Valentine’s DIY Part 4 Red Pomander ornaments

Remember in Part 1 of the Valentine’s DIY series when I told you about that tree centerpiece I saw in a magazine? And the delicately placed petals to make it look like it was in bloom?

When I saw it, I thought it was gorgeous. Then I realized that placing those petals would drive me crazy.

So this last DIY in the series is my way to add a floral touch to your tree centerpiece that we made in Part 1. It’s more advanced than the other steps, but it’s not too difficult – I’d say a 6 out of 10 on the “crafty scale.”

 

flower ornament craft

 

What you'll need:

Styrofoam balls - mine are 2.5" diameter

Fabric flower stems with small blossoms (choose 3 colors)

Sequin pins or straight pins (short)

A bottle of craft glue

Scissors

Ribbon

Supply list for valentine diy

 

Optional:

A thimble is helpful

Tea or coffee

A Hallmark movie

 

How long it takes:

The first ball will take a bit of time to figure out, but then it gets quicker. I was able to make 4 of these in about 90 minutes.

 

A note about the flowers:

I spent a long time at two craft shops looking at fabric flowers. Here's what you want to find. You'll need to have small blossoms so the ball still looks like a sphere. You want to find 3-4 colors that go together, at least (2 looks blotchy, 4 would be lovely too). They don't all need to be the same type of flower, but similar sizes would help. The ones I got were from AC Moore, and they were $1 per stem. Since 3 stems can make 4 balls, that seemed like a great deal. I didn't want to spend too much on this DIY!

 

1) Cut a piece of ribbon 3" long. Loop it so the ends overlap by about 1/4" and place a pin through the cross. 

Ribbon loop

 

2) Dab a bit of glue onto the ribbon/pin and push the pin into the top of one Styrofoam ball. This is your hanging loop.

Ribbon loop

 

 

3) Cut leaves off of your floral stems. I used around 13 leaves per ball.

4) One at a time, put a dot of glue onto the ball, place a leaf onto the glue and put a pin in the center to hold it in place. The leaves do not need to overlap, but just cover most of the ball.

*If you didn't want to/couldn't do this step, you could paint your ball green and let it dry. This way any open space between the flowers isn't "Styrofoam white".

pinning leaves

 

 

5) Go to town cutting blossoms off of each stem. I just cut them all off and made piles of each color! The key is to leave a little nub of the plastic stem on the back - this way the flower stays assembled and keeps its shape.

 

cutting flowers

flower pile

 

6) One at a time, pick up a blossom and push a pin through the fabric from the front side through the back where the stem is. This way the pointy part of the pin is sticking out by the stem.

7) Place a dot of glue on the ball and push the pin into it. Then nestle the flower all the way into the ball as tightly as you can. This is where a thimble comes in handy!

8) Add two more flowers next to that first blossom so that you've used all 3 colors in a group. They don't need to be super close to each other, but make them close enough that they touch. 

9) Keep working your way around the ball with the same process. Add one flower at a time, trying to use a different color than the neighbors. 

pomander valentines ornament

 

10) When you think you've covered the ball completely, give it a once-over to find empty patches. When you find one, put a blossom in that spot to fill in the emptiness. I found myself adding 4-5 more blossoms after I thought I was "done"!

 

11) Hang your gorgeous new creation on your Valentine's tree

red pomander ornament valentines tree

 

 


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