How to Make a Sweet Tree

Materials Needed

Pink flower pot - or colour/design of your choosing.

I use a tin pot in this tutorial, but china also works well. Personally I find plastic ones a bit flimsy and light weight for this use.

Plaster of Paris

30cm dowel rod

Pink curling ribbon

Brown florist tape (semtex or similar)

Approximately 60 mini packets of love heart sweets

Glue gun and glue sticks

8mm polystyrene ball

Hot pink tissue paper

Butterfly embellishments (or similar)

Narrow double sided tape

Oasis cylinder


Step 1 - Prepare the base

Mix up your plaster of paris in a small pot, as per instructions on the packet. For most varieties a ratio of 3 parts plaster of paris to 2 parts water does the trick.

Once the plaster of paris is mixed together, then pour this into your flower pot, so it is approximately two-thirds full.

Step 2 - Prepare the trunk of your sweet tree

Next, you will need your 30cm dowel rod and your oasis cylinder. You will not need the whole cylinder, as it will be too deep for your pot, so you need to slice off about 5cm from it, and this is what you will use.

Push the dowel rod through the centre of the 5cm thick oasis cylinder. Put the dowel rod into the your pot which is now full with plaster of paris, and push the oasis cylinder down into the top of the pot, so you now have your tree trunk in place.

Make sure that the dowel rod is straight, as you now need to leave the plaster of paris to dry. This should take 30-40 mins. But you can speed up the process slightly a little by putting it above a radiator or similar.

Step 3 - Decorate the trunk

Once the plaster of paris is dry you can decorate the trunk of your tree.

Wind the florist tape around the dowel rod until it is completely covered. Next, take your double sided tape and wind it around your tree, as pictured. Take the backing cover off of the tape and then wind your curling ribbon around the tree, so that it sticks to the double sided tape.

Step 4 - Prepare the head of the tree

Take your polystyrene ball and push it down onto the dowel rod until the rod is about half way into the ball. I usually pop a bit of melted glue from my glue gun on the top of the dowel rod before I do this, to offer a bit more strength.

Step 5 - Start sticking the sweets on

Get you glue gun at the ready, and make sure you have plenty of glue sticks on hand!

Put some glue on the end of one of the packets of mini love hearts. You want to make sure you have enough to stick, but don't get too carried away! Stick this on the top centre of the polystyrene ball. Pressing down and holding the packet there for a few seconds whilst the glue takes. Repeat, with all the other packets! Continuing from the top and working your way down. You want to make sure that you place all the lovehearts as close together as you can, but don't worry you will probably have a few small gaps here and there - we will fix those later.

Step 6 - Fill in the gaps

Now you should have something looking like a tree!

But now its time to fill in those pesky little gaps. Get your tissue paper and cut it up into small squares. The size doesn't matter too much! One at a time, scrunch a square up, pop some glue on it and push it into one of the gaps between the sweets. Carry on doing this with the other gaps, ensuring that you end up with a perfect looking tree!

Step 7 - Add some embellishments

Now you can pop some glue on a couple of your butterfly embellishments and stick them on the end of a couple of the love heart sweets.

Step 8 - Finish off the base

Now it is time to make the base look nice! Get some more of the tissue paper, and scrunch it up a bit!. Now put plenty of glue on top of the exposed oasis cylinder. Push the scrunched up tissue paper on top of the glue to cover up the oasis.

Now you need a few more love heart packets. Get the glue at the ready and stick these to the tissue paper you have just put round the base of the tree, arranging them nicely as you go.

Step 9 - The final touch

Now finally the last butterfly embellishments at the ready, stick these with some more glue to the a couple of the love hearts on the base of the tree.

Voila! One completed love heart sweet tree.