I love creating things. So from the beginning of our wedding planning I knew that at least some of our wedding details were going to be do-it-yourself (DIY) projects.
On pinterest I found these amazing pomander balls as ceremony and reception decor and fell in love with the idea of them...

{Source}

{Source}

The thing is that if you get these lovely creations from a florist they can get pretty expensive pretty quickly. So I decided to make them myself out of fabric using this tutorial as a general guide. Each one costs us under $10 to make. We have made 4 of them so far and I think we'll need about 18, so it's good that we are getting a head start on them because they take SO long to make. The first one took about five hours, but the process for the one's we have made since gets a little faster each time.

My best advice if you are going to tackle this project is to get help cutting the fabric circles from friends and family and do them all in one go and to get a rotary cutter to save your poor hands if you are making more than a couple of them.

Our DIY process

Materials needed:
-Circle pattern for tracing
-Many yards of 100% polyester satin fabric
-Scissors or a Rotary Cutter and Cutting Mat
-Pencil for tracing
-Glue Gun and Glue Gun Sticks
-4 in styrofoam ball
-Ribbon of your choice
-2 pins
-Candle



Here is how it went for us:

1. Gather all of your materials.

 2. Trace the circles onto the fabric as close together as you can so as little fabric is wasted as possible.

3. Cut out all of the circles. (One 4in. styrofoam ball takes between 85 and 95 circles to cover entirely). 

4. Burn just the very edge of each circle all the way around with a candle flame to fuse the threads together and prevent fraying. 

5. Put a dot of hot glue in the center of each circle and fold in half. 

6. Put another dot in the middle of each half circle and fold over again so each circle is folded and glued in 1/4 sections. 

7. Do this to all of the circles. 

8. Prepare the foam ball by cutting the length of ribbon you want the pomander to hang by. Loop the length of the ribbon in half and tie a knot leaving about 2 inches of ribbon on each tail. Fasten the tails of ribbon to the foam ball with the pins and glue under the knot for extra staying power. 

9. Start hot gluing the fabric petals on one at a time in an arrangement that you like. Make sure you hold each one long enough that the glue hardens with the fabric exactly the way you want it. Cover the whole foam ball this way. 

10. Enjoy your creation!

Happy Creating!

-Bride

Pinterest + Wedding Planning = Love

Pinterest is amazing. If you are planning a wedding you should be on pinterest searching for ideas and inspiration for your big day. I think nearly half of the things pinned on the site are related to wedding planning of some sort and it is the perfect, free, creative source for ideas, inspiration, and focusing your theme.

Pinterest +Wedding Planning = Love

Many of my friends who have been recently married tell me they wish they had known about the site when they planned their big day, and many of my bridesmaids are pinning things for my big day too.

Here's how it works if you are not familiar with the site...

1.You have to get an email invite to join- so find a friend on the site (I'm sure you have at least one- the site is exploding with popularity). The site links to either your Facebook or Twitter account.
2. You create virtual pin 'boards' on your user-name. You label them how you like and organize them in any way you want to. 
3. You put the 'Pin It' icon in your tool bar on your web browser.
4. You pin anything and everything from the internet on to your specific boards.
5. The things you 'pin' show up as a photo or video on your board and when you click on the picture the link to where it was pinned from is visible. 

It's great for recipes, home decor, inspirational quotes, funny pictures, outfits you like, DIY projects and so on.

Happy Pinning!

-Bride