DIY Paper Hydrangea Flowers & Hostess Gift Idea

FTC Disclaimer: I was compensated for this post. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

The home entertaining season will be upon us very soon.  Thanksgiving, end of the year parties, Christmas, and New Years will be rolling in one after the other.  I started thinking about hostess gift ideas a few weeks ago and really wanted to do something unique.

DIY Paper Hydrangea Flowers Inspiration

Usually, I just pick up a bottle of wine and maybe a dessert on my way to a friend’s house.  But this year, I thought I’d try my hand at recreating something I’ve admired for years.  The Venus Et Fleur forever roses.

If you don’t know what these are, they are a real rose that has been cultivated not to wilt for a year.  Yes, I said a year.

They’re really remarkable.  They’re also really expensive.  The Le Petite arrangement that Venus Et Fleur offers includes only 4 forever roses and costs $139!

Frankly, as much as I love the idea and appreciate the craft that went into creating these flowers, I would never pay that much.

That being said, I do love the idea of gifting forever flowers to someone.

Since I wasn’t about to grow my own forever roses, I started to wonder how I could make a realistic-looking bouquet from scratch.  Frankly, about 95% of the time you can easily distinguish an artificial flower from a real one.

This is why a lot of interior decorators will tell you to use fake flowers in locations that are farther away, such as a fireplace mantel.  For locations that are closer like a kitchen island, use real flowers.

I wanted something that would look so real they could be used anywhere.  I also wanted to create something other than roses.

My two favorite flowers are lilies and hydrangeas.  Out of the two, I thought hydrangeas would be the best candidate because they have so much texture.  They wouldn’t require the precision of smooth long pedals like with lilies.

So, I went to YouTube and searched for paper hydrangeas.

One of the first results I found was a tutorial on how to create paper hydrangea flowers from coffee filters.  This immediately spoke to me because my husband and I had created a flower photo backdrop for our daughter’s first birthday using coffee filters.

The video “DIY | Simple Realistic Hydrangeas – Coffee Filter Flowers” by a channel called Your House a Home TV was the tutorial I followed.

As an amateur crafter, I wouldn’t exactly call this simple.  But, it was well explained and I was successful in the end.

I deviated only slightly from the instructions and skipped a few steps out of impatience.

DIY Paper Hydrangea Crafting Supplies

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• Coffee Filters
• Food Coloring
• White Chalk Paint (optional)
• Greeting Card
• Floral Stems
• Floral Tape
• Glue Gun
• Scissors/Xacto Knife
• Coffee Can
• Self Adhesive Contact Paper (any style you’d like)
• Large Bowl
• Small Bowl
• Cup
• Paint Brush

Creating a Base Color

First, you’re going to create a base color for your coffee filters.  If you get the natural brown colored coffee filters you can skip this step.  If you get the bright white coffee filters you’ll need to do this.

To get the base color, fill a large bowl with water just deep enough to cover the stack of coffee filters.  To create 1 dozen paper hydrangea flowers you’ll need 96 filters.

Note:  You don’t need to count these individually.  Most large filter packs come with 200, so just grab about half.

To the water, add 5 or 6 drops of green food coloring, 3 or 4 yellow drops, and 1 or 2 red drops.  This should get you close to a realistic green color.  Adjust as needed.  You’re looking for a brownish swampy green color.

Soak your filters for 5 minutes and then ring them out gently to get the excess water out.  Next, put them on a microwave-safe plate and microwave them on high for 4 minutes.

I recommend doing these in 3 or 4 batches.  Here’s what they should look like when you’re done.

Cutting Your Paper Hydrangea Flower Shapes

Once all of your filters are dry and have a base color its time to cut the flowers.  Take 2 filters and stack them one on top of the other.  Fold them in half.

Then, fold them in half for a second time.  Now cut a slit down the folded spine that’s about two thirds the length of your triangle.

For a detailed look at this, I refer you to the original video.  Once you’ve done this fold in half for the third time and cut down the spine.  Finally, fold in half for the fourth time and cut down the spine.

At this point, your stack should be small and thick.

On one side of the triangle, you’ll sketch four petals and a stem-like shown above.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s just a guide to help you cut the shape.

Now, use either small sharp scissors or a Xacto knife.  I found the Xacto knife to be much easier because all I had were large dull scissors.  The blades were way too thick.  It was nearly impossible to cut out a shape this small with them.

Once you’ve got the flower cut, unfold it 3 times until you’re back at the point where the filter has only been folded over once.

Repeat these steps for the rest of your filters.  You’ll need 8 individual filters for 1 dozen flowers.

Remember to fold them in stacks of two.  This will make the process faster.

Dyeing the Flowers

Okay, the hard part is over.  The rest of the process will be a breeze in comparison to cutting the flowers.  In a small bowl or dish, you’re going to mix your colors.

Whatever color you’d like your flowers to be, mix a very small amount using the food coloring.  Fill a small cup with clean water to help you dilute the mix as you go.

Note: If you’re going for a mauve/blush pink like I did you’ll need to mix in white paint.  I’m almost embarrassed to admit how many times I tried to create mauve using just the food coloring in the pack before Googling it and realizing I needed to add white.  I used what I had on hand which was chalk paint and it worked out fine.  Just mix it in well with the food coloring.

Now, dip your paintbrush into the plain water and dab the 4 petals on each of the hydrangeas stems to saturate the coffee filter.

At this point, your filter should still be folded in half.  Then, dip the very tip of your paintbrush into your color, picking up the smallest bit and brushing it onto the petals.

I can’t stress enough how little paint you need to do this.  It will have a watercolor type effect and will spread down the stem of the flower very easily, so don’t overdo it.

Once you’ve hit all the petals, flip it over to make sure the color is saturated to the backside.  If there are any dry patches, hit them with a water/color mixture.

Then, place the flower on a microwave-safe plate.

Repeat this process for the rest of the flowers.  When you’re about 1/4 of the way complete put the first batch of paper hydrangea flowers in the microwave to dry.

Start at 1 – 2 minutes and check them.  They won’t need as much time to dry as the base color since only a portion of the filter is wet.

If you over-dry them they’ll start to burn, become brittle, and fall apart.  You can see in the photo above where some of my filters started to burn.

Repeat this process until all of the filters have been colored and are dry.  Now you’re ready to finish up the paper hydrangea flowers.

Forming the Flowers

In this last step, you’ll form the flowers and add the stems.

Stack 8 coffee filters on top of one another rotating/alternating them slightly as you go along. Next, you’re going to loosely roll your coffee filter into a cone.

To do this, lay it in front of you still folded in half.  Place your finger at the center of the folded spine and begin rolling from one side.  You’ll only need two or three turns to get it into a cone.  The pointy end of the cone should be formed where you placed your finger.

Again, for a detailed look at this check out the Your House a Home TV’s tutorial.

Place a bit of hot glue along the edge of the cone to secure it, and you’re done.  The flower head has been formed.

Fluff out, then scrunch the petals gently.  You should have a small hole at the bottom of your cone.  Squeeze a drop of hot glue into the hole and slide your floral stem into the base.

Finally, wrap the flower from the base of the flower head down the stem with the floral tape in a tight spiral motion.

Note: If you’re having trouble inserting the stem into the bottom of the cone, you likely rolled it too tight.  To remedy this just snip a bit off of the base of the cone with the scissors to help create a larger opening.

Note 2: If you want, you can create the leaves as she did in the video.  I didn’t do that.  I cheated and found some leaves from artificial flowers I already had and hot glued them to the side of half of the flowers.

Note 3: You could skip this wrapping of the stem with floral tape altogether if you wanted.  It really depends on the look you’re going for and how exposed the stem will be in your arrangement.

Coffee Can Vase

Creating a vase out of the coffee can is simple.  Cut your contact paper so it will cover the exterior of the can.

I recommend cutting it at a height that’s an inch taller than the can.  Doing this will allow you to have more room for error when you’re affixing the contact paper.

If you cut it exactly to size before you apply it you’ll have to make sure your contact paper is straight as an arrow while rolling it around the can.  If you have an excess on the top and bottom, however, you can simply trim it away at the end.

Thank You Card & Paper Hydrangea Flowers Bouquet

Finally, arrange your flowers and choose a really pretty greeting card to go along with your bouquet.  Something that says “Thank You” or “Thinking of You”.

For my arrangement, I choose a colorful Thinking of You card from Heartline a Hallmark Company.

It had a gorgeous graphic on the front that really popped with my monochrome arrangement.  If you know me or have hung around the blog for a bit, you know I buy all of my greeting cards from Dollar Tree.

They truly can’t be beaten with the quality they offer and their prices.

Today, August 25th, marks 1 year that they’ve been carrying the Expressions from Hallmark and Heartline a Hallmark Company’s cards.  You can get them at over 6,800 Dollar Tree stores nationwide and there are cards for every occasion.

The Hallmark Expressions cards, like most items at Dollar Tree are only $1.00 and the Heartline cards are 2 for $1.00, which is awesome!

Adding one these to your paper hydrangea display is like the icing on the cake.  It gives you the chance to let your recipient know that you handcrafted this gift with them in mind.

It also gives you an opportunity to express your gratitude for them eloquently.

The Hallmark Mahogany, Tree of Life, Joyfully Yours, and Vida lines are also available in select stores.  For more info on those, click here.

By the way, this year Dollar Tree is celebrating with a special sweepstakes event.  You can win a year’s worth of greeting cards plus a $100 gift card to Dollar Tree.  They’re picking 20 winners and you can enter here if you’re interested.

Enter by September 7th.

Final Results

Here’s another look at how my paper hydrangea flowers turned out.  It was 100% worth the effort.

Making the flowers did take a bit, considering I made a full dozen.  But, you can scale up or scale down depending on your needs.

It took me a few days to complete this project mostly because I was juggling a newborn and a toddler at the same time.

If you’re not and have uninterrupted crafting time, I’d say it might take you 4 – 5 hours start to finish.

That’s it for this post.  I hope this gave you a little DIY inspiration.  Click here to check out my other DIY decor posts.

If you try this project I’d love to see how yours turned out.  Tag me on Instagram and feel free to comment below with any questions.