How to Make a Flower Pomander With Artificial Flowers

Pomanders, also called kissing balls, have become increasingly popular as an alternative to a traditional bouquet and as decor. Pomanders are great for pew or aisle decorations as well as for bridesmaids or flowergirl bouquets for a wedding. While they are a little time- consuming to put together, the end results are beautiful. And best of all, by using artificial flowers you can save your flowers as a keepsake or sell them after the wedding is over.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Styrofoam craft ball
• Ribbon (color of your choice)
• Hot glue gun
• Small gauge wire
• Artificial flowers
• Toothpicks
• A stiff straight object such as a pencil or knitting needle

1. 

   Decide what you will be using your pomanders for. Pew decorations can be larger than flowergirl flowers for instance. This will determine what size styrofoam ball you'll need. A 3" ball might be good for a flowergirl, 4" or 5" for a bridesmaid and maybe even larger for a decoration.

2. Place your styrofoam ball on a table. Cut a piece of wire long enough to go through the center of the ball twice with a little extra. Fold the wire into a U-shape. This will hold your ribbon onto your pomander.

3. Punch two holes through the center of your ball with your straight object. The holes should be spaced approximately the width of your ribbon apart. Cut your ribbon to an appropriate length (how far you'd like it to hang). The two ends of the ribbon should be glued together with the glue gun.

4. Place the ribbon around the wire. Feed one end of the wire through each of the holes you made. Pull it tight to hold the ribbon in place. You can twist the other ends tight around a toothpick or you can twist the two ends together and push them into the styrofoam. Either way this will be covered and you won't be able to see it once the pomander is finished.

5. Cut the stems on your flowers short- around 1" long. Poke a hole in the styrofoam with a toothpick long enough to put your stem in. Put some hot glue on your flower stem and push the stem into the hole you made.

6. 

   Continue until you've covered the whole ball in flowers. You can go back around the ball and cover up any bare spots.

Tips & Warnings

• The hardest part of making a pomander is getting the wire down through the holes. Be persistent- it will go through. Even if you can't get it through perfectly straight, keep in mind that you won't be able to see it once it's done.
• Always be careful when using a glue gun.

[nikki1]

on 7/11/2009 I love flowers.. high 5 my friend.