Gerber daisy, peony, and lilac paper flowers

Hyacinths, Gerber daisies, and peonies

I recently saw a post on Aunt Peaches blog on how to make hyacinths from tissue paper and another post where she made dyed coffee filters to make roses. I decided to make some for my daughter's Easter birthday party.

1. I diluted 15-20 drops of food dye McCormick's Neon food color and egg dye in approximately 0.25 - 0.5 cup water in a small bowl. The edges of groups of filters were placed in dye until they were completely wet. I was a little impatient for the filters to dry, so I put them on top of a piece of newspaper on a cookie sheet in the oven at 225 degrees, checking every 20 minutes.

Dying coffee filters-- note that the coffee filters acted like chromatography paper and separated out the pink and the blue of the purple neon dye

Do you see the flowers I saw in these filters?

2. After the filters were dried, fold 3-4 at a time into eighths and cut the tops into a heart shape or smaller petals. Cut a 3" wide (by approximately 18" long) strip of yellow tissue paper, fold it in half and notch the folded side. Cut this strip into 4 pieces (approximately equal in length).

Different flower petal shapes

3. Two techniques for making flower centers:

• Aunt Peaches technique for making hyacinths to make the centers of the flowers:

Flower centers created with hyacinth technique

• Twisted coffee filter: twist yellow filter into a loose ball and stem -- like a large lollipop.

4. Flower assembly: snip off the tip of the folded coffee filters, open them up, and attach them to the flower center with floral tape, floral wire or a pipe cleaner.

5. Fluff out the petals, experiment, and enjoy! I started out to make hyacinths and roses, but ended up with Gerber Daisies and Peonies!