Pom Fleur Tutorial

The trouble with being Jenny is that my head gets stuffed with ideas. The idea upon waking is what motivates me to get up and go downstairs for coffee.  No alarm clock has ever worked better.

Two days ago, the Happy Mail idea arrived and with it, the challenge to supply mail boxes and children's  hopeful hearts.  Thank you to everyone who has stopped by to share your ideas, I plan to use every one of them!

Yesterday, after completing some bumble bee head pieces for the Jungle Book production, I realized that the "pollen" pom poms I was using on the tips of the antenna had great potential for Happy Mail.

For the boys, I made pom pom monsters.  The girls got pom pom flowers, or "pom fleurs"---because I love to speak just a tiny bit of French.

The lovely thing about Pom Fleurs is that they are bright, they last for a long time, they can be spritzed with your favorite scent and they can carry an inspirational message.  They can also be used to encourage random acts of kindness or spark a developing friendship (I challenged the girls to give an extra one to someone who needed a friend).

 If you go Pom Fleur crazy, these look great in vases and add spring color to small areas around the home.   The girls were delighted with their Happy Mail Pom Fleurs and wanted to know how to make them.  Once they got busy, their ideas started to tumble out.  We found that they are pretty as wrist corsages.  They discovered that Pom Fleurs can be attached to headbands, back packs,  purses and even shoes.  The color choices are endless, they are kid friendly, and best of all, they are simple and economical to make.

Step One:
Gather the following materials:

1.   a scrap of rectangular cardboard measuring 2" x 6".  If the cardboard is a bit crumpled, that will make it easier to manipulate.

2. Scissors

3.  Brightly colored yarn

4.  Chenille sticks

5.  Scrap paper

6.  Pen

7. Green felt scraps (optional)


Step Two:
With  cardboard piece in hand, wrap yarn around the right end  until a relatively thick roll forms.

Step Three:

Gently slide roll off the end of the wrinkly cardboard.

Steps four and five:

Cut a length of yarn and tie it tightly around the middle of the yarn ball.  Insert scissors in the looped ends and snip until all loops are open ends of yarn.

Steps six and seven: trim extra lengths of stray yarn and wrap a chenille stick around the middle, twisting once or twice to secure in place.

Step Eight:  Loop chenille stick up to base of pom pom and twist, leaving a small section of the stick open to attach messages or felt leaves.

Step Nine:  Curl the paper message with the pen and secure to pom fleur by folding and twisting the straight end of the chenille stick.  Optional step:  Cut a green leaf  from felt with a tiny hole in the bottom and slide over the open end, twisting to secure.

Step Ten:  Poof out the yarn to form a round pom, and Voila! A Pom Fleur to share with a friend!