Halloween Lollipop Tree Tutorial ~ WYLTC?

Hi everyone! 

We are excited to share this fun project with you.  We had so much fun creating our countdown to Halloween lollipop tree.  We don't think our kids get enough candy on Halloween,

so we made sure this year to give them candy all month long! ;)  That comment is oozing with sarcasm....

Our tree inspiration comes from  Garnet Hill. We saw this lovely floating around on last year and thought it would be easy to recreate!  We thought a Halloween version would be even more fun!

garnet hill

We promise it is easier to make than it looks, all you need is a drill- and a saw to make straight cuts.  The shoes are totally optional.  Best part is.....it all breaks down for storage.  A total must anymore with as many crafts as we make. Our husbands keep making landfill trips when we aren't noticing!

Alright, let's show you how we built our Halloween tree! Here's what you will need:

2 1x2" 8' long boards

1 36" long 5/16" threaded rod cut to 31 1/2"

2 locking nuts 5/16" size

18 1" wooden beads
1 4" piece of 4" fence post
5/16 drill bit for threaded rod
9/64" drill bit slightly smaller than lollipop stick/ to hold lollipops on 1x2
drill bit to fit & sink size of bolts on each end
optional witch feet or a larger base
31 funky lollipops
black, orange & white craft paint
die-cut numbers to fit 1x2, or number stencils 1/2" size

Here's what a threaded rod look like...if you have never seen one. 

We found ours for the best price at Home Depot.

Cut your 1x2's to desired length.

We started with an 18" 1x2 on the bottom, cutting in one inch  measurements

until the top piece which ended up being 3".

You will have 16 cut 1x2's pieces when you are finished.

Find the center on each 1x2, drill one hole with a 5/16th drill bit.

Drill holes for lollipops, about 3/4" of the way into the 1x2 on each end.

Use a drill bit that is just slightly smaller than the lollipops you are using for a snug fit.

Sand and paint each piece of wood, beads, base, and shoes.

Nicole used her Cricut to cut and size numbers from paper to a 1x2, they need to be about 1/2" in size.

You can stencil or use a paint pen to draw on the numbers too!

Drill a hole through the wood base with a 5/16 drill bit.

On the bottom, use a large drill bit (or paddle bit) to fit the bolt, to sink it.

We used a "locking" bolt at the end, so there would be no slipping and you don't need a washer

to hold it in place.

Carefully do the same to your top 3" piece.  You only need to go deep enough to fit that bolt.  It's okay if the paddle tip pokes through the other side a little bit since you'll need to drill a hole for the lollipop.

We used the wood beads as spacers.  So easy and no need for any extra drilling or parts!

Cut your threaded rod before you thread everything on or else you have a very likely chance of bending the rod and you'll end up with a crooked tree.  Yes, lesson learned the hard way on this one.:) 
A hack saw works great!

We have loved all the witch shoes we've seen everywhere lately and knew

they would be perfect for our tree base.

You can personalize them any way you want!  We used some really cute paper from K&Company from their Halloween line this year.  We loved their paper last year we used on our Spooky Villages.


If  you're not feeling confident enough to cut your own witch shoes out, we have some extra unfinished witch shoes you can purchase. Send us an email if you are interested.

The lollipops we picked up from Oriental Trading Company and they are solid and worth getting. You can also use anything you can find locally, or make your own. The Halloween pops are so popular right now.

If you don't want your kids to have candy all month long, faux lollipops would look great too!

That's it!  Not too bad?

We are definitely going to need another tree for Christmas, our kids are so spoiled!

Come on over this week to see the rest of the WYLTC? ladies knock off their version!

On Friday we will have a linky party at Wood You Like To Craft? to share 

all Halloween wood crafts, so if you have made something fun

this year for Halloween, come on over and share it!

Sharing over at Home Stories A to Z, Tutes & Tips Party!

& Centsational Girl's Fall Crafts Party!

Seriously, I "can" craft too!

My little girl was crushed when I ever so gleefully yanked down all the Christmas decorations and packed them away.  Especially the advent calendar.

Candace and I loved making our advent calendar's and my daughter was wondering

why can't we have a New Year's one?

Well......

I have been busy purging everything and anything out of my house,

trying to get some bit of organization done.

The good thing about that is finding all the little bits of stuff you bought and stashed away for

that rainy day project.....

2 years ago.....

before your daughter was born....6 years ago.....

when you first bought your sewing machine.........

14 years ago....

You get the point.  I stumbled upon my stash of felt and feeling the love from my sister's projects

I got my felt groove on.

I spent no money (currently that is) on this project.  (applause)

We got into a habit of picking up a yard here and there whenever we saw felt for sale at Joann's for 99 cents.

So first I made my pattern using some of my ugly old wrapping paper,

laid it out, pinned it on, traced it and started cutting away.

After cutting the large scalloped edge (which I used my roll of packing tape as a stencil of sorts)

I cut the inside heart out and cut it out in the cream felt.

I then cut each coordinating fabric (left over from our heart ornies) into 4 inch squares.

I ironed the seam under and then machine stitched them to another 4 inch felt square.

(I am not a professional seamstress, lines are not meant to be straight.:))

Yes, it seems like alot of work.  Yes, it was.

But historically we've made the pockets out of only felt.

Those little hands really stretch them out if

Mommy isn't "reminding" them to be careful each time.

So I thought if I backed them and folded down and stitched again a lip on them

they'd be super tough!

I then laid them out, pinned them in place and very imperfectly stitched them to the cream heart.

Then with a fancy stitch on my sewing machine (no hand stitching here ladies.....) I stitched it to the red heart.

I printed off a cute font from my computer, laid it in place to make sure it was sized right and then I cut each one out by hand while I got caught up on my tv shows.

If you have a cute set of die cuts I strongly encourage you to use them,

because it's no fun cutting these out by hand.

Finally I got to the fun part!  I glitter glued this baby to the hilt!

I cut random hearts and shapes out to make the numbers pop.

Using my beloved tacky glue and glue gun

 I added a few buttons, ribbon, ric rac and of course some glitter glue!

I probably "spent" about $5 and several hours on this project.

End result: One happy little girl

with plenty of pockets for some

little pet shop goodies.....

linking to

Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

 

Halloween Advent Calendar

I love Pottery Barn....I look forward to getting the magazines and combing over everything! I can't afford to pay for anything in there and I get some sick thrill out of being able to copy their stuff!

Two years ago Nicole and I found their Halloween Advent calendar and said...we could totally make that. We spent many, many, many, hours hand cutting, printing number patterns from the computer (thanks Stephanie!), and gluing! It was worth it because it turned out so stinkin cute! Nicole added her cute touch to all the scary faces by free-hand cutting each one.

The next year, we decided to make the PB Christmas Calendar and heard through the grapevine that you can use die-cute machines to cut felt! Awesome! I went to the local scrapbook store and quickly cut numbers, letters, snowflakes and more! Neat trick!

Today, if I were to do it again I would use the Cricut machine! I'm not experienced with it yet, but from what I understand you can heat and bond material and cut out all sorts of goodies! It's just brilliant what they have now for crafting.