500 Gumdrops, Less 30
OK. I love the way these gumdrop wreaths look. But, having just finished one, I think everyone that has ever made one is CRAZY, including me. Did anyone mention how time consuming and tedious they are? Did you know that three pounds of gumdrops is about 500 small gumdrops? I thought my five-year-old and I could whip one out in a little sibling nap session. Nope. He was done after about the first 80 or so. It took much longer than a nap, maybe three to four hours. It's definitely cool, though — I just hope it doesn't become a holiday tradition. ;)
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After writing this I went back and googled Gumdrop Wreath Blog and I got the actual time commitment from Alicia. Guess I should have done more homework. I never was good at reading the directions all the way through.
Here are some other gumdrop wreath stories:
Sparkle Power
My Paper Crane
Hula Seventy
Crazy Mokes
Hey Lucy
Sew Darn Cute
Bella Dia
Teen Sleuth
P.S. It's funny what crafty types will find too tedious to do. I've met at least one knitter who can't stand to rip out seams from sewing, but thinks nothing of frogging a sweater. Personally, I'm afraid of My First Sweater because it might involve large quantities of frogging.
P.P.S. I forgot to mention that I wrapped the Styrofoam form with masking tape, which made it impossible to poke a toothpick through. I had to make a pilot hole with a sharp metal tool first for each hole. This could have been part of my frustration.
20 Comments:
the wreath looks great! but I hear you about craft tasks that go from fun to tedious. i have started about a bazillion knitting and crochet projects and finished about 3 because of frogging (and counting stitches).
Very impressive result ....
It is interesting to see these gum drop trees now. They were around when I was a tiny person, longer than any of you..try 1950's.(early 50's) They were so much fun and thank you for reviving them. My mother was the queen of gum drop trees, although in the 50's we used tree branches that had thorns on them...no Styrofoam then.
Yours looks beautiful. My son and I made one last Christmas (mostly me--he got bored quickly too), and I thought it looked great, but this year it looks a little less than fabulous. Only one gumdrop fell out, but there's a bit too much space between them for my liking. I wonder if another year in the attic will kill it. Maybe I should just chuck it come January...
Wow...great job. We never had a gumdrop wreath growing up but my grandmother had a gumdrop tree. It was a plastic tree and you'd attach a gumdrop on each branch. Good memories. Thanks
oh, this does look beautiful....so do all the others you linked to....well except mine. i wasn't going to go any further w/ it though, once we ran out of gumdrops. plus, my fingertips were already a little sore from breaking those toothpicks. thanks for linking to me.
happy holidays!
I think I would have gone crazy if I had to punch a whole for each toothpick! You have much more patience than I. It turned out great, though, - what did your boys think?
I think yours looks great, I've never seen that before. Do you get to eat the gumdrops after Xmas?
I'd say it was worth the tedious-ness, your wreath looks great!
Mine is really quite small, so I didn't have too much trouble with it, although I will admit to being completely anal about the whole process, and redoing the gumdrops once or twice, so the colors would alternate perfectly. And the flat toothpicks really don't work as well as the round ones.
This is incredible! I think it was worth it but then again, I've never actually sat down to make one. I think I would have given up and just ate the unfinished evidence.
that is so sweet and sparkely!! yum, will you eat it next??
The wreath does look beautiful... and my immediate reaction was, "maybe I should make a gumdrop wreath." I have been pondering some gumdrop trees for a couple days now. However, you reminded me of a similar crafting experience when I tried the cranberry wreath (thank you, martha stewart) which was also way more time consuming and tedious than it looked, so I think at least for this year... I will pass.
My sister made one with hot glue and dyed pistachios.. her fingers were pink for a week.. But the wreath was gorgeous!
That's one of those things that I've always wanted to buy but never wanted to make for just the reason you mentioned.
My most hated and tedious craft action is putting in elastic, followed with folding and putting away patterns neatly.
Oh dear, we are planning to make a gumdrop tree tomorrow....thanks for the heads up!
The wreath is so fun. I would have to eat one then put one on the wreath, then eat one and so on and so on......
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Tedious, drawn to the tedious? I can't say I know what you are talking about. I love the time commitment factor - becomes a sort of conceptual art piece.
Sounds crazy, but, oh! how good does it look!?
take care, g xo
I forgot to mention that I ate two bags of gumdrops before I ever got to the project. I also admit to stealing one off of the finished wreath, but it was an rogue one on the edge -- didn't look quite right. So, to everyone's questions about eating it, I think I'll pass, maybe try to save it for next year. A note to future makers: buy supplies when you see them, they run out fast.
I think two bags of gumdrops is a fair trade for fuel to create such a thing of beauty! This year we didn't have much by way of home-made decorations but I'm determined that next year will be different.
(P.S I found you by blog-hopping and I've added you onto my bloglines reading list, I hope you don't mind)
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