When asked to co-host a his and hers baby shower in a downtown Los Angeles loft for some dear friends, I knew I wanted the decor to be fun, made of recycled materials and not pink. I started with pom poms. Usually they're made of tissue paper, but having a pile of newspaper on the porch, I needed to put it to good use.

What You Need

Materials
Newspaper (8 sheets per pom pom)
Floral wire
String, raffia or monofilament to hang the pom poms with

Tools
Very strong scissors

Instructions

1. Lay out 8 sheets of newspaper.

2. Accordion-fold the paper into approximately 1.5" sections.

3. Continue folding until you have a nice bundle.

4. Use very strong scissors to round the end of your folded bundle of paper.

5. Repeat the last step on the other end.

6. Tie floral wire around the center of the bundle.

7. Begin to fan-out each half of the bundle.

8. Separate each layer. You'll begin to see the pom pom take shape.

9. Finish fluffing the layers to create the full effect.

Additional Notes:
The newspaper is a lot thicker to cut than regular tissue paper, so I recommend using high-quality metal scissors. Cheaply made ones with plastic components might break under the strain of cutting the ends, once folded (the scissors in the photo for Step 5 broke right after I took the photo).

(Images: Michelle Chin)