Since I promised you all two posts today in our earlier update, I figured I should get right to work on this one. It’s been a busy, busy, BUSY week around here (my messy house will attest to that) and I’ve started my Christmas crafts, so it’s time to get started sharing those fun little projects with you all!

I grew up in a house with mistletoe. In fact, despite hardly ever using it myself or seeing others use it (although I remember a few pecks my parents snuck under there from time to time), it was always one of my favorite decorations to put out. Honestly, it makes me a little sad my mom sort of stopped using it. But I get it, It’s a big ball that hangs in the doorway. Her version of the mistletoe kissing ball, as I’ve since learned it’s called, is getting a little old and dusty, plus, it’s pretty large, similar to this one, so about 6 inches in diameter. There are a ton of options online, but again, none that I was excited about spending $15-25 on…

I’ve searched the past two Christmases for both real and fake mistletoe with no luck. I used a few springs of fake holly in our apartment for our first Christmas. Luckily it was up high enough that no one could really see it that well.

I don’t remember hanging anything here last year because I just didn’t find anything I liked.

But this year, I took matters into my own hands, literally, and made my own little kissing ball. I’m calling it the newer, sleeker, sexier kissing ball because it’s slimmer and more dressed up.

I started with 4 sprigs of mistletoe I finally tracked down at Hobby Lobby. It was on sale for $.25 so I grabbed four instead of the two I had planned to buy and I’m glad I did.  I also grabbed another sprig of greenery that had some red berries and these lime green fuzzy branches.

Then, I plugged in my hot glue gun and disassembled everything so I could it back together in my own way.

I knew I wanted it to end up really full and fuzzy…which is why I supplemented the mistletoe with additional green textures and colors. I also wanted it to be a heck of a lot smaller than the balls I’ve seen in places like Michael’s and Target. (Some of them were more than a foot in diameter! Why would you want that hanging in your doorway to bang your head on all day? These people must all have higher ceilings than we do.)

Using the long sticks that came with each piece of holly, I was able to make a practice ball before I started gluing, just holding everything together. It was a little loose because I had to wedge things in but I carefully snapped this photo to show the process to you all. You’ll have to excuse my awkward claw-shaped hand. Ick.

Then, I took it all apart and started back from the beginning, gluing pieces together as I went this time.

I basically just bunched the mistletoe into a round shape by turning two upside down and two right side up, making a nice round shape. Then, I filled in with the other pieces. It turned out pretty good I think!

(No one said I was a non-messy crafter…)

You want to leave at least one of the long stems in there to help you find your center and give you something to glue to. Plus, it’s a good place to tie a ribbon and it’s a nice hand hold. You can trim it later though, no worries.

I like all the textures and colors in there. It makes it seem more “real” looking. You can see it’s a bit fancier than some of the others out there, (but not all crazy glittery or fake poinsettia covered either), and it’s small, about the size of my palm.

Finally, I added a piece of twine to hang it with. Ta-da!

You’ll have to wait until we get our decorations actually up and ready to see the final reveal…it’s currently sitting on the dresser in the living room…which is also waiting for a reveal…so much to show you guys soon!

Tell us what Christmas projects you’ve done. Have you hung lights outside yet? I wanted to do it when it was warm out last weekend but we waited until after Wyatt’s birthday and now it’s super-duper cold out there! Yikes!