A wreath + a fun tutorial

I love black and white stripes.  Probably a little too much.

As I thought about it, there are a lot of black and white stripes in my house:

{Ikea throw}

{Ikea bowls}

{Target crock, from two years ago}

And I just bought eight knobs for an armoire that are black and white striped.  I love how classic they feel and how they go with anything.  They are charming and a little vintage but bold and modern.  Basically everything I love together in one stripey-adorable-contrasty-way.

I made a wreath for our kitchen.  And of course, it was black and white stripes.  It actually took me awhile to come to this conclusion but once I did, it was like the seas parted and I knew it would be *perfect* in the space I had planned.

So, I wrapped some yarn around a straw wreath form.  For hours & hours.  It took me longer than expected.  But it's easy, inexpensive and striking-- so hey, it's a win!  I didn't include a tutorial for this part because it's basically holding and wrapping and most people have made a yarn wreath by now and know the jist of it.

But I did try something new this time.  I figured out how to make pom poms and stuck a bunch in the middle.

I adore the whimsy of the poms.  They are so fun and cute, and again, easy and inexpensive.

I made a quick video tutorial for you to see:

They take about 3 minutes to make.

If you need more details, this is an awesome and very detailed tutorial on pom poms. The only thing I do differently is use my fingers instead of the cardboard. I like them this way because you don't need any fancy equipment.  Just your hand, scissors and yarn.  The poms I made come out to about 1.5" in diameter.  But wrap the yarn around more or less fingers for a bigger or smaller pom.

Also, if you want a long string to hang them by, just make sure the string you use to tie the middle is long (you can always cut it off later if you change your mind or need it shorter).

I ended up having so much fun with pom poms that I added them to many Christmas gifts this year instead of bows.  I found that they looked good on the men's gifts with the cabin-ey wrap I had.

But there is all sorts of uses for poms (garland, anyone?).  So give it a whirl and see what you come up with. If you are on Instagram, tag me in your pom posts :)

With love and poms,
Rachel