The Making of a Lollipop Snow Lady (or Man)

Hello All! I thought I would make my foray into DIY ideas with this cute Lollipop Snow Lady. My mom and I own and operate a small business called The Giving Wreath Gifts. The entirety of our business is making décor and other gifts out of candy, and I thought it might be nice to share one of our ideas with the world. My original thought was to make this something you could make with your kids as a handmade present, but honestly I think anyone of any age would have fun making it, and decorating it in their own way! Before I start with the directions I just wanted to say that overall these are ideas.  If you can think of some way to improve upon them, or feel comfortable using other supplies, feel free! More than anything else, this is supposed to be fun! Also, so you don’t feel like you are breaking the bank, most of the supplies were gotten from the dollar store.  The largest ball was not, but you could get two of the medium balls and I don’t think it would look too much different.

• Here is a listing of supplies
• ·         3.8 in foam ball
• ·         3.3 in foam ball
• ·         2.4 in foam ball
• ·         Tacky / Elmer’s Glue (hot glue also works, but can be dangerous for little hands)
• ·         Glue Stick
• ·         Toothpicks
• ·         Bamboo skewers-3
• ·         Scotch Tape
• ·         Stiff Paper 8 in long by 2 ½ in wide
• ·         Stiff paper 5 in long by 1 1/2 in wide
• ·         Stiff paper 2 in by 2 in ( 2 pieces)
• ·         Dum dum lollipops ( I wound up using around 80)

Decorations

• ·         Buttons
• ·         Miniature Bows
• ·         Googly eyes with lashes
• ·         Garland one foot long (I used more than one piece)

Most of the supplies ready to go

To start the process of making the Snow lady start by cutting out all of the pieces of paper.  I used card stock because I had it, but you could use poster board or some other similar paper at this point.  If you want it to be decorated, at this point the kids could color on the paper with markers (you can use crayons, but you need to leave space for glue to stick to the paper where the seam will be). I personally waited to decorate my paper skirt because I was covering the seams in glitter, but it would give the kids something to do while an adult is doing the next step.

balls glued together

Next step is to run one of the skewers up through each of the foam ball’s center, to get the hole through the center. After they all have space for the skewer, run it through all three, smallest through largest. I would suggest if you are doing this with children an adult do this part so that there isn’t a chance of one of the little ones getting hurt.  As soon as they are together, you need to glue the points where they meet, and set it aside on a piece of paper towel or scrap for the glue to dry (it might drip).  This is another point where if you are used to using hot glue you could use it as it will make this process faster, just don’t let kids do it (this is true for any of the points that use glue).

After the glue has dried on the foam balls you will need to glue on the paper skirt.  Dab the foam with glue, and then wrap the piece of paper around the foam, making sure that it sits evenly at the bottom so that the Snow Lady is even when she is standing upright.  I stuck toothpicks through the paper into the foam to hold it still on either side of the seam. You can also get the hat glued together at this point.  Take the paper that is 5 in long by 1 1/2 in wide and glue the ends together by using a glue stick.  After holding that together for a few moments, place the circle onto one of the 2 in squares. Use the tacky glue at that seam, and set it aside for about 10 minutes.  Then, do the same thing with the other 2 in square and set it aside until the entire thing has dried. After it is dry you can either leave it be, or cut the angles off of what you consider the top part.   (I also used a small piece of curling ribbon on to hide the bottom seam, but you don’t have to).

completed hat

cut lollipop

Before you start on the fun part of placing the lollipops, you need to cut the sticks of them.  I found using a set of wire cutters was easiest, but I also did it with scissors.  About 1/3 of the stick needs to be removed from the bottom. 

When all of your lollipops are ready, the fun part starts.  Starting right above the skirt, start pushing the lollipops in pretty tightly together. You do this all the way around the foam until you have one layer of lollipops.  You continue this up the foam until you reach the top of the second ball.  After that I started decorating.

making the arms

adding the lollipops

For my decoration I had done to make the top part of the one a Snow Man, I used two buttons for eyes, the same hat and a wider garland I had sitting around.  

To make it my special Snow Lady, I used some Googly eyes I had at home with some lashes on them, the same hat, and two different thinner garlands that were meant for a small Christmas tree. I used a red and gold twisted together to make the scarf and used an extra piece of the gold to make a stole.

After that was finished all I had left to do was make the arms, and put them in.  Each of the arms was a skewer that I cut down to size, which was about 5 in or so. I then taped on two toothpicks to either side to make it look like hands, and voila we have a Snow Lady.  In my personal opinion, she looks very much like snow person in a dress with a fancy coat on, going out on the town.

  

Possible changes you can make:

If you think that this project will take too long, there are a couple of options you have. 

·         You don’t have to add in the skirt piece.  If you do the lollipops all the way down, it should be sturdy enough to keep it up.

Snow Man

·         You don’t have to use 3 foam balls.  If you like the idea better of using two balls, go for it!

·         You can use smaller balls if you think these are too big, be aware if you make this as a change though, you have to change the sizes of some of the paper pieces and you might need to cut more of the lollipop stick off.

Snow Lady

As I said in the beginning of this DIY, the most important part of this is to have fun! It doesn’t have to look perfect to be a fun craft!

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