Acute How-To: Yarn Pompom Garland

A few days a week, I work at Noon, the cutest shop in San Diego. For their summer window display, they made simple and bright colored yarn pompom garlands and hung them in the windows. After admiring these garlands, I decided to make a few to give my home a little summery pop of color.

I have made pompoms in the past using the traditional technique of wrapping yarn around two cardboard donut shapes, but this time I thought up a simpler technique. Anyone can make these pompoms – no special tools or skills required.

Hang these cute garlands in your home or use them as summer party décor. I plan on using mine to decorate my booth in my next craft fair.

Supplies:

  • Yarn {Any colors will do. I chose my favorite combo of yellow and gray and then added a few pops of pale teal.}
  • Twine {I attached my pompom balls to twine, but you can also use a long piece of yarn.}
  • Scissors

Step One:

Wrap yarn around your hand. The more you wrap, the fuller the pompom will be in the end. Experiment with this; after making a few, you will know how much yarn to wrap in order to get your desired fullness.

Step Two:

Carefully slide the yarn off your hand. Take a piece of yarn {about 6-8 inches long} and tie it tightly around the center of your yarn loop. I triple knotted each one for a secure hold. Do not cut the ends of this piece of string as you will use them to tie the pompom to the twine.

Step Three:

Take the tied loop of yarn and cut the top and bottom so that you have loose strands rather than looped pieces of yarn.

Step Four:

Determine the order of your pompoms and tie them to the twine. Trim down any long strings.

That’s it!  Hang and enjoy.

Acute How-To: Fall Garland

Thanksgiving is next week in the USA…so why not spruce up your holiday decor with a simple fall garland?

Garlands are easy to make and can come in so many forms.  They are pretty much my “go-to” decorating idea for the holidays.  For this one, I decided to make simple pompom flowers out of a fall color palette of felt circles.

What you will need:

  • felt {I chose three different colors – dark red, mustard yellow, and beige}
  • hot glue gun + glue
  • thick string or jute twine {about 6 feet long}
  • scissors

Step One:

Cut several circles of felt.  Depending on the length of your garland, this will vary.  I made 10 pompon flowers, each consisting of 6-10 circle petals, plus one circle as the base and one more as the back of the flower.

Step Two:

Heat your glue gun and, working with one pompom flower at a time, lay down a circle “base.”  Bend another circle in half, then in half again.  Place a dot of hot glue at the point the folded circle makes.  Glue the folded circle onto the base and push down.  Continue this with a few more circles until you have a full bloom.

Step Three:

Once you have all your flowers made, measure out a piece of string or twine.  I used a six foot long piece of jute twine.  Glue the pompom flowers along the length of the twine and place an additional circle across the back to hold everything into place.

Step Four:

Display your garland!  It would be perfect across a fireplace mantle or {if you make a longer one} along a staircase railing.  I have neither a mantle nor a staircase, so I chose to hang mine in the dining room.  With a few other decorations, it will look perfect for Thanksgiving!

spring banner from junecraft

blue & yellow spring banner by junecraft

spoonflower printed banner by junecraft

friend of the blog, kayanna from junecraft, posted this springy little number to the scoutie girl flickr group and i just new it would have to start off the day today.

kayanna had her original illustrations professionally printed onto linen cotton canvas with eco-friendly inks and then sewed up each adorable little square herself. the banner is 4 feet long. a little retro, a little scandinavian, a little funky. so fun!

kayanna has other sewn goodies and many prints of her illustrations at her shop, junecraft. click on over!

note to self: work on ridiculously cute arrangements like the top photo in my own house.

deck the halls 2010 style

kristinamarie

christmas may be over, but you can still deck the halls. string this paper dot garland, by kristina marie, from every nook, cranny, and tiny hook you might have!

elsewhere :: yes you maigh.

yes you maigh - handmade christmas tree decorations

just had to share this darling post that hannah maigh, over at yes you maigh., wrote about her christmas tree decorations this year. she used the idea from my “brown paper packages” garland with a twist – book pages instead of kraft paper! swoon!

also, thanks to jen, over at indie fixx, for including the same garland in her handmade holiday crafts line up! more great stuff to make over there… take a look!