From Halloween to Easter, our candy stash would continue to rise and become unwieldy on top of our frig. I will go out on a limb and assume we are not the only ones who have this problem. I was tired of seeing it in disarray in the open basket we threw it in and the hands would rifle through in search of a trick. So when my daughter did another one of her teen room cleanouts and dumped her pile of discards for me to deal with, an idea sparked! In the pile of ‘junk’ was a wooden box we’d purchased long ago from Michaels, which she’d undoubtedly begged to have and decorate. As with so many of my girls’ would-be projects, I set out to craft it into something special and landed on creating a crafty candy container. So hop on this candy train to make your own storage or gifting container today!
I have an affinity for clay and had my bags of it out from storage for a clay ornament I had just made. I started molding my colors into deliciously deceiving candy to decorate my crafty candy container.
Candy Container Materials List
- Container (could be small box, glass jar or whatever you choose)
- Clay
- Hot Glue Gun & glue
- Tools for shaping (playdough tools can work wonders)
- Sharp knife
- Washi/crafter’s Tape
- Acrylic Paint or Spray Paint (if desired)
- Glue & White Sand if you want to make sugar-coated candies
I love to use what I have on hand as much as possible to keep my crafting budget on target. The Rust-oleum white spray paint I had on hand was a little more than the coverage I needed but would work. It would have been cheaper to brush paint with acrylic white but it’s hard to resist spray paint when time is consistently short. I did two full coats and a third spot coverage.
Polymer Clay Time
Hard Candy with Wrapper
I thought this candy would be an easy place to start candy crafting for my candy container. It ended up being more annoying than I thought. It required a rounded piece and two thin rectangles. I folded one edge of the rectangle accordion style with 2 bends on one side. The annoying part for me was getting it to stick to the center circle without smushing the soft clay of the ribbon part or the circle. Whereas I intended to have a circle-shaped candy, I ended with an oval. A harder clay would have made it easier. The final step for all the candies is baking it in the oven at 275 for 15 mins per millimeter of thickness.
Marshmallow Candy
Now for the extremely easy marshmallow candy. Choosing the three colors is the hardest part of it. Once that’s complete, it’s just a matter of rolling out the colors into individual strands. Then, gently pressing them together and twisting while trying not to smush the curved strands.
Spiral Lollipop
Similar to the marshmallow candy, the spiral lollipop involves color selection, rolling into strands, and twisting the strands together. The difference is that once the strands are twisted, the strands need to be rolled smooth.
Hershey Kiss
Time to kiss this candy container with a candy favorite. Using a small ball of clay, simply pinch the middle of the ball as you gently push downward. More pressure should be applied to the top as you rotate the clay ball. It will flatten on the bottom and start to create a point. With a little finesse, you’ll have the iconic kiss shape in no time.
From there, you can choose your flavor varieties. For the red stripe, I flattened a thin rope of red clay and lightly pressed the strip into the white kiss. I recommend using a tool to flatten it so you don’t smudge the bright red into the white, which is very easy to do.
Spiral Mint
This spiral mint proved to be the most difficult of the bunch. It didn’t come out as perfectly as I would have liked, but it was at least recognizable once I cut it in half.
Start with two (or three) colors of choice. Roll the clay into balls and then flatten them into circles. I did so using a kitchen rolling tool I had. To make a perfect circle, I chose to use the smallest circle cutter I had. Then, using a knife, cut the circles into equal segments and piece them together into two new circles with alternating colors.
Now comes the hard part. Gently squish the segments together or roll them like a wheel on the table. I created the spiral by holding in the center and rotating the outsidie until there was a spiral. It didn’t look so pretty at that point, but once it was cut in half, the center surfaces looked spot on.
Sugar Coated Gum Drops and Candy Ribbons
The primary colors I had on hand were too bright for the gumdrops, so I used some transparent white clay to lighten the colors to more relaxed shades. The gumdrops start as small clay balls molded into cylinders. Then lightly shape the cylinder into a semi-cone shape. Voila, a gumdrop!
Using the remaining lightened clay, you can make the ribbon candy. Flatten each piece into a thin strip about 3/4 inch wide. Pancake them together and cut the edges of the stack to make a clean cube. Then cut into thin stripes and twist/shape as desired.
After baking the clay, paint Elmers glue onto the candy surfaces before dropping them into white sand. I, unfortunately, only had orange sand, which didn’t give the right effect. I ended up using regular granulated sugar for some other sugar-coated candies I made, because I didn’t want to wait for my next craft store stop.
Other Candy Ideas for the Candy Container
Chocolate box chocolates, like truffles. Conversation Hearts. Little Marshmallows for easier space fillers. Tall narrow lollipops. Watermelon sour gummies.
Candy Authenticity Inspector
With all the candies crafted and baked, it was time for my little helper to assess the authenticity of their candy appeal. She approved and wanted to eat them!
Now on to the Candy Container
The last step for these candies is to adorn the candy container lid. A handy dandy glue gun and a few extra glue sticks makes for easy work. I recently bought a new glue gun with a detachable cord that I have been loving. I felt stunted by the small short corded glue I had, so I had to spend the dollars to get something more useful for all my projects.
To close this project out, I chose to add another decor element around the lid rim. It seemed too plain to leave white, so I grabbed some washi tape and went to taping. My washi tape had been sitting around for a good while waiting for the perfect use, so some of the sticky had left it. I secured it with a little bit of craft glue for security and longevity. With that, I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and are on your way to making it your own! Happy crafting!
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