Friday, November 20, 2009

Pucker Up

Is it too early to talk about Christmas decorations? I mean, all the retail stores started putting their stuff out before Halloween so, do you hold a firm position that you will not think about Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving?

If that's the case then you can gather up your supplies and make this after you've stuffed your faces with turkey and fought the Black Friday crowds. Oh, I do hope you will open your hearts to today's crafty project because I have been waiting and waiting to share it with you and I can't wait anymore!

You may or may not know this about me but I'm a blog addict. There I said it. I'm not trying to recover from it. I embrace it. And, I steal all of their great ideas. (Insert evil laugh here.)

Okay, not really steal because I am giving them credit. And they put it out there for us, right?

Brief background. This past summer I saw a Pomander Ball on a design blog. There was more than one and they were so beautiful. I googled "How to make a pomander ball" and watched a video. I was in love but really, I don't have a reason to make a Pomander Ball with real flowers on my budget. Pfft!

Then, the wonderful folks at Once Wed shared a tutorial on this Pomander Ball and my dream was alive once more! This I can do. And it won't die. And while there's is beautiful all in brown, I really wanted to see it as mistletoe so I can chase my boys around with it and kiss there sweet little faces. Or, maybe you're just one of those lucky types that will just be able to stand under it whenever you want your sweety to kiss you.

Let's get ready to pucker up, shall we?

Gather your items:
5" Styrofoam ball
roughly 7 yards of seam binding (or ribbon or fabric)
roughly 4 pages of 12"x12" of card stock paper (I used two different colors. The light green was a glitter page. The dark green was just a regular textured page.)
A flower punch
Straight pins with the round heads on them. I lost count but I used somewhere between 140 - 150.
A ribbon
Scissors

Punch about 70 flowers from each of your card stock colors. Just consider it a little arm workout. Set them aside.

Take your Styrofoam ball and your binding and start wrapping around the ball. Secure it with a pin. It's a bit tricky at first. You have to figure out a criss-cross pattern but it will probably be easy for you.

I left a little seam binding at the top but wished later I had left one fluid piece that you use to hang the ball with. Just pin it in place.

Now the fun part. Take a flower of the dark green paper and a flower from the glitter paper and thread them on to the straight pin.

Then stick that into the Styrofoam ball. As instructed I started in the middle and made a line around the ball but I think if I do it again I might start at the bottom and work my way up so the bottom is really full.

I placed my flowers pretty close together. I wanted it to be full. I may have used more than 140 flowers. I lost count.

Once I got the ball full of the flowers, I adjusted the flowers so that the petals were offset and stuck a second pin to keep them from moving. This is where we go astray from Once Wed's design. Mistletoe has lots of white berry's. I added three large pins in some flowers and 2 large and one small in others. Willy nilly, all random like.

Ooh! Isn't it pretty? Take your ribbon and make a bow. Attach the bow to the top. Just tie it on.

Hang it and stand other until someone gets the hint.

Maybe I need to make a 3" mistletoe ball and whip it out when I see someone cute. That doesn't scream desperation, does it? You could do this for any special occasion you're having. A baby shower with pinks or blues; Reds for Valentine's; Pastels for Easter; Wedding showers in the brides colors.
Okay but wait. Today is your lucky day. They're so easy to make I'm giving this one away. One entry per person. All you have to do to enter is to go to the comment section and tell me this:
Describe your favorite kiss.
All entries should be entered by 8:00 pm CST, Saturday, November 21st. The winner will be announced on Monday.
Snack Throwdown Updates:
We begin voting today for our favorite dish in the Tortilla Challenge. And Katie has the poll up for voting for the next ingredient. And, I trust my HLA team will correct me in the comment section if I'm wrong.
Signing off until tomorrow....

14 comments:

Robin said...

That's a very cute and seemingly easy craft. Did you stick the heck out of your fingers?

Anonymous said...

Another fun and thrifty way to make pomander balls for the holidays is with oranges and cloves. Make a pattern on your orange by sticking cloves into the orange. It will make your house smell like the holidays and they look pretty sweet too.

Cheryl Houston said...

Ha Robin. You would think so but no, not really. Just get your thimble out if you think you might.

I did see a lot of the orange and cloves pomander balls when researching. I think that may have been the original pomander ball.

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Totally cute, Cheryl.

I'll be back with my favorite kiss story. Give me some time to mill it over.

Off to my nephews school for Heritage Day.

Anonymous said...

Who won snack contest last week?

Chaotic Kristi said...

Ah, I was looking forward to a video... but a kiss is even better!
My FAVORITE kiss? I giess we are talking "real one" as opposed to the time the horse lipped my cheek, or George (the steer) licked my hair (ugh)... or the cat kisses, lizard licks, etc. So.. lemme see... when Wade (old bf) stepped off the USS Chicago (submarine)in San Diego after serving 18 months at sea.

Kat said...

Oh! I love this! I have been wanting some mistletoe to hang in my doorway, but they are either plastic (cheap looking)or real (which dies). This is a cute option!

Jessie Freeman said...

This is uber cute! It looks like you might need some patience for that one!
My favorite kiss:
My favorite kiss would have to be when Jon and I went to Disney for Christmas day last year and he shocked me by kissing me in public underneath mistletoe hanging up in a store at Magic Kingdom.
It was so sweet and unexpected! Especially since my husband isn't the PDA type. It was a perfect Christmas kiss.
Happy Friday!!!!

Holly said...

My favorite kiss...

a few years ago I came down with a horrible cold and all i wanted to do was crawl into bed. my son, who was about 3, asked what's wrong and i told him mommy didn't feel well. a few minutes later he ran into my bedroom with his favorite stuffed animal (a bunny with a missing tail) gave it to me, pulled my blanket up almost over my head and kissed me on the forehead and told me to 'feel better mommy, i love you'

i remember my son had lots of kisses for mommy...now he is 7..going on 17 and he doesnt me to even walk him up to the school doors....thank goodness for memories!!!

Katie said...

Anonymous, Kate won the throwdown last week. Which makes our score Kate 8 and Lauren 4.

heather said...

wow crazy day at work...seriously can i breathe please?!?

but I had to check in finally and say super cute idea!

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Cheryl... I'm in love with the ball. Question. What do you think it would look like with red pins? Too much?

As for my most memorable kiss? Holly's right about kisses from my boys. Nothing is better. But, my first kiss with Richard was pretty memorable. I seem to remember a little Rod Stewart's Greatest Hits in the background.

Stacie said...

I love this! Might have to make several as an inexpensive-but-handmade gift option for extended family members this year. I'm totally addicted to Christmas ornaments, and a smaller version would work perfectly for that.

Hmmm... I'd say my most memorable kiss was with my now-hub. It wasn't our first kiss, but was early on. We were both actually short of breath--no exaggeration--for a good hour or two afterwards. Guess that's when the chemistry really kicked into gear? Good stuff, man. Since then, I love it when my Lucian gives me sweet little surprise kisses without prompting. He doesn't even make a kissing noise or close his mouth yet, but he knows what he's doing.

Anonymous said...

I just got back from Michaels armed with all of the stuff necessary to make this cool craft. I even got my husband to wrap ribbon around the ball (i made 3" ball instead). thanks for the cute idea!