Pinspired: Candy Topiaries

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A while back I repinned a picture of a lollipop tree, but it didn't have a source! After doing some searching today, I found out it was from Jill Dubien's blog Meet the Dubiens. You can see her original lollipop tree post here.

With all of the holiday candy floating around, I decided to experiment with this idea myself using different forms and candies. I ended up with two, one similar to the original inspiration and another creation of my own. 

These would make great party centerpieces or gifts. You could even check out your local arty store of candy shop to make these in a favorite color. Each one cost less than $10 and they were super easy to make. Each one took about 15 minutes. 

Have fun experimenting with different styrofoam shapes, types of candy, and containers. So many possibilities!

1. A styrofoam ball (I used a 6 in. ball from AC Moore)

2. A container to serve as the stand (This was a metal flower pot from Dollar Tree)

3. Lots of lollipops! (I used Dum Dums from Walmart, but you could use an kind of round lollipop like Tootsie Roll Pops or Blow Pops)

To assemble:

1. Put the styrofoam ball on top of the the container you've selected. You can glue it down if you're worried about it falling off, but mine stayed on fine without using any. Also, if you don't glue it down and you're thinking about making this for a gift, you could put a small gift in the container and use the topiary as packaging!

2. Next start inserting the lollipops. I found that starting around the bottom was much easier than starting at the top. I inserted the lollipop sticks straight in.

3. Keep inserting the lollipops, staggering them in each round to be sure you fill in all the spaces. Do this until you're topiary is covered!

Here's the finished project. You could also paint the pot, tie a bow around it with some ribbon, or paint a terra cotta pot with chalkboard paint to write a message to the recipient.

For the second one, I used: 1. A taller, vase-like container (again from Dollar Tree); 2. A concial styrofoam form (from AC Moore); 3. Rolos; 4. Toothpicks.

I made this one the same way as the lollipop topiary by using the toothpicks to secure the Rolos. The only difference for this one was that I covered the form first, then turned the container upside down to make it a stand and glued the two pieces together.

As you get closer to the top, you make have to cut the toothpicks in half so they don't poke out the other side. You can see in my picture that I tried starting out at the top. That did not work out so well. It's much easier to start at the bottom so there is support for the candies as you move up the piece.

I was really happy with how these turned out and I can't wait to give some of these out as gifts. Have you tried making something similar? I'd love to hear about it!