Materials Needed:

• large and small coffee filters (approximately 25 per tree)
• green and yellow fabric dye
• 12" wooden dowel per tree
• foam cylinder for a base
• gold spray paint
• scissors

• plastic bowl
• 1 cup and 1 teaspoon measuring spoon
• baking sheet
• paper towels
• hot glue gun and glue sticks

Mix Dye and Dip Filters

Fill plastic bowl with 1 cup of water. Measure 1/8" teaspoon each of green and yellow dyes and add to bowl; stir well to mix. Holding a coffee filter by its center, dip ends into dye for approximately five seconds. For a more saturated shade, leave the filter in the dye longer. Vary the amount of color you allow to penetrate so filters vary from dark (largest size) to light (smallest size). Place dyed filters on a paper towel-covered cookie sheet to dry.

Ready Foam Base

Coat base with gold spray paint and allow to dry. Then insert dowel into center of base being careful not to go all the way through. Tip: If base feels wobbly, remove dowel, add a drop of hot glue to the tip, then reinsert into base.

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Cut Filters

Before stacking, lay out filters from dark to light to determine which ones need to be cut. To retain their circular shape when cutting, fold filters in half three times to create a pie-shaped triangle. Using scissors, cut around the curve, varying the amount you remove so filters' diameters taper from large to medium to small.