Ombre Pom Pom

POM POMS are all the rage right now.  So is OMBRE - - so I thought I'd combine the two, cause I'm spot-on like that...

First off, if you don't know how to make a pom pom, Martha Stewart has a good tutorial:

Basically, you take several layers of tissue paper and fold it like a paper fan.  Then you tie the middle and slowly pull up each layer, floofing the pom pom.  

The ombre look is easy to do - all you need is the tissue paper, some water, and some food coloring.  Put water in a cup and stir in food coloring - the liquid kind would probably work best, but all I had was gel so I used that and stirred it til dissolved:

 Dip your ends down into your colored water.  Let it sit there a while.  I thought the dye would creep up the paper and make the top of the paper light and the bottom darker.  But it didn't really do that....

 So I poured out some of the water and added more food coloring to make a darker, more concentrated mix and dipped just the ends in - that gave me the look I wanted - darker on the ends, lighter as you went toward the center:

 Unfold your tissue paper and lay it out carefully until it dries completely.  Then I pulled all the layers apart to make sure they didn't stick.

Then I folded all the layers back together again, and continued into making it into a pom pom.  Here it is, fluffed and pretty:

I used this as a bow on a giant present, but you could hang them as party decor - the possibilities are endless!

So, if you have tissue paper (best place to buy it - the Dollar Store), give this a try - you can do it!