20 February 2014

How To Get Tissue Poms (AKA Stupid Puffs Of Cuteness) To Open More Easily

Why is this post necessary you may ask? You don't ever have problems opening tissue paper poms? They already ARE easy for you to open?!

Well, goooooooood for you.

But, right now I totally have a love-hate relationship with tissue poms!!! (And this little tip may have just saved my sanity.)

They are beautiful when they're open and hanging, but I must be party-decor-challenged or something because they take me FOREVER to separate the layers {without TEARING them!} to get them to open up.

I have twelve of them hanging in my dining room this morning, looking all cute and innocent like they were no trouble at all.

Hrmph, ya, right.

This morning, after spending most of yesterday opening my poms for an upcoming party, it occurred to me that if I cut juuuuuust ever so slightly into the inside edge of the fold, close to the center, that maybe they'd open up more easily.

Well, dontcha-know, it worked...when I only had 2 left to open.

Now, this tip has only been tried by me on an 8" pom because I already opened up all of my 18" poms before I got brave enough to try it. Don't go ruining your poms and come running to me for advice, cause I don't know what it will do to larger sizes or even other brands than the ones I bought. But hey, if you are throwing your hands up in desperation like I was last night trying to open those stupid puffs of cuteness, you may want to give this little tip a shot.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Remove the hanging string (or wire, or whatever your poms came with) and cut a small curve out of the center of the folds on each side of the tissue paper. The widest part of my cut is between 1/8th to 1/4 inch. Tie your hanging string back on and be amazed at how a pom that previously took 20 - 30 minutes to open will now open in under 5 minutes. Tada! (And, um, please excuse my low-quality cellphone pic, I really wasn't sure if this was going to even work!)