Tulle Wands {tutorial}

Killing time and not cleaning my house (you'll soon learn I will do just about anything to avoid cleaning my house), I was floating around Pinterest...the serious time-suck that it is. I found adorable Tulle Fairy Wands. Ava happened to see over my shoulder and NEEEEEDED one. So, in true time-killing fashion, I proceeded to find all the supplies to make one. I managed to find everything I needed in my sewing closet and didn't need a trip to the store. I used dowels from the little fabric flags that were handed out at the 4th of July parade, we had plenty of ribbon and hot glue, and I had a left over scrap of white tulle from making a veil for a friend last summer. Going off of just a picture, I was simply winging it. And this is how it went:

Supplies: About 14-20 6" squares of tulle, satin ribbon, upholstery thread (emboidery floss would have been better), a 10-12" small dowel, hot glue gun.

I cut 14 roughly 6" squares.

Tied thread around each one individually.

Stacked 2 in an x pattern and tied them using the tails from the original tie.

Once they were all paired, I kept tying them together until they were all connected into one fluffy ball. I hot glued a few strands of ribbon to the end of my dowel and tied them on to secure them. I put a big blob of glue on the end of the dowel and a big blob right at the knot of the strings holding the tulle together to ensure the strings wouldn't come untied over time. I stuck the 2 blobs together and tried my darnedest not to burn my fingers...I never succeed at that.

I then wrapped the dowel with the remaining ribbon and tied a larger ribbon on the opposite end of the dowel for more frill.

Voila! I gave it to Ava and this was her reaction!

She then proceeded to wave the wand in my direction and say, "POOF, now you disappeared!" Nice kid!
This took me about 45 minutes from start to finish. I was feeling pretty proud of my creativity. Then I went to the computer to upload my pictures and decided to google "Tulle wands" and came up with tons of tutorials. And many that were MUCH easier than my way. I wanted to try a different version just for fun (still haven't managed to clean the house, remember). I gave this tutorial a try:
http://themodesthomestead.blogspot.com/2011/11/tulle-fairy-wand-tutorial.html
Yep, much easier! I made 2 more wands in about 20 minutes while talking to my sister on the phone and directing her through Denver traffic.

Of course I had to modify it, so I added some ribbon into the tulle before tying the rubber band around it. It added some extra frill and color. We shall see what my little princess thinks of these when she wakes up.
I think I've just discovered some party favors for her Fairy birthday party!