My sister/best friend graducated with her Associates in Education. My sister is a wife of over 10 years and a mother to an almost 15 year old, 11 year old, and a 9 year old. She had my first niece at a young age which sidetracked her plans a bit but did not completely derail her. She is an amazing and although I was not able to be there, I knew that I wanted to make her a gift to let her know just how I felt.
I have always had a soft spot for Dr. Seuss. I think that he is just one of the coolest writers. His simple stories have profound messages! Not to disappoint, Oh, the Places You Will Go has a quote in it that says, "The more you read, the more you will learn. The more you know, of the places you will go." Could this be any more perfect?! I did not want to do something too literal but wanted something kinda of whimsical but that she could also out in her home. I chose to make pom flowers that are present throughout all of Dr. Seuss's books. I took the tutorial form a Pin on Pinterest but slightly altered it due to laziness and adding a few extra additive :). The link I used is here The tutorial for the ones that I did is below
The items i used are:
~scissors
~yarn (the amount of colors is based on what you want)
~pipe cleaners
~decorative rocks (3)
~large mason jar
~wide strip (about 6 inches) of burlap
~buttons (2)
~ribbon
~beer bottle caps (2)
I began by finally using some of my wonderful 50% off yarn barrels that I got from Michae
l's a few months ago.
I took the yarn and began wrapping it around my fingers. The amount of fingers that you use dictates how big you want the pom to be. The tutorial I loosely followed stated that you should wrap it at least 90 times. I lost track around 40 so I kept wrapping until I was tired. However, if you want the poms to come out more dense, I suggest going for the full 90.
After you have finished wrapping, slip the yarn from your fingers, trying to maintain the circular shape as much as possible. Cut the yarn. Then cut a piece of yarn that is about 6 inches (I eyeballed this based on how big my ball was.
Tie a knot and then another knot around the ball of yarn. Make sure that it is tied tightly
On either end of the knot you just tied are loops. Use scissors to cut the loops
This is where you give your pom some shape. Cut down the thread while fluffing as you go to give it a ball shape. How much you cut it down depends on the look that you are going for. I liked them to still have more flowey which is why I did not cut it down further. But if you wanted it to look more dense, but the ball smaller.
These are my finished poms. you can barely see the purple but it is there in the left hand corner.
I originally thought of having pipe cleaners so I went with colors that matched the flowers
F.Y.I.: Using pipe cleaners is a terrible idea, lol! I did not take into account how heavy the poms were in relation to the pipe cleaners. So I had to use decorative rocks to weigh them down. Again, hot glue gun to the rescue!
They were still slightly top-heavy so I took a piece of yarn and tied it towards the top to keep them bunched together.
I'm sorry that I did not take more pictures of the mason jar transformation but it was really coming together as I went. I have a roll of burlap that is abut 6 inches wide. I used the hot glue gun to attach it not only to the jar but left enough overlap to glue it to itself. Remember: hot glue can come off of smooth surfaces such as glass and metal so it is best to attach the fabric to itself for additional cohesion. I used a strip of gold ribbon for the middle. I have a ton of buttons, bottle caps, sparkles, doilies, and fun additives so I used some of them to adorn the front of the vase.
So I should have apologized from the beginning as I am not a great photographer nor do my pictures have amazing resolution. But I did try to document everything so I hope that helps. Also, I should have forewarned you that I often deviate from tutorials and follow my own path (which may or may not be a good thing) but I encourage everyone to do so as well :)
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