Have you lost your mind for Pokemon Go like everyone else currently on the planet?  I’ve played some and see why everyone is going so nuts for it…it’s the coolest use of geo location like ever!  So, I knew I had to make a craft to honor this social phenomenon and I decided to make these super fun lights that I think a lot of you will want to make.  I’m really excited at how cute they came out and the cool thing is you can make them for like under $10.  Stop playing Pokemon and follow along while I show you how to make them!

What you need:
– Ping Pong Balls
– Battery-operated string LED lights (I took apart the red cup ones I saw at the checkout of Dollar Tree for mine)
– Tulip Dimensional Paint (I used paints from this pack…a fun fact:  I designed the packaging for this product)
– Red spray paint
– Painters tape
– X-acto knife
–  foam florist block
– wooden skewers

On the top of the ping pong balls, cut a small x slit. I found the top of the ball by eyeballing the seam that ran around the middle of the ball.  This is easy to do than you’d think – the plastic is very soft.  Just make sure to be gentle while cutting so that you don’t deflate the ball.

Tape off the ping pong balls halfway using the painters tape.  There’s a line/seam on the ping ball balls that makes it easy to follow so you can tape off exactly half of the ball.

Make loops with your tape and place them on your spray painting surface so that you can secure your ping pong balls while spray painting.

Place the balls on top!

Add several light coats of spray paint to the balls.  You will have to practice extreme patience not to overspray the balls and cause your paint to run or speckle.  I actually had this happen on my balls cause I got to impatient in between the coats drying. Ugh…lame

After they are fully dry, remove tape.  If there are slight imperfections, no worries, you will be covering over these areas with the black paint. If you happen to get any spray paint on other ares of your plastic, it does scrape off.

Place on skewer so you can add dimensional paint details. The skewer works wonders people!  If you just try to add the paint by holding it, you are highly likely to drop it and get puffy paint everywhere. #justsayin

Prep your dimensional paint by both shaking it and running it under warm water for a few seconds or setting in the sun for a few minutes.  I promise, this really helps it flow smoother out of the bottle.  Apply a band of black around the middle (circumference) of the ball.

When you about to finish your band of paint, stop to make a circle with the paint.

Now squeeze in the white paint into the middle.  If you are more patient than me, you can wait until the black paint totally dries to be on the total safe side so your colors don’t mix.

Place the skewers in a foam florist block for easy drying! This trick also works great for drying ornaments!

After they are completely dry, pop the balls onto your LED light set.  Turn on and you have the coolest Pokemon lights at the stop.

These look great displayed in your room, locker, or cubicle, but you can also decorate your car windshield with them while you are out playing the game.  You could also wear them as a necklace as you’re playing the game.

These little balls are also fun to put on your antenna so EVERYONE knows your are playing the game.  You can also use as pencil toppers or use them for oversized earrings.

Thanks for stopping by my blog to check out my tutorial. Here’s a pin I made above if you’d like to share this project with your friends on Pinterest, Instagram, or Tumblr.  I’m also going to link to the video I’m uploading to FB if you’d like to share this projects with your Facebook friends!

Until next time Swellions!
Alexa