I’m so excited today! These gorgeous angel wings can brighten your home for years to come. While most people might use something like this at Christmas, I love displaying them throughout the year: a reminder that my guardian angel is always with me. I’m going to share with you how to make angel wings from coffee filters.
I’ll be upfront: it will take some time and dedication to make these. But I promise you, you’ll cherish these for years to come.
This project came about several years ago during a Christmas Home Tour where I joined other bloggers in decorating our homes with projects inspired by the Twelve Days of Christmas. It was a lot of fun.
Today I am sharing Seven Swans a Swimming! How did I come up with Angel Wings for Seven Swans a Swimming, you ask?
It all started when I read this poem:
I love how swans exude grace and elegance. Their wings are a stunning display of beauty.
I was totally inspired by how angelic they are!
Here’s how I made them.
How To Make Angel Wings From Coffee Filters
I used a super-sized piece of cardboard from the box that our new mattress was delivered in – perfect timing! My little model is over 4 feet tall and wanted to pose with it for reference.
I drew a wing on one side and then cut it out with an Exacto knife (like this one).
Later, I folded over the wing and traced it onto the other side so that they would be symmetrical.
Next, I folded the coffee filters and started gluing them with hot glue, starting at the bottom of the wings and then working my way up.
I put together this simple tutorial graphic to show you how I did it.
Coffee filter angel wings instructions
Fold the coffee filters into quarters, crease into a triangle at the bottom, hot glue onto the cardboard, two thousand, two hundred times! Yes, that’s right!
- 2,400 coffee filters (12 packages @ $1.48 per pack)
- 115 glue sticks (@ $3.98 per pack of 100)
You could probably even get away with a lot cheaper supplies by purchasing the coffee filters at the dollar store!
I’m not going to lie, many hours and many glue gun burns later I worked my way up the wings until they were finally, finally as beautiful as I envisioned they would be.
Progress:
I tucked each folded filter in tight next to the previous one and worked my way across the wings.
Here I what the side looked like before I finished it off with pretty edges:
Finally, I made a pretty finishing edge by laying them flat around the sides and then tucking them around the back.
Put on some great holiday music, place some cookies in the oven and keep your eye on the prize! They will be beautiful – I promise!
Angel wings on display
They look so stunning on top of my DIY Knockoff Faux Card Catalog that I showcased in our Knockoff Tour.
And since they were made with the mattress box, I thought it might be fitting to place them over our bed, although hubby is on the fence about it so they may not stay for long.
I just keep reminding him, “Happy Wife, Happy Life!” hee hee! Lucky for me, he usually puts up with my decor shenanigans – Bless his Heart!
If you’d like one of those pillows (yeah, I knew some of you might like it!), Amazon has a similar one here.
Thank you for stopping by! Please look around and see what other projects you might like.
Wow! This was a real labor of love but boy-oh-boy was it worth the time you put into making it. What a fabulous decoration for your home for Christmas!
Paula@SweetPea
http://www.virginiasweetpea.com
They are beautiful, Tami! What an amazing project. For sure worth all the work and glue gun burns. xoxo Maria
Tami, these are so amazing. I've been wanting to make a pair, but the task of cutting out all those shapes! Coffee filters are perfect! So elegant. Christy
Tami,
I love, love this project. Awesome and beautiful!!!!
I know these were a lot of work, but they turned out fabulous! They would be sweet above your daughter's bed too! XOXO
Hi, Tami! I’m in the process of making these for a heaven sent themed baby shower and will add a photo soon. But how did you get it hung on the wall?
Wow, just beautiful Tami!!! So much work…but so worth it!!!
Nancy
AhMazing Tami! I love your creativity! So beautiful and inspiring! Merry merry Christmas to you and yours.
So totally awesome! What an incredible piece to have for display. WOW! Jeanette
Really like these! Nice tutorial as well.
my word and bless your heart i bet your fingers were raw this are awesomely beautiful tami wanna make me some ha ha xx
Wow! You have such creative vision and talent. The wings are gorgeous.
Wow, this is absolutely gorgeous and so creative!
This is an absolutely stunning project. I am so very very impressed. Gorgeous and resourceful in every way! Wow is all I can say! I'm so glad we did this tour to see all these wonderful ideas!
Really incredible Tami! I am SO impressed by YOUR creativity and patience. Your angels wings look lovely above your headboard. AND they are beautiful for Christmas, too!!
Thanks for sharing on the tour.
Merry Christmas!!
This is totally gorgeous and I love it over your bed with your awesome pillows!!! I have a Facebook page called Angels at My Door with 50,000 followers and I know they will love these wings.
Tami, this is beautiful, you did an amazing job!! I love that you can use them for anytime of the year too!
First time visitor and all I can say is WOW and the amount of patience it took was amazing!
Fabulous job!
OMG!! These are gorgeous!!!! I may actually try this one myself.
LOVE your angel wings! Wow! What a project…a lot of patience!
Have a great week.
Leslie @ House on the Way
Wow! This is beautiful! And you are so patient to take the time to fold and glue all those coffee filters! Gorgeous, really.
These are on my to-do list! Thanks for the tutorial! Love them,
Debbie
Tami these are so, so beautiful. Perfectly full, fluffy and wonderfully layered. You outdid yourself. They are divine!!!! Pinning 🙂 xo ~Shannon
Tami that is STUNNING! I am blown away at your creativity. Thanks so much for sharing at the Dollar Christmas party. Always a pleasure to have you. XO
I love these! Can you please show a close up of the folded filter and how they’re applied together on the wings? I can’t see the detail and can’t seem to enlarge the photos. Thanks so much!
Karen, see if this helps: https://www.curbalertblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/folded-filter.jpg
Stunning!! I’m curious if you think the filters would hold some spray paint very well. Maybe a bit of glitter to the edges. Your thoughts?
I haven’t tried that. But you could try it on a separate cluster of filters, and see how it works. I think a little bit of glitter to the edges should work. Let me know if you try it.
I love the Angel wings. I hope to work on some like this , this year. You did a beautiful job. I love them.