Plastic Bag Pom Pom Centerpiece

Last week I shared with you how to make DIY yarn from plastic bags, and now I've used that yarn to make one of my all time favorite recycling crafts, plastic bag pom poms! Not only do they use up all the plastic bags that are still in use in my corner of the world (sigh) but also because truly, the results are fabulous! While I usually hang the pom poms from my chandelier over the dining room table, this year I think I'm using them as a centerpiece of sorts on our black piano......looks great as is, and the pom poms don't quite match the other decor I have going on, so I put a large plate on top of an upside down bowl, to make a cake stand, and voila!

You can these fun pom poms in any size (these are about the size of a large grapefruit) and they hold their shape over time unlike tissue paper yet have the look of tissue paper. Ah yes, and if you end up using them in the succah they are waterproof, yippee! You can store them in a box and use them time and time again! If you are very particular that they maintain their shape, put a rod of some sort across the top of the box and hang them from the rod, to insure beautiful pom poms, after all your hard work that is.

I love the multicolor look here, but have also made solid red plastic bag pom pom fruit, which is so cute. So hang onto orange, yellow, red and purple bags to make pom pom fruit for Tu B'shevat! Okay, ready to make some plastic bag pom poms?

You'll Need:

• plastic bags, light weight
• string, i actually used plastic string from the hardware store, but whatever you have
• tutorial for making "plarn" plastic bag yarn  scroll down in the post for the diagrams
• tutorial for making plastic bag pom poms

How To:

Follow my tutorial, and keep in mind that you will need quite a few bags, and that the trimming process to get a lovely pom pom does leave a mess of little plastic bag pieces, so consider doing that step over a large box or bin to catch all the pieces. Also, take note that the pom poms in the tutorial are much less dense looking as I used fewer bags. So experiment and see whether you prefer a denser looking pom pom, or a lighter one. The denser ones of course hold their shape over time but require twice the number of bags and more precision with the shaping step.

And by the way, little plastic bag pom poms look great tied around the neck of a bottle of wine or as a gift topper!