Springtime Jelly Bean Tree

Spring is here!  Why not decorate for springtime by making your very own Jelly Bean Tree? Making a jelly bean tree is a fun seasonal craft for adults and teens, that is guaranteed to add a beautiful and festive touch to any room or entryway. I’ll show you how to make your own tree, as well as two other easy crafts using jelly beans.

Supplies:

  • 2-3 pound bag of jelly beans (I used pastel “Sunny Island”, Brach’s Speckled Jelly Bird Candy, found on Amazon)

  • Branches, either real or craft

  • Hot glue gun (with glue sticks and cardboard platform, to catch liquid glue drips)

  • String

  • Butcher/Packaging paper, or newspaper

  • Large glass Mason jar, or decorative vase/pitcher

  • Pruning shears (optional)

  • Burlap and/or wired ribbon (optional)

  • Festive table runner or tablecloth (optional)

Directions

Make sure to preheat your glue gun about 10-15 minutes before you plan to use it, and rest it on a sturdy piece of cardboard (so the hot glue has somewhere to go when it starts to drip out of the gun). If you’d like to use a decorative bow, but you’re unsure how to tie your own bow, you can purchase a premade bow and attach it to your jar or vase by wrapping it around and securing it tightly. Since I used a pitcher, I didn’t feel it needed a bow. I went outside into my backyard and used pruning shears to cut some small tree branches (and then, using some string, bundled them tightly together in several places around the base). If you don’t want to cut your own branches, you can purchase craft branches from an online store, such as Michaels. 

Once your glue gun is hot enough, choose your assorted jelly bean colors and hot glue them onto the branches. I placed a dab of hot glue on a jelly bean, positioned it on a branch, and held in place about 5-10 seconds to allow it to adhere.  After all of your branches have been decorated with beautiful jelly beans, wrap the packaging  paper (or newspaper) around the base of the stems and then stuff it down into the vase or pitcher, carefully nestling it in place, thereby allowing the paper to support the branches.

Floral Centerpiece

Here’s another fun jelly bean craft, a simple DIY floral centerpiece.

Supplies:

  • 2-3 pound bag of jelly beans (pastel “Sunny Island”, Brach’s Speckled Jelly Bird Candy, found on Amazon)

  • Silk flowers

  • Rubber band

  • Paper towel tube

  • Large glass Mason jar

  • Burlap and/or wired ribbon (optional)

  • Festive table runner or tablecloth (optional)

Directions

For this craft, I find that it works best to use a large glass Mason jar (so the beautiful jelly beans can be seen and admired). Start out with an empty glass jar and place a paper towel tube, cut to size, down into the middle of the jar. Arrange your flowers into a bouquet and use the rubber band to secure the bottom of the bouquet, and set it off to the side. Now, use the colorful jelly beans to begin carefully filling up the empty space around the paper towel tube (leaving the paper towel tube empty, in the middle of the jar). Gently place your bouquet of flowers down into the empty vessel created by the paper towel tube. If desired, tie a bow around your glass jar and/or place it onto a decorative table runner or tablecloth…and display it in your dining room or in your kitchen. 

TIP: You can switch out the jelly beans to other fun, decorative festive confections to match the seasons…such as Hershey’s Kisses, M&M’s, mints, marbles and even polished colored stones.

Lastly, I used my jelly beans to create several lovely candle centerpieces.

Candle Centerpiece

Lastly, I used my jelly beans to create several lovely candle centerpieces. 

Supplies:

  • 2-3 pound bag of jelly beans (pastel “Sunny Island”, Brach’s Speckled Jelly Bird Candy, found on Amazon)

  • Candle

  • Glass pie plate, or decorative basket

Directions

TIP: In lieu of using a real candle, you can purchase a flameless candle, such as the Luminara Flameless Pillars from QVC.

This is such an easy craft – fun to do with your children – find a large glass pie plate and set a candle in the middle of it, and pour the jelly beans all around the candle until they are level with the edge of the dish. I’m also including photos of other attractive options, such as decorative and/or wire baskets…

Marshmallow Peeps Wreath

For an easy (and delicious!) craft that children will love, consider making this adorable Marshmallow Peeps Wreath.

For more wonderful crafting ideas, please visit CCPL’s newest free crafting database, Creativebug.

You can also check out our CCPL catalog for more information on interesting projects such as holiday crafts, crepe paper flowers and book art.

Image credits:

Unless otherwise noted below, all images were shot during the making of this blog.