matic on Saturday.

I will be demo-ing this project live on KMOV Channel 4′s Great Day St. Louis Wednesday afternoon at 10am – tune in to see how it’s done! This is the coffee filter version of the Upcycled Paper Flower Bouquet.  You can adapt this project and use any paper you like – discarded and vintage books, newspapers, magazines, junk mail, coffee filters, etc.   The more eco-friendly the better!  This project is suitable for any age and skill level – if you can hold a pair of scissors, you can make these flowers. So, let’s get to it!

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Coffee Filters, White glue, Scissors, Pipe cleaners (you can get these at any craft store)

Coffee filters don’t need much cutting – simply fold each filter in half diagonally three times.

Cut a curved petal shape across the top.

Open up the flower.  See how easy that was?  You can make lots of different sizes simply by cutting a smaller petal shape.

Stack different sizes and textures together to create a more dimensional flower.

Glue the layers together with a fat dot of glue in the center.  Let the glue set about 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, the center of the flower will still be slightly damp but the glue will have set a little.  Push a pipe cleaner through the center of the flower from the back side.  Push the pipe cleaner through about 1 inch.

Make a loop in the top of the pipe cleaner and gently push it back through the center of the flower just a little bit.  This creates a sort of “stopper” to keep the flowers from sliding off the pipe cleaner.

Turn the flower over and squeeze a little glue around the base of the flower, where the pipe cleaner goes through.  Let it sit, flower-head-down, until completely dry.

Holy cats!  Look what you made!

You can come get a tutorial in person at Craft-O-Matic this Saturday at the Regional Arts Commission.  We’ll have some really beautiful and striking paper flowers already made from vintage magazine pages and books; you can buy them at the craft show or you can make your own with help from a crafty volunteer – a small donation to MADE would be appreciated

The book version of this craft will be posted this week!

Happy flower-making!

Thank you to everyone who submitted the adorable and fun (and beautifully drawn!) artwork for the Robots & Kitties Design Competition – every piece submitted will be sold at Craft-O-Matic and the proceeds will go to benefit our nonprofit sponsors.  We appreciate the very generous and giving spirit in which all of our artists participated!  It was a really hard choice…we oohed and aahed over every single one and each piece made us very, very happy – they’re all so different from one another!

The winning design is titled “Kittieoid” and was created by Lori Austin – check out more of her amazing artwork and jewelry at her Etsy shop – www.lalalori.etsy.com.

We are SO in love with Kittieoid and we’re going to have some accompanying merchandise available at Craft-O-Matic with his image on it, all proceeds will of course be donated.  Could you love him any more?  Could you?

Check out this adorable piece of artwork by Emily Abrams!  Guaranteed to make you say “awwwww….”  Adoptable kitties make even a mechanical robot heart melt a little!  You can see more of Emily’s work at www.emilysescape.etsy.com – she’s one of our very own Craft Mafia members!

I hope you love cupcakes. I hope you LOVE locally-sourced organic cupcakes even more, because they’re going to be available at Craft-O-Matic!

We’re so excited to have Farm Fresh Cupcakes at our craft show – Kaylen will be selling her delicious and healthy cupcakes all day, or at least until she runs out! Get ‘em early!

Farm Fresh Cupcakes vends at Tower Grove Farmer’s Market – you can check out her Facebook page here – https://www.facebook.com/farmfreshcupcakes

Two amazing pieces of art from Christopher Lynch! You can check out more of his work at www.funk-and-flash.com. These ink drawings are titled “Madonna & Child” and “The Jetsons’ Cat.” Awesome!

These works will be for sale at Craft-O-Matic with all proceeds going to our nonprofit sponsors.

Check out this great Craft-O-Matic Etsy treasury by Stick To Your Knittin Kittten, one of our fabulous vendors!