tissue paper pom poms tutorial

We've been hard at work around here. All sorts of organizing and fixing and putting together and crafting has been going on. And I love it. One of my projects on my never-ending list was to make these tissue paper pom poms for above our little girl's bed. I didn't want to do a mobile because we have a music machine in the crib. But that side of the room needed some visual interest. These pom poms have been all over blogland and I've been lusting over them forever.

These are a fun project, but I will warn you that they can be unbelievably messy if you decide that doing it on the floor with your toddler is a good idea. I don't know what I was thinking. But they are really easy so don't let a little mess deter you. You can get tissue paper in all kinds of cuteness. I think these would also make great party decor.

So let's get started..

You'll also need to figure out how you want to hang them.

Personally, I like the larger tissue paper, but I think a bunch of smaller pom poms would be cute too. When you open up your tissue paper, you will need about 20 sheets. Most colors are sold in 20 sheet increments, but white comes in 40, so you get twice the pom pom lovely from one pack. I like to cut down the tissue paper so it is a little more square than rectangle. The result will be more circular than egg-ish.
*Once you have your paper ready, start to accordion fold it back and forth. It is up to you how big or small you want to do this. I did mine probably about an inch thick. (You also want to make sure all the sides are open first)

Once it is all folded up, slide a piece of ribbon or string underneath and tie a tight knot in the center. Make sure you leave a tail long enough to hang.

(I accidentally skipped this step on the blue/teal piece)
Now you'll want to cut a shape out of each end of the tissue paper. I found that my rotary cutter was the easiest tool for this job. Use what makes you comfortable. I cut mine a little rounded, but you could make them spiky or get creative however you choose.

Now comes the fun part!
Holding the pom pom at the center (where your ribbon is) peel back the layers of tissue paper. You'll want to peel both ways on each side so that you get your desired shape. Be gentle as you don't want to rip the pieces. Once you have peeled all the layers, fluff and shape as desired.

To hang this cluster, we used a ceiling hook. Unfortunately our ceiling was totally finicky and annoying, so we screwed it into the wall near the ceiling. I hung them all in the shape I wanted and then adjusted as necessary. Not gonna lie, for this part, I wished I was a little bit taller.

Fun, right? Easy. Cheap. Pretty.

Messy. Imagine your whole living room like this. At least he helped clean up... sort of.