DIY: Dollar-Store Decor

I’m usually extremely well-behaved during the week.

Between free breakfast food at work and going to classes at the gym instead of happy hours at night, I can get from Monday to Friday without spending too much moolah.

Come the weekend, though, and I’m a monster in all respects. My wallet and diet get completely ravaged. Brunches, shopping trips, group dinners, and bar hopping are costly enough no matter where you are, and when these activities are taking place in the most expensive city in the U.S., it’s even worse.

But thanks to a severe sore throat (the kind where it feels like you’re swallowing razor blades) and a general lack of desire to drink recently (which saves tons of money in and of itself), I was able to have a different kind of weekend – one in which I reverted back to my 15-year-old self, making arts and crafts and taking emo walks through the park with my headphones. You know, the good ol’ days.

One of my cheap weekend activities involved a little DIY “pom-pom” decor for my bedroom, so I’m going to generously share this project with you here because it cost me all of $3 to make.

You’ll need tissue paper (10 sheets minimum if you just want to make one, but you may mess up, and I made three, so just get a few packs of 10, OK?).

You’ll also need some sort of thin wire. I already had some, and you can probably just use paper clips if you already have ’em, so get the wire or don’t.

And finally, you need to hang these babies with fishing line, preferably, but I just used white nylon thread.

It’s really not that bad, but you need to stack up at least 10 sheets of tissue paper (alternating colors if you want a pompom that looks textured), line them all up as best you can, and accordion-fold them. And this can get a little tedious.

Once your stack of tissue is accordion-folded into a single strip, secure the center with wire or paper clips, leaving a little loop from which you can tie the string to hang it.

Now comes the really frustrating part, and you’ll have to be gentle so as not to rip stuff. You need to separate out each sheet of tissue paper, essentially poofing out the pompom.

Once your pom is poofed, it’s time to hang it somewhere. I initially made these for a friend’s bridal shower, and we dangled a bunch of them from her parents’ outdoor patio, but you can put these pretty much anywhere. Mine are accompanying a paper hanging lamp in my room, as shown in the picture.

And if I completely confused the hell out of you, and you want some instructions from a pro, just ask the “Busy, Budgeting Mama.” (That’s even worse than my blog name …)

Happy cheap-o crafting, everyone!