Thank you Pinterest: Make a tissue paper pom pom.

I am in love with Pinterest. Not kissy kissy, let's get married kind of love, but pretty darn close. I feel like every creative thing and recipe I make lately is followed with the phrase: "I found that on Pinterest." My eyes hurt at midnight and I feel guilty every time I click See More Pins. I know that you know what I'm talking about. Your secret is safe with me. I thought that since I pin so many things I should really share what I've been pinning. And things I've actually made.

DIY Pom Poms

Go get it:

- For each pom pom you will need 10 sheets of tissue paper in your choice of color(s).
- Pipe cleaners in the same color as your tissue paper. You can also use floral wire or string.
- scissors

Go make it:

1. Stack your tissue paper on top of each other all nice and flat. Fold it accordion style in 1-2" increments. Make sure to flip it over between each fold.

2. Once you have all the tissue folded, fold that in half. Lots of folding here. You'll be a professional folder once you are done. Put that on your resumé. Score the closed side.

 3. Open the tissue back up. Where you scored it there will be a nice crease. Take your scissors and cut out little notches on either side of that crease. Take your handy dandy pipe cleaner/wire/string and secure it to the tissue paper. Now I have played around with different ways of doing this. I have decided that I like taking about 2" of one end and wrapping it around the tissue. You are left with one long tail. You'll see why I like having this long tail in step 5. So if you are a visual person completely ignore my picture of the pipe cleaner. Sorry.

4. Trim both ends of your tissue. Or don't. It looks really cute with scalloped or pointy edges. Scroll down to see three different variations. The black pom pom has pointy edges. The white has scalloped. The red....well the red has what I thought was going to be a wavy edge. Looks like I did it with my eyes closed. **Tip: trim the edge of your tissue paper straight across to get an even edge before cutting your design. I take about 1/2" off each side depending on how cooperative my folds were. Open it like a fan. Now pick it up and fan yourself. That was a lot of work. Those folds can really do a number on one's psyche.

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5. Carefully pull apart the layers of tissue. There can be a method to your madness if you want. I suggest you pick a fan on either side of your pipe cleaner and staying on that side of town until all the layers are apart. Then move onto the other side. Really make sure you pull the tissue all the way down toward the pipe cleaner/wire/string. Otherwise you'll be missing out on some great fluffing opps later. **Tip: once you have one side done hang it from the pipe cleaner to prevent the pom pom from getting smushed. I hung mine from my dining room light. Worked like a charm. This is why I decided that I prefer a long pipe cleaner. As you can see in the above photos I had folded the pipe cleaner perfectly in half. I no longer do this. I take just about 1-2" and wrap it around like I mentioned earlier. Fluff the pom pom as you go.

Total time was around 10 minutes per pom pom. That included taking pictures along the way. Anyone else notice how my table changed colors multiple times? What is going on here?! Same light and no flash the whole time. Hmm. Anyhoo, these would be great for a wedding, baby shower, birthday party (that's what mine are for) or decorating a room. Now go get your craft on!