For her 4th birthday, Sofia requested a Maya the Bee party.  For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been in full crafting mode preparing for her bee-themed birthday party.  In today’s post, I wanted to share one of my favorite decorations for Sofia’s party.  I decided to make a lollipop stand by recycling a Giga Pop.  We buy Giga Pops locally at National Wholesale Liquidators.  This project can also be done with the large Chupa Chups sold in airport duty free shops.  Sofia loves lollipops so I have a few of these plastic lollipops in my recycle stash.

You will need:

• 1 Giga Pop or Chupa Chups
• 2 Rolls of crepe paper – green and pink
• 1 1.5″ x 2.6″ x 3.3″ floral foam block
• 1 Sheet of letter-sized card stock paper
• Flower petal and leaf template – Download the Lollipop Stand Template.
• Glue gun and glue sticks
• Scissors
• Ruler

Step 1:  Download and print out the flower petal and leaf templates on card stock paper.  Cut out the shapes and set aside.

Step 2:  Cut out the crepe paper pieces you will need to transform the lollipop into a flower.

Flower Petals:  Cut out a 4 1/2″W strip of pink crepe paper the length of the roll.  Fold the strip in half.  Place one of the flower petal templates on top of the folded strip and trace the design onto the crepe paper.  Carefully, cut out the flower petals.  You will have 2 strips of flower petals.  You will need about 3-4 flower petal strips.

Flower Base:  Cut out 1/2″W strips of pink crepe paper the length of the roll, about 2-3 strips.  You will use these pieces to cover the base of the flower.

Flower Stem:  Cut out 3/4″W strips of green crepe paper the length of the roll, about 2-3 strips.  You will use these pieces to wrap the stem.

Leaves:  Cut out 1-2 leaves from the green crepe paper.

Base:  Cut out a 6 1/2″W x 5 3/4″L rectangle from the green crepe paper.  From each corner, cut out a 1 1/2″W square.  From the center, cut out a 3/4″D circle.  See Step 5 image to see an example of the finished piece.  You will use this piece to wrap the floral foam base for your lollipop stand.

Step 3:  Wrap the base of the flower and the stem in the green crepe paper strips.  Affix the crepe paper to the plastic form by applying a thin line of glue.  The crepe paper is flexible so you can mold it to the shape of the stem.  Leave a 1/4″ unwrapped gap at the top of the stem so you can easily insert it into the flower base.

Step 4

Image A

Step 4:  Next, you’re going to wrap the flower form with the pink crepe paper.  Starting at the top, apply 1″W lines of glue to the form and affix the crepe paper petals.  I found it was easier to cut the petals into 3-piece sections.  Once you complete the first row of petals, slightly stagger the second row of petals – it’ll make the flower look fuller.  Once you achieve the desired fullness of the petals, switch to the 1/2″W strips to finish off the base.

For the flowers in the featured image, I applied three rows of flower petals.  You can use as many rows of petals as you like depending on how full you want the flower to look.  See image A for top view of finished flower.

Step 5:  The last step is to cover the floral foam block so the flower will stand on its own.  Apply a thin line of glue to the 4 top edges.  Attach the rectangle piece of green crepe paper to the foam, smoothing out as you go.  Cover the four sides the same way.  By cutting out the corners, you don’t have to worry about folding under the extra paper making the base look cleaner.

You can display the lollipop stand as a single flower using the floral foam base or you can display a couple in a flower pot (see featured image).  To display the flowers in a pot, place a round floral foam at the bottom of the pot.  The foam won’t be visible so you don’t need to cover it in crepe paper.  To make the flower pot look finished, I’m going to shred green crepe paper with fringe scissors and fill the pot to cover the foam.

Step 6:  Affix the leaf to the stem.  Decide where you want to place the leaf on the stem.  Add a line of glue at the base of the leaf.  Attach the leaf to the stem.

I made two flower lollipop stands to decorate Sofia’s cake table.  I still have a handful of empty Giga Pop and Chupa Chups containers in my house.  These flowers were fun to make so I think I’m going to add them to my Etsy shop.  Below is an image of the finished lollipop holder filled with Dum Dums.  These are great decorations for a garden- or bee-themed party.  If you decide to try this project, please tag your pictures #latinamominnyc

Happy Crafting!