I confess: Sunflowers used to be my least favorite flower.
Then, after many times of driving by Root Elementary in Fayetteville on the way to the farm and seeing them grow near the fence, they started to grow on me. After seeing fields and fields of them in Italy, I loved them. :) I decided to paint my own sunflowers! First, I painted a variety of coffee filters, newspaper, and brown paper bags with a mixture of yellow and orange paint. I let them dry for a night....Next, I drew a petal shape on the painted papers and cut it out. I glued the petals onto a circle I cut out from an onion soup box. :) I also cut out circles for the middle of the sunflower, put ModPodge on, and then sprinkled with coffee grounds. I then glued the dark middle of the sunflower to the petals, using Mod Podge again.
Last, to assemble the sunflowers I taped a stick to the back of the flowers, then also taped a brown felt circle over the back to make it look prettier.

The end result? A bit of cheer added to our dining room!