Pom Pom Overload

Remember making tissue paper flowers for Mother's Day in elementary school? Back then, they were made with multicolored tissue paper, wrapped with pipe cleaner and stuck into a homemade vase haphazardly. Leave it to Martha Stewart to elevate those paper flowers into a phenomenon all of their own. She even sells them in a kit at KMart, but the DIY directions on making them are here. (To be honest, I am too cheap to buy a kit when these are sooooo easy to do and the supplies are readily available at any Target or other discount store).

These more refined versions are reminiscent of dahlias, peonies and chrysanthemums and are an affordable way to provide a lot of visual interest for a minimum of money. If you are in charge of a little girl's birthday party or bridal or baby shower this summer or even if you are just looking for an inexpensive centerpiece or even something to jazz up a nursery, these poms may be for you.

Here are the ones that I am working on for July 4th (which are slowly taking over my living room and I have no idea what we are going to do with after that weekend!). I am planning on doing just red and white ones and suspending them from the inside of the canopy that we will have in the backyard (please don't rain!).

Please ignore the green "time out" chair next to the entertainment center...

Here is a great idea for a nursery from one of my favorite bloggers for her daughter's nursery (don't you love the aquas and seafoam colors? - feminine, but not too girly):

Photo Credits with permission from Life in the Fun Lane

These pictures are from the Martha Stewart website and this blog gives a few more ideas on what to do with the poms.

I may never have been a real cheerleader, but I do love my pom poms! Now if I can figure a way to put these in my office without my coworkers thinking I have gone completely around the bend...