Can’t believe October is almost here!  I’m slowly transitioning away from my generic fall decor towards more of a Halloween feel.  (If you follow me on Instagram I gave you a little sneak peek of this project.  I realize I do that all the time, so if you want to be ahead of the crowd, you should totally become a follower! #shamelessplug #peerpressure) 

I saw a version of these pom poms at hobby lobby (sorry I can’t find a link on their website) and I knew I could knock them off.  They wanted $9 for 3 poms.. and I thought that was crazy, but I loved the idea.   I hung mine along my front walk, and added last year’s Halloween beadboard sign (i love how the yellow and red colors play off each other)

To make these you only need tissue paper and either floral wire or string (I have even used twist ties in a pinch).  That is it.  So my cost for a half dozen various sized pompoms was less than $3 ($1 each for yellow/orange/white tissue):

Making pom poms is really straight forward.  I’ve made them before, for my daughter’s birthday and school functions, but never shared a tutorial before. They are a go-to craft since they are so easy to make and you only need a few for a big impact.
For the candy corn colors you want to layer your tissue with the orange between the white and yellow.  I like 4-6 sheets of each color (the bigger the puff the more layers you need).  I have seen tutorials that say you only need 10 sheets, but those tend to not stay ‘fluffy’.  In my ‘professional puffball opinion’ you need at LEAST 12 sheets of tissue for a 20 inch puff.
My full sized pom pom was from 20x20 inch tissue.. my smaller poms were 10x20 to 5x10.  (I just cut the sheets in half or in quarters)

Once you have them stacked up evenly, you want to start according folding:

Until you have folded the entire stack:

Then you want to wrap the wire or string around the exact center, keeping the fold in tact:
Next you open the according folds, so you end up with a bow-tie or butterfly-like shape:
Then, start fluffing up each sheet of tissue I start on one side and fluff exactly have the sheet upward, then flip it over and fluff the other half so the pom pom comes out even:
You want to take your time with this step and get as much of the tissue up and away from the center as possible (this makes it more full) and be sure to not pull too hard or you will tear the tissue.

When you are done you can tie clear monofilament (i used invisible quilting thread since it is finer than fishing line, but you could use that too) to hang them so they look like they are floating:

And you don’t have to use them hanging, like you often see them displayed.  I made the You can just set them down and they are still adorable.. I used them here on the hearth of my Valentine’s day Mantel and small ones would be really cute on a buffet table.

If you don’t want to track down the tissue paper, you can buy them already made, you just need to fluff them up, but honestly, fluffing them is the hard part.  (And if I am saying that "fluffing them is hard”, clearly they are pretty easy to make! )