DIY Pom Pom Winter Wreath

                                             

What's the first thing you do when your weatherman predicts a polar vertex (I learned that term last night by actually watching the news and not just learning things from Facebook, go me!)? What the crap is a polar vertex you ask?  Well, it's when over night the temperature drops from 40 degrees to ZERO.  That's right, it is currently one degree outside with a wind chill of negative eightybillion.  So what was the first thing I did? Go get provisions, a space heater? Nope, I went to the craft store and loaded up on more projects that I probably won't finish.

First up on my list of what I wanted to do before Christmas was my Pom Pom wreath.  I saw that one at Anthropologie and fell. in. love.  Then cried silently to myself when I saw the price tag and like a million others, decided I could DIY this.

Seriously, I spent $7 on yarn, but if you have a bunch in your craft hoard closet, then you could essentially make this for free.  I didn't even buy a round wire wreath maker (that is not their technical term, I totally made it up), I just used some wire that the hubs brought in from the freezing garage (that's what husbands are for you know) and formed it into a circle.  If you make it yourself, definitely make two circles and then add bits of wire between them to stabilize the wreath.

All the supplies you need are:

*yarn (I used two packs (?) of white)
*wire wreath
*scissors
*a piece of cardboard
*a good movie (or the Best of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

Cut your piece of cardboard into about a three inch long rectangle.  Or whatever size you want to make your pom poms.  I wanted fairly big because I've made pom poms before.  They can be a pain in your rear end and your hand goes numb from cutting.  Back to the wreath....

Wrap your yarn around the cardboard about 40-60 times.  The more you wrap, the fuller the pom-pom.

Wrap your hand around the middle of one side and slide the cardboard out, keeping ahold of the middle of the yarn.  Wrap a single strand of yarn around the entire middle of the pom pom and tie it into a double knot.  Make sure your string is long enough that you will be able to use it to tie to the wreath.  This will leave you with loops on each side.  Cut through the loops carefully without pulling the yarn (or it will just slide out).  This will leave you with a straggly looking pom pom.  Here's where your thumb gets a huge blister like mine.  Trim your yarn ball into a ball shape.  I suggest making a practice one before you begin.  It took me a little bit to get the hang of making it look like a ball shaped pom pom.

You will get completely covered in yarn trimmings if you do this anywhere other than a table, but Jimmy Fallon is a pretty funny guy so I just plan on vacuuming and washing the blanket I put on my lap so I thought it was worth it to sit my butt on the couch and make this.

Tie your pom poms onto your wreath and pat yourself on the back, you just outsmarted Anthropologie (which really isn't hard, who actually buys that stuff??).  Hang on your door and ta-da, a wreath that is perfect for winter time.  It reminds me of snow balls.  And don't worry, I did buy milk and bread like the rest of the area, so we are fully prepared to not leave the house until this polar vertex is gone.

What do you do when you can't leave the house lest you want to get frost bite and your nose fall off?

xo and stay warm!
Stacie