Lollipop

I stumbled through this pretty DIY project at Martha Stewart's site this morning and I think it'll be an awesome new trend we'll be seeing in weddings in the coming years...

Inexpensive, Easy, Cool, and can be made way ahead of time. Sounds like my kind of DIY project :)


Here's the instruction straight from Martha Stewart Wedding's website:

Cheree Berry's delightful display of suckers from her wedding is easy to make yourself, but you can also buy one from her website.

Tools and Materials
Styrofoam cone from Baisch & Skinner

Floral spray paint (choose a color that will match your ribbon)

Extra-wide flat washers (these will add weight to the bottom of the cone and keep it steady; to get a heavy-enough weight, Cheree used 2 and hot-glued them together. The more surface of the base that the washer covers, the steadier the cone will be; so, if you can find a "Large OD" washer that's 8 millimeters or wider from a plumbing-supply store, that would be best)

Hot-glue gun

8 yards of 5/8-inch-wide ribbon (use 1-inch-wide ribbon for a 24-inch-tall cone; Baisch & Skinner)

Gold-topped boutonniere pins (about 30)

Lollipops (some of our favorite sources include Ju-C Suckers, Hammond's Candies, CandyDirect.com, and Sugar Shack)

Flag template (download template here)

Slim wooden dowel (for flag)

Craft glue

Lollipop Stand How-To

1. Spray paint cone with floral spray paint, and let dry. Hot-glue the flat washer to the bottom of the cone, and let set.

2. Cut the ribbon into graduated lengths so each wraps once around the cone, with extra for overlap; the shortest piece (for the top of the cone) will be about 5 inches. You will need 25 pieces of ribbon for 16-inch cone, 28 pieces of ribbon for 18-inch cone, and 27 pieces of ribbon (of 1-inch-wide ribbon) for 24-inch cone.

3. Cover cone with ribbon, starting from the top. Wrap the first ribbon snugly around the cone (you will need to wrap the ribbon at a slight angle so that it lays flat on the conical surface). Fold the end under to hide the raw edge, and use a pin to secure. Continue down the cone, overlapping the ribbons only slightly.

4. Insert your favorite lollipops into the cone, slipping the sticks between the ribbons and angling them down. We used rock-candy swizzle sticks, so we used scissors to cut off the balls on the ends of the wooden sticks.

5. Stick a sign into the top of the cone, or insert a single lollipop instead. To use Cheree's flag, download her template and print it out, then use a craft knife and a metal straight edge to cut the flag just inside the lines. Glue it to a slim wooden dowel; if you like, cut a second sheet of paper and glue it to the back of the flag to cover the dowel.

First Published: Martha Stewart Weddings - Summer 2009

Chair Decoration DIY

Remember how I was thinking of having the hanging favor box on the chair instead of having the chair covers? Here are some different ideas for the decor:
1. Hang dried wheat on a bow on the back center of the table
2. Hang flowers

The above 2 options end up to be more expensive that I want it to be.... I need the decoration for each chair to be under a dollar. So.. as my creative side of the brain works better on Fridays, I came up with this idea from this image:

source

So... to modify it a bit to serve our purpose as a hanging chair decoration, here is a step by step guide of how to make it:

1. Make a cone out of paper doilies (these 8" doilies papers are about 5cents each from http://www.wrapwithus.com/favors/3_762-fx.html or 2 cents if you can buy in bulk from here http://www.mypapershop.com/500237.html)

source

2. Tie a ribbon around on the doilies so you can loop it into the back center of the chair.

3. Get a few bunches of baby's breath (you'll need about 3 stems of bb per cone, and it's around 10cents each stem if you buy in bulk.)

source

And voila! You're done. (I think.) I haven't actually tried to make these, but.... yeah. I think it's easy enough to do, don't you? I'm gonna try to do it this weekend :)

Sweet Hanging Favors

So my BM / wedding organizer had this ingenious idea of hanging the favors on the chair to make the chairs more inviting, and also to save cost on the chair covers. So... I browsed around and found this lovely piece from (who else?) Martha Stewart:

There's even a DIY guide to do it:
"First find the lid's center (use a ruler to lightly mark two diagonal lines from corner to corner on the underside of the lid; the point where the two lines cross is the center), and make a hole with an awl. Repeat for box bottom. Cut a 22-inch length of ribbon; fold in half, forming a loop. Starting at box bottom, thread loop through holes. Knot at bottom; trim ends. Cut a tag out of card stock and write a celebratory message. Punch a hole in one corner, and thread onto ribbon loop. Fill with sweets."

Perfect :)

Wedding Cake

I went to Little Saigon last Sunday, and found this place that sells really delicious cream puffs. It's such a great deal at 4 piece per dollar, so imagine getting these cream puffs, and creating them into a tastefully decorated croquembouche :)

<source>

Cool....