Coffee and Craft Foam for Fall

Coffee and donuts for sure but what about Coffee and Craft Foam?!? Bet you never thought of those two things together… Perhaps this post was inspired by the fact that we are located across the parking lot from a coffee roaster and have to smell roasted coffee all day. Hmmm… Quite possible. Well, no matter how we were inspired, this post is so creative and fun. Oh, and we should mention that it is messy too! Reminds us of making mud pies in the backyard when we were little. Try it and see what you think!

Since its Fall and Fall Crafts are so much fun to make, we have been busy creating and experimenting (always have enjoyed science), with some new and fresh ideas. We think we hit a home run with this one… Coffee and Craft Foam. By simply pressing Craft Foam Shapes into used coffee grounds, letting shapes dry, and wiping off the excess you can make these Fall Shapes:

These shapes can be used for hanging on tree branches, made into tags for gifts, used for garland, or added to wood craft sticks (also colored with coffee grounds) for a great centerpiece ~ like the one pictured above. You can even add “thankful words” with Sharpie Markers to the shapes. The cool part is no one will guess they are made with craft foam and coffee…unless the smell gives it away!

Now that we’ve convinced you that you have to try this fall craft, let’s get started…

To color all the shapes (pictured above) and the wood craft sticks, we used the used coffee grounds from 1 shot of espresso. So all you need to do is save your morning coffee grounds and your set! The grounds need to be wet, however, there is no need to add additional water. If you are saving your coffee grounds to do this craft later in the week, make sure you place them in the refrigerate until ready to use. If necessary, dampen the grounds before use.

Here is the first messy step. Press Craft Foam Shapes (leaves, acorns, and pumpkins) into the used coffee grounds. Make sure to cover both sides and all of the edges. We tried tan, goldenrod, orange, and even white shapes and they all look great.

Here is somewhat of a “before and after” of the craft foam leaf 1/2 covered with coffee grounds.

Lay coffee covered shapes on a dry paper towel with a sheet of foil underneath to protect your work surface. Let them dry completely. This should only take an hour or two.

Once the coffee has dried onto the shapes, dampen a paper towel and get ready to get a little messy. Rub the excess coffee grounds off of the foam shapes with the dampen towel. We recommend you do this over a sink, garbage can, or another paper towel. Below you can see the right side has been rubbed and how the foam will look once the excess coffee has been removed. We tried different directions and it didn’t make any difference on the finished look of the shape.

It may take a few attempts to remove all the excess coffee from the foam. Here are a few acorns to show the finished product… The one on the left has had all the excess coffee removed and is ready to use. Believe it or not it is actually smooth to the touch, even though it appears not to be.

We used the same method to discolor a few natural Wood Craft Sticks as well. Simply rub wet used coffee grounds on the craft sticks, let dry, and remove excess coffee.

Here is a picture of the natural wood craft stick we started with and how the coffee changed the look of them! Almost looks as though they have been stained with a wood stain. Nope, they smell much better than that!

Normally, we recommend using Glue Dots, however, we tried and they won’t work for this craft. Therefore, you will need a Glue Gun (low or multi temp) to attach the foam shapes to the wood craft sticks. It only takes a small amount at the top to secure.

Here is how the Coffee Foam Shapes look when attached to the craft sticks.

Now all you need to do is find an empty vase, add some filler, and place these Coffee Foam Crafts into them. For our filler, we used Buckwheat Hulls (they almost look like coffee beans). These are super inexpensive and look very FALL! Of course, coffee beans would look great too.

We are so glad it’s Fall!!! It seems like that is the general consensus right now. It’s such a great time of year for crafters! With so many craft shows, the holiday’s approaching, and gifts to make it is certainly a crafty time of year. We hope you enjoy this post and are inspired to create something new!

Supplies List: