Colorful Christmas {Pom Pom Garland}

So I realize this is being written after Christmas, but with all the busyness and craziness and fun that comes with the Christmas season I never got around to writing it. Now, on New Years day I am sitting down and doing it. Better late than never right?

When getting Christmas stuff down this year I noticed that my Christmas decor didn't really match the rest of our house anymore. The decor was more on the side of rustic country and our home is more of an eclectic feel with rustic touches. I can't let go of the real wood and natural elements however I can't make my mind up about any other style...hence the eclectic feel.

So, I wanted to make some garland to hang on our mirror that was Christmasy (is that a word?) and colorful. I had been dying to try to make Pom Poms...Perfect! Pom Pom garland it was! I had seen quite a few on Pinterest and really liked the looks of them.

This project took me a little while...not because it is difficult (it is not), but because I have a hard time making decisions and couldn't decide on colors! I thought I had all the colors I wanted and after hanging it up on the mirror...it just wasn't right. After about 3-4 trips to Joanns for more colors of yarn and fighting the Christmas busyness...by golly we had it! Nope. Wait. We didn't. It was still missing something...LIGHTS!! It couldn't be Christmas garland without lights. After another trip (this time to Home Depot by the hubby) I twisted in the lights and BAM! That was it! Colorful Christmas garland made out of Pom Poms...Love.

Here is a quick tutorial on how I made this little gem:

Pick your yarn colors. Take one color at a time and wrap it around your four fingers. The more you wrap it the bigger and fluffier it will become. If you want small Pom Poms just do 2-3 fingers.

Once you have wrapped it like a million times, cut it and hold down that end with your thumb. Cut off a longer piece of string and slide it through your middle and ring finger wrapping it around the yarn.

It can get difficult to do it one handed, but eventually you get the hang of it.

At this point you can slide the bunch off of your fingers and tie a knot in the string wrapped around it or you can do it one handed (what I did) and tie it while still on your fingers and then slide it off. Whatever is easier for you but you MUST tie it as tight as you can! I always added another knot once it was off of my fingers so it was all double knotted and with later ones after this project I wrapped it around the yarn a second time to get it even tighter.

After you have the yarn off of your fingers, tied and secure you need to cut all the loops in half....it should start looking like a Pom Pom at this point.

Once you have done all the cuts in the loops it is time to give your Pom Pom a little hair cut and just make sure all the strings are about even in length.

Now to make the garland! I used twine to string mine from, but you can use more yarn or any other type of string or ribbon.

Tape the end of the twine so it doesn't fray and find the middle of the Pom Pom where the string is that is holding it all together. At this point simply push it through under the secured string and pull the Pom Pom down the twine. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. (You get the picture right?)

Once you have your length of the garland simply twist your lights into it. I found it easiest to hold the lights and wrap the garland around the strand of lights. Voila!!! You are done and ready to hang! Oh and to clean up all the little Pom Pom shavings, leftovers and fuzzies from cutting them. Forgot to mention to have a vacuum or broom handy!

 This was prior to adding the lights...it just needed something else to scream CHRISTMAS!!!

The finished project: