It's Raining JellyBeans: Wedding: Poms Tutorial

Tissue poms are all the rage on the party circuit. The paper poofs are showing up at weddings, birthday parties, showers, and holiday celebrations. It's easy to see why- they are beautiful, relatively inexpensive, and fill a space nicely. Martha Stewart was the first to mass market poms through her line

at Michael's but now that the trend has caught on there are many companies and individual Etsy stores offer their versions. Martha sells 5 poms for $20 (available in an array of beautiful colors) while Michael's sells a store-brand set of 6 white poms (zzzzzzzz…boring) for around the same price. Google "poms" and you will no doubt find many websites offering poms. If you would rather go homemade but without all of the work, I recommend the Etsy shop Pom Love. Pom Love is Run by Kirsten Hadley. I ordered a few Poms from her and was very impressed; the product was fabulous, the color selection vast, and Kirsten is so AWESOME to work with. After you purchase one of her poms she provides access to a video showing you how to open the tissue paper correctly and how to hang the paper poofs.

Pom Love sells more than just poms. They sell:
Tissue paper (remember she has a terrific color selection),

Tissue Poms Sticks:

Tissue Pom Garlands:

Tissue Tassle Garlands:

And even confetti.

For the DIYers poms are super easy to make.

You will need tissue paper, paddle wire, and wire cutters.

I use full sheets of tissue and 6-10 sheets per pom depending on full you want your poms to be. I found the tissue I bought come in 20 sheet folds so I used 10 per pom.

Fold 1 1/2 inch accordion folds.

This process is forgiving and you don't have to be exact but I do like the edges to be crisp so do recommend you run your hand or a bone folder every so often along the folds as you go.