Sunday, February 15, 2009

Big, White and Fluffy



Well, I think I'm finally getting to the fun part of planning my upcoming nuptials. Yesterday I finalized my homemade Save the Dates, played around with tissue paper and vellum. Weee! Not that buying the dress wasn't fun, but there's an element of stress involved with it that just doesn't come with tissue paper.

I think I stumbled upon this idea while looking at Martha Stewart wedding stuff, online, and noticed that she sold a kit for giant tissue paper pom poms. They looked adorable, but let's face it - I'm not going to shell out $15 for something I could make for a buck fifty. So, I found several sets of instructions online - including Ms. Stewarts, and saved myself a few pennies and had a great time, too.

The idea is pretty simple:
- Layer 8-10 pieces of tissue paper - size isn't totally key, but I think rectangular is the important part.
- Make accordion folds every 1.5 - 2".
- Once it's all folded up, take your white fabric covered wire, and secure the paper with it, twisty style.
- Now you get to hack your way through all that tissue paper! On each end, cut a curve, a point, a curvy-point - whatever you want - to create the scalloped, fluffy edges to your pom pom. So, sharp scissors are pretty key here. Don't worry if it looks like a five year old hacked at it with their safety scissors, just even it up as much as you can. The fluffing out disguises all the uneveness, anyway, so don't sweat it.
- Once you've made your cuts, just gently - VERY gently - pull apart the layers and fluff them out into a big ball. Ta da! Super cute, super cheap decoration for any occasion.



All together they take maybe 15-20 minutes to make, and are ever so gratifying. I'm having to restrain myself from make a bunch more, since the event isn't until August, and just where would I store all those lovely pom poms? I think I'll stick to white, but wouldn't these just be the perfect thing for a child's party, in bright colors? I may even have to decorate the children's area in the branch with these come spring!

Now, just try to restrain yourself from making one of these right now - you know you want to!

2 comments:

Amanda said...

I did not realize you were engaged. Congratulations! Those pom-poms seem fun for a wedding decoration.

Dianna S said...

thanks for the congratulations! And I'm hoping to have bunches of paper lanterns up, too, so maybe my theme should be big, white, round things...