DIY Sola Pomanders *Pic*

Pretty!

How adorable! I love the colors.

These look FANTASTIC!!!!! Way to go!!

Oh wow, I am so impressed!!!!

Those look great!

Beautiful you did a fantastic job!! Way to go!

Love the way they look. What colors are the butterflies?

I love those! do you have a tutorial or something your are following? Also where did you get your stands??

Thanks ladies!

@Kristin - I am not sure what color butterflies I am using yet, but I have pretty much every shade butterfly. I will probably go with some sort of shade that will "pop" off the pomander.

@Future Mrs. Axtell- I did manage to find a tutorial online. I mostly used it for inspiration and to see how you dye sola flowers. This is the tutorial I used: http://carverjunkcompany.blogspot.com/2013/05/diy-wedding-decor-sola-wood-flower.html

I purchased my stands from Save-On-Crafts, as well as the sola flowers.

Stephanie I love those! You did a great job!! I am looking into doing my own all pink pomander balls for centerpieces. Can you show me a direct link to the flowers you bought? I'm not sure if I have to get a "bush" or "branch" or if you can just do the heads? etc.

Thanks !

@Nicole- Thanks! The direct link to the flowers I bought is: http://www.save-on-crafts.com/tapiocaflowers.html There's some already dyed pink flowers on there, but it's not hard at all to dye them yourself either. Some of the flowers have "deals" where if you purchase so many it'll be a lower price, so be sure to look at all the different types. When I used the roses for the pomander, I cut the base of them off some so they would be more flush against the ball. The balls I used were also 5 inch Styrofoam balls, but you can use whatever size you want. Just keep in mind they will fill out about 2 inches on each side once complete. Good luck Nicole!

These look amazing! These are the colors I was wanting to use as well! Any other pics/advice/tips?

@Kayla- Sure! I would be happy to offer more advice/tips. Please feel free to always private message me on here as well.

For dying the sola flowers- I ended up using one small bottle of paint to about maybe 2 cups of water (rough estimate). It really depends how bright you want the color. Use less water if you want it brighter. I did color trials with sola flowers that arrived a little squished. Now also a great thing I figured out later on, the ones that are squished (not broken), you are able to reshape/reform them a bit once they are wet. Only dip them into the color water mixture no more than 3 seconds. Give them a good shake to get off as much excess liquid as possible. I used a small craft brush to get any spaces I may have missed. Lay them on paper towels to dry. It's best to let them dry 24 hours.

I'll post advice/tips about the pomanders in the next comment down.

They are different. Pretty colors.

They look wonderful!

How real do the sola flowers look in person?

Making the pomanders- When picking the size styrofoam ball to use, keep in mind the ball will fill out at least 2 inches on each side once the flowers are on. Attach the ribbon first. I hot glued my ribbon on meeting the two ends at the ball and then I used 3 straight pins that have the small pearl bead on the end and I pushed it through where the ribbon met for extra support in case there is any breeze the day of. When I started adding flowers I worked my way from the top down. Glue the flowers as close together as possible so the styrofoam is hidden as much as possible. Any flowers that weren't "perfect" I put on the bottom part of the pomander. Each pomander takes approximately 45 minutes to make. Store loosely in a plastic container. You can also add accessories to the pomanders like white pearl beads to the centers of some/all of the flowers, butterflies, crystal beads dangling, etc.

Those look gorgeous, I can't believe you did that yourself!

@Jess & Sean- In person they do truly look real! You can't really notice unless you get very up close to them. They are super light weight. I've read from a lot of brides that when using them in their weddings, people don't realize they aren't fresh flowers until they mention it to them. You also can spray them with the perfume you wear that day as they absorb well. I saw this tip on a youtube video. Afterwards you can display them in your home for years to come! They are great keepsakes! They are mainly why I decided to do them because I wanted to keep them forever. You can preserve fresh flowers but I saw online even preserving them only lasts a few years.

@tiki monkey-buns- Thanks! I'm a crafty person. I do a lot of different things. FH was nice enough to make our spare bedroom into a craft room and build me a craft table! I'm a lucky woman

Those are beautiful, you did a great job!