Whimsy Stamps ~ Halloween Lollipop Shaker Decoration

Hey there crafty pals, here is one of my last Halloween creations for this year. I have created a cute Lollipop Shaker today, with some fun Halloween elements from Whimsy Stamps. Man have I had fun this month both with Halloween cards and with Halloween décor. You guys know, I'm all about the 'too cute to spook' Halloween fun. I can't do the gory truly creepy stuff. I'm just not that gal. But oh my goodness, does it give me joy, crafting with the Halloween colours and cute Halloween elements! I've made so many Halloween cards the past few years and not known who to send them to, so I've decided this year to focus more on Halloween decor. Because yes, I do decorate my house for Halloween. The kids and I love it! You may recall if you read one of my earlier posts, that I spoke of another creation I'd used one of these recycled sellotape plastic packagings on. Well here it is, a giant lollipop shaker creation.

This whole design was based around that sellotape packaging and how I could turn that into a shaker creation. The first creation I made using this sellotape packaging was a simple shaker card design, but I wanted something a little different for this one. So decided to create a lollipop shaker design to have as a fun Halloween decoration. 

I created the concertina rosette which is the central layer of this design, with three lengths of paper folded in peaks and valleys. Each measuring about 2 inches wide and 11 inches long. I folded the three lengths into the concertina folds by scoring each length at every 1/2 inch interval. Then using strong double sided tape, attached all three lengths to create a continuous circle, then pushing it flat, so the centre folds came closer together and the outer folds splay out to create the rosette of paper that the layers are built upon. At this stage, it's important to place the drinking straw between one of the folds and decide where the base of the design will be. Gluing this in place firmly and adding the first layer of paper to hold the concertina rosette in place. A heavy flat book or stamping block works well to anchor the rosette while this first glue layer is drying and setting.

On the front of the design, the layers have been built up with circles of cardstock for stability and doilies for a pretty finish. I had some orange satin, which was waste from a project at work, so I covered some cardstock with this, for a slightly different look and finish. The sellotape packaging was filled with shaker elements, sequins and sprinklets and plenty of them for a fun shaker experience, before adhering to the base layers. Then to cover the plastic rim of the shaker plastic, I used one of the layers from the scallop circle frames from Whimsy Stamps which happened to fit perfectly around the sellotape packaging.

I coloured up one of Dustin Pikes cute little bats from the Going Batty clear stamp set to decorate the lollipop. I wanted to leave the window as visible as possible, so the shaker elements could feature too, so kept that bat embellishment very simple. I also added a little diecut bat over some twine and thread and finally a lovely satin bow in bright orange to finish the front of the design.

The reverse of the design I used similar layers of cardstock and a doily, but in different colours. I finished the reverse layers with the fabulous spooky diecut from Whimsy Stamps. I added some black stickles to the bat and spider for a bit of shine and dimension. It's quite shiny and sparkly up close. I really love how this all came together as it was a bit of an experiment! I knew what I wanted to achieve, but not really how to do it, so I went for a 'google' and found a wonderful tutorial from the lovely Sandie of The Paper Cove, who shared how she made a Lollipop Card, so I adapted my design from this.

I have a beautiful candle lamp which I bought back in October 2012 in London with one of my English pals at the Scandinavian Show which was held at the Brompton Hall in Earls Court. She and I both love Scandinavian design and so we had the best time shopping that day and this unusual but absolutely gorgeous treasure is one I came home with. No it is not a giant cheese grater, it is in fact, a quite enchanting lamp, which you can hang outside to cast pretty shadows in your garden or decorate your home indoors as I have done. My lollipop fits very nicely in the top of this lamp, so I'm using it to prop up this wee design in my Halloween corner. I won't light the tea-light in the candle lamp while it's in there though! This little collection of goodies, was me mid-process on a number of makes, you might recognise some of the elements from earlier posts. If you spotted the exploding box, you may recall I promised to share a pic with the candy in it!

We're still in lockdown here in Auckland, so it's taken a bit of doing getting Halloween candy this year. But I managed to get some through our grocery order and here it is open with all the candy exploding out of it!

Our Halloween fun has come and gone now. As I write this, we've had our Halloween movie fun and Zac is now tucked up in bed full of sugar and fun Halloween memories. We couldn't do the traditional trick or treating, so one of his friends organised a skype style Halloween party, where they could chat and share stories. So he dressed up as Harry Potter and enjoyed the fun of that. I'll be back shortly with my last Halloween creation, yes, I promise, it is 'the last' one! Hehe. See you soon. Hugs xoxo