Tutorial: How to Make a Pomander Flower Ball
Pomanders, or “Flower Kissing Balls” are gorgeous floral decorations at parties and weddings. It’s name is from the French pomme d’ambre or apple of amber – a ball of perfume. They were carried to protect against infections and diseases by modifying bad smells. Interesting huh? Well, today they’re used as a beautiful, hand-made decoration!
My sweet friend Paula of Frog Prince Paperie (who I first met when she made a birthday banner for my friend’s son) has made a tutorial for these darling pomander floral balls! She created these pomanders for a Little Birdie Baby Shower (it’s darling, you must check it out).
Paula: “I love being crafty and doing big projects, but planning a party is such a big project by itself that I try to create crafty items that are simple but have a big impact. The paper pomanders that I made for my recent Little Birdie baby shower fit simple and impressive perfectly. So simple, in fact, even my husband was able to help with them!”
SUPPLIES:
– 4” white Styrofoam ball
– 90-100 pearl tipped corsage pins
– Two sheets scrapbook paper – I used a pearlized pink for one ball and a matte pale pink for the other in these pictures
– Martha Stewart hydrangea punch
Step 1. You’ll need to punch 180-200 of the hydrangea petal shapes, which will take around a sheet and a half of 12×12 scrapbook paper.
Step 2. After the shapes are all punched, curl the edges of the petals upward and to the center. This will give the flowers some dimension when they are complete.
Step 3. Stack two of the flower petals and turn them a bit so it looks like a full flower. Stick a corsage pin straight through the center of your petals.
Step 4. Push the end of the pin into the Styrofoam ball, the repeat until your ball is covered.
I started mine by making a row around the center and filling in each half a concentric row at a time. Make sure your flowers are close enough that the petals cover the Styrofoam. If you’re going to sit them flat by themselves on the table as I did for my centerpieces, you can leave about 2 inches on the bottom bare of flowers so the balls have a bit more stability. If you cover the entire ball, these would look pretty in a bowl or with ribbons pinned among the petals to hang them.
And that’s it! A very simple project for a very elegant and impressive display.
Thank you, Courtney, for letting me share this tutorial with your readers!
All the best-
Paula Biggs
Frog Prince Paperie
http://www.frogprincepaperie.com | http://frogprincepaperie.etsy.com | http://www.facebook.com/FrogPrincePaperie
Oh I just adore these.!!! They really are darling, and not to hard to make ;-)))
xoxo
kristi
so nice really beautiful
These are so pretty! How fab! xo
these are the best design i have ever seen before! :)
LOVE IT! Oh my goodness, I need a hydrangea punch!
Love it, it’s darling! Perfect for spring.
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing Paula & Pizzaz. ;)
Those are beautiful! Love it!
Gorgeous!! Thanks so much for sharing!!
I love these! So beautiful!
So simple, but so striking! Paula from FPP always comes up with the most incredible designs and projects!
Very cute idea, and easy for anyone to do!
Just gorgeous! So simple, too! Beautiful work, Paula!
so cute & simple!! my kind of diy
Just beautiful so simple but great impact.
Absolutely gorgeous! I must try this!!
Thanks for sharing this is beautiful
It’s so gorgeous… fabulous… and super simple!!!
Oh~ I love kissing balls! Thanks, for sharing!
I have been stalking these on Etsy for an upcoming Baby Shower! Thank you sooo much for sharing. Perfect project for my mom :)
I created a file for my silhouette cutter to cut out all the flowers. I am happy to share. I don’t know how to convert it to use with other cutters. It was created in the silhouette studio software. My own shape and file – so no copyright issues. I am pretty new at this, so someone out there may have an easy way to convert the file. Let me know there is somewhere I can send it or post it and save some work for others.
Adorable! I have done something similar, I attached ribbon and hung from shepherd hooks.
This is charming and so simple! Loving it!
have almost all the supplies. havent done yet but i am on it!!! LOVE THIS :)
adorable!!!
This is just awesome idea…love it..
so pretty!!!!
Love this! Featured you on my blog today, please feel free to pop over and check it out!
Jen
http://jen-simplyliving.blogspot.com/2011/02/stuff-i-like-sunday-5.html
This is so cute, I am featuring a link to your blog tomorrow. Hope that is okay!
I love this idea. I want to leave work right now so I can go home and make one!
What a perfect spring tutorial and a smart use for corsage pins. I will definitely be heading to my local Hobby Lobby soon to get the materials. Thanks for such a great idea!
love! very pretty! I’ll have to think of a reason to make these. :)
Thanks for sharing! I think we’re going to use this idea for our wedding. We want the ceremony to be simple so we will tie these to the pews! :)
Sooooo pretty! And I actually have that punch, too. *wink*
Love these so much that my daughter and I made them in her wedding colors to go on the pews in the church for her wedding. Thanks!
I can’t believe how amazingly talented and inspired you are! You continue to amaze me.
By the way, where do you find your pink corsage pins?
I just ordered mine from http://www.save-on-crafts.com/ not sure if they were the best price, but I was ordering other items so thought I’d throw them in my cart. Hope that helps:)
Oh man, they’re out of stock on that site and I can’t find that color anywhere else :( that color would be perfect
Love this idea. Just got all of my supplies together. Going to use them as part of my table decorations for Easter!
Adorable!!! I must make these for my daughter’s upcoming 8th birthday! It’s a wizard of oz theme, but I’ll make it work somehow!
Thank you for the easy to follow tutorial! I made one :)
http://justinavry.blogspot.com/2011/03/making-pomander-ball.html
Very cute! Love your ideas :)
Thanks again for this fabulous idea! I was finally able to squeeze in some time to give it a whirl – I posted about it on my blog with a link back to your tutorial. You can see mine here: http://erraticallyelizabeth.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-pomander-flower-balls.html
these are gorgeous! love, love, love!
what a great idea!!!!
thank you for sharing!!!
Gorgeous and perfect for spring or weddings
These are beautiful! I love the pink with the pearl!
I’ve been making these for my wedding centerpieces. I love how elegant and beautiful they are. Since I’m making them almost a year in advance, I found that dabbing a tiny dot of glue between the flowers keeps them from shifting :)
Wonderful tutorial! I just shared it on StyroCraft’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/StyrofoamCrafts#!/StyrofoamCrafts?sk=app_112493455447504 Thanks! Sharon
This is perfect for a flower girl to hold at a wedding! She won’t mess up the flowers and it is something she can take home!
Very cute idea, can’t wait to try this. Thank you for sharing!!!
i love this idea :) !! simply amazing!
you are too good at this :) im going to make one soon
Thanks for the inspiration. I’m making these myself. However, solid white and ivory paper makes them look like popcorn balls. So, I went a few steps further. I used watercolor paper and made a wash of purples (one of my wedding colors). Once that was dry, I punched out my flowers and used a lime green prisma color to color in the centers of the flowers. I didn’t color the centers in solidly, just enough to add a touch of color and realism to the flowers. Then I used a metal stylus to draw lines down the centers of the petals, again for more depth and realism. After that, I curled the petals upward and pinned them (in pairs like you have done) to my styrofoam ball. They look awesome!
help I can’t find a place to buy the petal punch. Could someone guide me?
http://store.scrapbook.com/ek-m283028.html
michaels.com
Thank you so much for sharing this idea. I’ve been trying to make pomander balls using silk hydrangeas because I thought it would be more cost effective, little did I know you need like a million of them to fill in all the gaps otherwise you can see the styrofoam. Anyways I think these are going to make absolutely amazing centerpieces for my wedding and not only that they’ll be unique and different. I love it!!!! Thank you so much again!
These are so beautiful. I was going to do tissue paper pomanders for my wedding centerpieces, but found these by accident when I was searching for instructions. I am so glad I did!!! I’m using periwinkle for the bottom flower and dark purple for the top. They’re turning out gorgeous sitting on top of a glass cylinder. Thanks for the inspiration.
Amei……
where did you get the little bird cage? i love it!!!!
wow! sooo easy! thank you :)
Love it!
Thats reeeally nice! Love it, it looks like itd be soo much more complicated aswell
– Ellie @ Mammy Made
great craft! but where do we get the punching machine…plz let me know
This is the link the author gives: http://store.scrapbook.com/ek-m283028.html
I bought mine at Michael’s though since I had a coupon for a full price item1
Beautiful!!
Great tutorial for a DIY wedding – thank you!
amei as ideias
Thanks so much for this! This is perfect for one of my clients’. Will be trying this out!
So pretty! Thanks for sharing!
omg i finally found my centerpiece and wedding ceremony decor thank you for this post!! you saved my life!! =)
Where did you find these pink corsage pins? I can only find white!!
These are stunning. Thank you for the tutorial
Whitney,
I found the pink ones at Michaels. The only problem is that at 4.99 per pack of 100 pins, and 3.99 per styrofoam ball, this is not a cheap DIY. It came out SO pretty though – I’ll probably just make two.
You can get Styrofoam balls at most Dollar Tree’s now. I’d recommend buying what ever you can find there for your DIY projects, because the things you can’t are usually fairly pricey.
You are a life-saver or at least a budget-saver. I didn’t know how I was going to afford those very expensive styrofoam balls at Michaels! I will be going to Dollar Tree today!
LOVE this idea!!! I am making these into little topiaries for my daughters birthday!
Wonderful!! Where did you find that little birdcage? I’ve been looking for ages!!
These are absolutely gorgeous, I am getting married in the garden at 6.30pm and so my whole them is around the garden, outdoors lots of flowers, pomanders, lanterns, candles etc. I had been looking for the perfect centrepiece’s that incorporate pomander and lantern and I came across this picture so I followed the links and it took me to this step by step. It is awesome, I will just replace the bird cage with a small white lantern and wha la I have my perfect centrepieces.
All I must ask and I may be playing stupid, I am trying to cost up this pomander by looking at supplies I will need. Is the numbers on this step by step guide ie 180-200 punched hydrangeas etc is this per Pomander ball? Just so that I don’t order and then I have to order more supplies, id rather over order than under order.
Thanks
Stephanie
THANKS for this great tutorial! This made for a beautiful decoration in the nursery for my newborn baby girl. I shared the link on my blog- Hope thats okay!
I want to make these for my bridesmaid bouquets but need to know how to put a ribbon in it.. Could u tell me?
inanılmaz güzeller..
About how many does that make?
These are beautiful. Simple and classy. I want to try this. Thanks for sharing.
hi, was wondering where i can find the candle holder the is in the picture..how much does each one cost? this is absolutely stunning!
Wow, this is gorgeous! What a tutorial!
oh man…I wish I had read this tutorial before my wedding!! This is so easy to make and looks so pretty too!!
Hi! I absolutely love this idea! I would like to make these for my daughter’s christening. Unfortunately, all the hydrangea punches seem to be on back-order! Do you think it will look nice with a different flower? I have found daisy punches. The only hydrangea punch I found was tiny- I don’t know if it will work.
My daughter saw these and insisted we make them. So far, we have made 6! I made 3 of varied sizes and they look beautiful on my dresser. Thanks!!!
I made it :) http://images5a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp6357%3A%3Enu%3D4436%3E48%3B%3E934%3EWSNRCG%3D358267539%3B34%3Bnu0mrj
thanx!
Where did you find the pink corsage pins? I can only find them for sale in a bright pink, not the nice baby pink you used.
i was wondering if you knew what mm the pearl on your pins were? Thank you
Thanks for this tutorial! I just happened to buy that particular hydrangea punch last week because we’re doing hydrangeas for my sister’s wedding! I LOVE making things myself (knitting, spinning, sewing, paper crafts)and plan on using this little gem for her bridal shower in June, 2013.
Kat
Whyknotfibers.com
Can you tell me what sort of dish its sitting in – looks stunning! :)
Where can I find these exact materials? My local craft store doesn’t carry the blush corsage pins. Also, what is the best weight for the paper that is used?
Hi Christina, I encourage you to reach out to the designer (link in post) who created these.
eline sağlık :-)
its really very easy…! i just love this……! <3
So easy, I’m gonna make one of this. :D
These are fabulous! The corsage pins finish the look completely. I have some clients that would absolutely love these — I’ll have to send them this link :)
All the best!
This are so gorgeous and so easy to make. I love them!
Its so amazing i like it.
Amazing tips!so beautiful :)
Amazing tips
Oh these look so cute and effective! I need a craft sash!
These pomander flower balls are so pretty. I thought they looked too hard to make myself but your tutorial makes it look pretty easy. I can’t wait to try it. They look like hydrangea which I just love.