Crafty Thursday: Christmas Pomanders and Kissing Balls
This week I began working on some simple and craft satisfying christmas decorations. Scrap material, mini desert cups and fruit from the kitchen were all the materials I needed for this set of kissing balls, also known as pomanders.
The first kissing ball I made by taking some scrap material I had and cut circles, using a role of painter’s tape to trace around so all came out the same size.
From there, you fold the circle in half, then in half again, creating a triangle shape. Pin the folded circles at the point, filling up the ball to cover.
I did 3 1/2 inch circles, and it took what seemed like a million! I think is so much fun, and it was great way to use up little bits of material that I had lying around. I have trouble throwing material away. Next time for a styrofoam ball this size, I will increase the diameter of the circles, maybe double it to 6 or 7 inches. That should speed things up quite a bit.
I put a wine glass in a big glass vase I had to hold a flameless candle, some cinnamon sticks, cranberries, mini pinecones and a couple of snowflakes.
I went in a completely different direction with this second kissing ball.
I decided to cover this one with flattened mini dessert cups that I found for 60% off at Joanne Ect. I think they are used for homemade truffles and candies. I saw the small gold cups and knew I could do something with them, even if I had no idea what then.
I just hot glued the cups all around until it filled the ball. I then added some branches and birds I had on hand, attaching with hot glue and staples I made with the extra wire branches I trimmed off of the stems.
I used the extra mini dessert cups to make groups of flowers. I did this by folding the cup in half, then rolling it from one short end to the next, then hot glued in groups of three around the ball.
Lastly, I thought it needed some red, so I tied a pretty ribbon around the ball before adding the gold ribbon from which it hangs.
Christmas birds in a gilded cage. 
The last decoration, an orange pomander, is from my childhood. I lost my mother at the age of ten, and one of the things I remember the most is how special she made the house at Christmas. And this orange and clove pomander was one she let me do as a small child. So easy and it smells so nice. I can’t see one or smell those scents without thinking of her and Christmas.
You will need some whole cloves, an orange, some ribbon and something to poke holes where your cloves will go. I used the sharp end of the meat thermometer. But a chop stick would do nicely too.
This year I rolled it in some spices I mixed on a plate. I used nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. We never did this step growing up, I but found it on a couple of tutorials when I was researching how to cure the pomanders so they would last a long time.
In the years I made these since Mom passed away, I never knew to cure them so they would last a long time. I would always just hang them until they became bad. One year, I remember it did get small and dry and I thought it went bad and threw it away. LOL. That is what they are supposed to be like when they are fully cured.
Curing them will make them last for years.
Poke holes where you want the cloves to go, leaving room for your ribbon to wrap on the sides.
Place the cloves in the holes and then roll it all in the spices.
Then to cure, you either can put it in a paper bag for a few weeks, or some put them in a cupboard. Many have baked them in a low set oven, and that is what I tried this year. The tutorials said to bake for an hour, but I baked mine for a couple of hours in a 200 F oven.
It is not completely dehydrated yet, but I hung it anyway and we will see how it goes.
When you are ready to hang it, just simply wrap around the orange, pinning at the bottom. Knot and pin at the top and then tie the ends together to create a loop to hang. Aroma of orange and clove are just heavenly together.
Are you making any decorations this year?
Happy Creating!
Nicki
Perfect Prospect
The orange and cloves reminds me of mom.