I can’t believe tomorrow is our two month anniversary! It really doesn’t seem that long ago. (Especially because we had some leftovers for supper earlier this week. They’d been frozen. Don’t judge.) Among the many DIY projects involved with the wedding were eight paper flower pomanders, also called “kissing balls.” We used alternating blue and purple pomanders as chair decorations to make an aisle en plein air.
If you buy handmade flower pomanders, they can cost you $25 or more each. In retrospect, it’s with good reason – they take a while to make. Even though they take some time, they aren’t at all difficult. You don’t need to have any particular crafting experience to make them, just a bit of patience. And possibly someone who can help you tie beautiful bows to hang them with. (Thanks, mom!)
I used two different shades of each color for my balls, and I made the inner petals slightly smaller than the outer ones. I was able to do this because I cut my flowers using my Silhouette Cameo. If you don’t have a Silhouette, you can still do this project with a handheld punch. Even if you don’t have two different sizes of petals, I highly recommend layering the flowers for a nicer appearance. Because I layered the flowers and put lots of blooms on each ball, the pomanders took about two pieces of 12″x12″ cardstock each (one of the lighter tone and one of the darker tone).
The uses for these decorative balls are pretty varied, and you don’t have to be planning a wedding to enjoy them! Here are a few of my favorite ideas for flower pomanders:
– Use them as chair/pew decorations
– Use a large flower ball as an alternative bouquet or as a bouquet for a flower girl
– Set one on a candle stick as a decoration
– Make a lot and use them as vase filler
I’ll be perfectly honest with you – making eight flower pomanders for our wedding took me a long time. The good news is that they really are easy to make. You can curl the flower petals on autopilot while enjoying your favorite movie or TV show, and you can always work on the project for a few minutes each day. You don’t need to knock them all out at once! I decided to make at least one a week and just kept at it until they were finished.
Materials for DIY paper pomanders
- Cardstock
- Styrofoam balls – I used 4″
- Lots of pins – I used nearly 1000 for 8 balls
- A Silhouette machine and the provided files or a flower punch like the one linked
- A round pencil or pen
