Sweetheart Kissing Ball Tutorial

I've been making kissing balls a few years now, and I'm always looking for different things to make them with. I started making them for Christmas time, and made them out of mini ornaments, bells, holly, and poinsettias. I have hung them in doorways, on trees, in bowls, and this year I even put them along my garland above my door. I got so many compliments!!!
With Valentine's Day soon approaching, I wanted to make some with that theme in mind. What more appropriate time to have "kissing" balls then on Valentine's Day!

Here is a little tutorial for you to use if you want to try to make them yourself! Or, they will also be available for purchase in my Etsy Shop!

Yummy Cuppy Crafts

First, you will need some supplies...

Styrofoam ball

paint

paintbrush

gluegun

gluesticks

crazy yarn (optional)

I like to paint the styrofoam balls before covering them because sometimes you can see the white underneath. It just gives it a cleaner look! So, there is step one.

1) Paint styrofoam ball a similar color as the balls/toppings you are going to cover it with.

I found these foam balls in packs of 6 on sale at Michaels for cheaper than one true styrofoam ball at Wal-Mart! They come in a few different sizes. They have one little hole in them that work great for sticking the end of a paint brush in to let them dry.

2) Start glueing your "toppings" on the styrofoam ball. I got these mini colored styrofoam balls at Ben Franklin in Hawaii months ago. They weigh absolutely NOTHING. Be creative, you can use almost ANYTHING on these.

I like to start near the top and work my way around and down. Don't worry if you aren't covering every little inch of the foam ball, if you painted first, you won't even know when you are done. And, if you finish with yarn, it covers it up even more. (read on)

*Side note: If you are snacking on popcorn while crafting, make sure you are eating out of the right bowl. And just to be clear, I never ate the mini styro balls, but will admit, I came close a time or two!

3) Once the glue has cooled and dried, you can stop here... OR, you can continue to embellish the kissing ball with crazy yarn.

Stick a little dab of glue and string the beginning of your yarn in it to anchor it. Then wrap it between the mini styro balls until you feel you've reached your look!

Here is what they look like after the yarn. Two different sizes. From here, you can stop... and throw them in a bowl, basket, vase, whatever. OR... you can continue on and add other embellishments and a loop of ribbon to hang them!

Here are some examples of other kissing balls I have made.

The LOVE Shelf

Remember my SANTA shelf? You can see it HERE. Now that Christmas is over, it was time to replace my 5 letter word with another... well, how about a 4 letter word + a heart?! I just cut our 3x3 inch squares of scrapbook paper and used my handy dandy Cricut machine for the word LOVE and the heart. I {heart} my LOVE shelf!

Valentine Topiary

I've been scouring the internet looking for ideas to decorate my home after Christmas. Valentine ideas are popping up all over. I also want to find crafts that I already have the supplies for. When I came across this adorable topiary idea, I couldn't wait to get started.

MY ALTERATIONS: Instead of a wooden dowel, I used a tall cinnamon stick (that way you don't have to paint it! And instead of pinning each circle, I used my glue gun! I am thrilled with how it turned out! I think I'll try to make more!

Find the tutorial at THE IDEA ROOM HERE.

Forget-Me-Nots & Burning Love

I got these mini flower pot kits at Target just after Christmas in the Dollar Spot bins. They had Forget-Me-Nots and Burning Love. So I got two of each. I thought it would be fun for my kids to 'take care of'. I have such a black thumb its not even funny, but we'll see how long these survive!

My 2 year old assisted me with the first two.

It comes with a pot, seeds, and a 'magic' soil pellet.

Drop the soil pellet in 1/6 cup of water and watch it go from this:

to this in literally 3 seconds:

Throw in 10 seeds, and some topsoil, and your done!

Then stick it in a window, keep it moist, and watch it grow!

Free Gourmet Apple

Want a free gourmet apple? Thought so. Ivan Mog is offering free samples of your choice until 05.01.10! Thanks to Be Different Act Normal, I found out about this and have requested mine. No strings attached. It just might take 4-6 weeks for it to get to you. (while supplies last) I can wait.

Valentine Paper Hearts

I saw these here and couldn't wait to try them out. I just took down my Christmas decorations and now, my house in naked all over again. It doesn't help that as soon as we moved in, I started decorating for Christmas. Now that it's all packed away now, I'm back at square one. So... I'm searching for fun and affordable decorating ideas. And this, my friends, is definitely one of them!

I used a pencil to roll the paper, and then dabbed a dot of glue just like she said to in the tutorial to hold the heart in place. Then I threw mine in a jar with silver tinsil from Christmas. Ta-da! Instant Valentine's Day decor!

My "SANTA" Shelf

I stayed up late doing a little more decorating. My husband was hanging pictures and shelves for me all day... our poor white walls (we are renting) were needing something. This little shelf normally holds 5 little 3x3 pictures, but 99% of my family photos are in this little box I call my laptop. So I thought of some holiday words with 5 letters and decided on "SANTA". I cut out festive 3x3 backgrounds, and had my little cricut cut me the letters. I LOVE how this turned out!

When I finally did go to bed, I brainstormed forever thinking of all the 5 letter words I could use for the different holidays all year round!! I'm kinda crazy like that!