Gigantic Tissue Paper Flower Orby Hanging Balls

Tonight I was in MAJOR nesting mode! Now that Parker is in his big boy room, it's time to decorate for Avery! Keep in mind, I've only been wanting a baby girl since I was 3 when my mom brought my sister home from the hospital (to a primary colored rainbow room... I'm sure it was cool then, mom). SOOO.... I'm just thrilled to get decorating (with a non primary colored rainbow theme)! I've ordered a custom made wall decal to go over her crib (pictures of that to come when it's up and ready) but things were starting to look flat. She needed some dimension. She told me. She's got style even in utero.

BAM... it hit me..... GIGANTIC tissue flowers! So I put Parker in the car and we ventured to Wally World, only to leave with over priced Styrofoam balls that I now have to return.  Next we went to Target and bought .99 cent packs of tissue paper. That's it. CHEAP, GIGANTIC, tissue flowers. Right up my alley.

I made 2 following Martha Stewart's directions on her wedding website and now feel expert enough to impart my gigantic tissue paper flower orby hanging ball wisdom.

No, they are not going to live on my ceiling fan, but I didn't want to crush them while I made more.

I made the first out of pink tissue paper and the 2nd out of cream shiney tissue paper. Martha says to use 8 sheets of tissue paper but I wanted super puffy flowers so I used 10 for these, only to bump it up to 16 for flower #3! I said gigantic, remember?

Here's how to do it Taylor style:
Take 16 (or less if you don't want it so puffy) pieces of tissue paper and stack them vertically. Fold them accordion style.

Normally you would hold this down with your hands but I needed them for this amazing shot.

I know you love the white athletic socks with the black pants.

 Place a thick (thicker than this if possible) piece of jewelry or floral wire around the center. I also tied mine with a piece of coordinating ribbon for extra strength.

Snip the extra wire (cause Martha says so). I won't lie. I tucked the other ones!

Next you need to cut the edges of the tissue paper into points or rounds. I chose points because rounds sounded harder.

Look at my magic scissors. They cut by themselves!

After you cut all of the ends. Fan out your "flower" and start by GENTLY pulling up each piece individually.

Now's the time to turn on TV or some tunes. This isn't hard but it takes a bit if you'd like to do it without ripping the paper. I ripped this flower twice... you can't tell.

Keep pulling and fluffing! Once you pull half of the pieces on one side, flip it over and do the other side. (ie- If you used 10 pieces of tissue paper, pull 5 to one side and flip it over, then pull 5 to the other side so your flower is even)

I pull one piece from each side as I go. So right side, then left side

Once I accomplished half of the flower, I flipped it over in my lap and started the other side. This is probably the best photo ever taken. I can get ya'll a copy if you'd like. hehe

 Once you're done pulling each tissue layer up, fluff, fluff, fluff.

TA DA!!!!

I'm planning to use fishing wire for when I hang these in Avery's room but until then, I'm using random ribbon I found in my ribbon stash (yes I have such a place). Tie it around the center and hang that puppy up!

There she is in all of her glory... hanging from my ceiling fan :)

Honestly, I like the look of the 16 sheet flower better than the 10 sheet flowers. It just has less holes. For Avery's room, I plan to make 3 total (the 1st 2 with 10 pieces are going to be scrapped... or given to anyone who wants them... speak now). The pink one will be the biggest and I plan to scale the next 2 down so they're each slightly different sizes and they will be hung at different heights over a chocolate brown rocking chair in her room. So far, I'm really happy with the results! I'll post pictures when it's done.

Tomorrow I plan to make a Michael's run (heaven forbid I go 4 days without seeing the inside of a Michael's, Hobby Lobby or AC Moore) for more tissue paper that matches Avery's bedding. I Actually think I MAY be able to cheat and find scalloped edged tissue paper to help me make each of the 3 balls a bit different AND save me the hassle of cutting the edges (which is my least favorite part).

There you go.... easy breezy. GIGANTIC, tissue paper flowery orby hanging balls!