Coffee filters and tulle, who knew? You can dye them, string, crunch, glue, and tie them! I wanted to create something really vibrant that represented sea coral for C’s Under The Sea Birthday.  I found this great tutorial from Megan Makes on dying coffee filters.

My original thought was to use the filters to make our fish scale table runner, but after I finished dying them, they didn’t look right, too messy! Then it hit me – DIY sea coral!

Materials:

• dyed coffee filter, 3 pks. {Dollar store}
• pipe cleaners
• sturdy paper plates {I used 4 together}
• brad poker {optional, but very helpful}
• tulle
• hot glue

What’s Next:

1.  Dye filters and let them dry overnight.

2. Once dried, separate them into piles.

3.  Poke a hole in the plate and string the pipe cleaner through, then twist in a circular motion to secure it on the bottom. You can secure with tape if needed.

4.  Start to string the coffee filters on, alternate colors. {Tip} As you layer, scrunch them, some tighter than others.  It gives your coral more dimension and elevation.

5.  Once you have finished stringing and scrunching, add a “flower” filter on top.  To make a flower filter, pinch and gather at one end and twist.  I used these on the ends of the pipe cleaners to finish the look and to fill gaps at the bottom of the paper plate.  Add a dbab of glue to secure it and poke it through the pipe cleaner.

6.  Cut any remaining length off the pipe cleaner. Be careful, its sharp! Next, bend it down so it’s not pointy on top.

7. As a final touch, scrunch a piece of tulle, add a dab of glue, and secure it over the last filter {this will help hide the pipe cleaner nub}.  Finally, I dabbed hot glue on the bottom coffee filter to hide the paper plate.  Then I added 3 “flowers” on the remaining base of the paper plate to hide anything still showing.

Here are some final pictures:

The crab invitations were so fun to make!  We made a few different origami sea creature invitations.

Underwater Scene

Here’s our underwater scene with Seaweed, origami sea creatures, and sea coral garland.  For the garland strings, I found this great tutorial on Pam Garrison’s blog.

Want to see more of our Under The Sea birthday party?