Shimmy and More: MIM - Make-It-Monday: Candy Dispenser

Hello Hon,

It's another glorious Monday with the promises of new opportunities to find something you love and DO IT!

We had a fabulous weekend with our sons and eldest daughter as we gathered to attend a retirement ceremony for our eldest son. It was a wonderful event! We also got to spend some time with our eldest daughter who was also able to attend the event.

If you follow me on Periscope (if you don't my handle is @stephsgotit) you will notice that I did not broadcast my #SGS - Sunday Goal Setting. We were on the road driving back home most of the day therefore I did not get a chance to scope the live broadcast. I will just check in next Sunday to report. It's incredible how much that little action of saying something out loud to others helps to hold me accountable. If you do not have Periscope I encourage you to check it out for yourself and see if it's something you like. I love how personal connections are being made and that it's in real time. It's an app you download on your IPhone, Ipad, or Android. Sorry it won't be very useful for you on your desktop or laptop. You can get a little snippet of it here.

Well, it's that time for Make-It-Monday! This week I have detail pictures and comments on how we made this awesome item for my husband when he was running for a district position in our Toastmasters district. It was so much fun to make. He began the process and I kinda carried it home for him and made it look presentable. What is it you ask?!?!?

Candy Dispenser

We sat it on the table with all of his campaign information. We filled it with candy and as candy was taken from the dispenser's mouth it was immediately replaced. Once it was completely empty we would refill it, which was was only once after initially setting it up each day. It lasted a long time and it held a variety of candies. Since Halloween is coming up this may be very useful for the office or classroom. When you have guest/visitors stop by your the room/office/home they can simply serve themselves. Since the dish itself is a tube you can place it in any small area, even against the wall, on the floor or a table (we leaned it against the wall behind the campaign table). You can decorate it to match your office/room or for Halloween.

Here's a list of what you will need:

Poster mailing tube, any size you like, you can find them at any office supply store

Coping Saw
Keyhole Saw

Scrapbook adhesive, glue would work also

Grosgrain ribbon

Scrapbook paper (you could even used wrapping paper, newspaper or regular paper decorated by your kids)

A large variety of candy!

Start off by measuring up a couple of inches from one end of the tube. We did about 4.5 inches. There were no exact measurements as we made it up as we went along. But you do want to start this slit up high enough because you will have another one about 2 inches below it to make the mouth.

Saw through until your slit is about 2.5 inches long (from one end of the slit to the other, but no worries if you make it a little longer. However, DO NOT saw over half way through the tube, that would be TOO FAR. Think about what size candy you want to put in it to help determine the best width of your slits, we just guesstimated. Got it? Great, proceed to next step.

That's my honey sawing.

At the original slit that you cut across the tube, measure about 2.5 inches down (this will bring you closer to the end of the tube). Make another slit exactly like the first one going across the tub. Make sure it it the same length as the first one because this will make the mouth of your dispenser.

You see in these pictures that my husband made another slit above the mouth. I did not tell you how to do that because it turned out to be unecessary. Just like a man he was going to leave it like that. But I could not have that, not on my watch. So at that point where I come in to finish out the project and beautify it I actually closed the opening, as you will see if later picture.

Now take a keyhole saw or some small straight hand saw. I am not sure but staring at this picture this may even be a sharp butter knife with little teeth (I know crazy, but yes our butter knifes have little teeth that actually cut). shhhhhh, I can't say for sure but that is certainly what it looks like to me. LOL Anyway, at the end of the first slit cut all the way down to the second slit; that will create the side for you mouth. Repeat on the other side. Clear as mud right, thank goodness for pictures.

At this point you should have something that looks like this.

Don't worry, we're just staring, it'll look great
in the end product.

Ricola! LOL, just a bit of fun.

Here's where I come in ensure functionality, stability, and to just put a woman's touch it. So this is what it looked like when I started with my assignments on the dispenser.

You can see in these pictures that I closed that gap.

The next thing I wanted to do was make it presentable to general audiences. So I went to my scrapbook stash and found this really cute paper.

I also grabbed my Snail Adhesive, my favorite when scrapbooking!

The paper is the size of regular printer paper. I used the long side of the paper going down the tube, wrapping the short side around the tube. To my disappointment it left a small gap in the back. (Yes you can be smarter than me and measure the circumference and all that jazz.) Considering this was going to be leaning against the wall and the mouth is on the front side I didn't worry about the gap in the back. If it causes your OCD to kick in by all means measure the width of the gap, cut out strips of scrapbook paper and glue them into that space. OR you could use 12x12 scrapbook paper, and cute off any excess.

Front Side

Back side

Now, you're probably asking what about the mouth. First of all double check your opening, which I previously called your mouth, by measuring it. Then draw those measurements on the paper. Make sure that you have laid you paper against you tube to make sure you mouth will be in the proper place on you sheet of scrapbook paper. Using a craft knife, cut out that rectangle. Be careful NOT to go beyond the lines that you have drown so you mouth has nice clean corners and edges.

Once you have that cut out, go ahead and place your adhesive on the back of the scrapbook paper and attach it to the tube. Being careful to line up the mouth carefully.

The last touch is find a coordinating or contrasting ribbon to match you paper. Cut off a piece of ribbon that will wrap around the tube, overlapping by one or two inches. Cut a small piece of ribbon one or two inches, it really depends on how big you want your bow. I did ours about 2 inches. Wrap this short string around your longer string, tie a knot, and finish with a bow. (That's the cheaters way of make a bow for whatever your project is, leaving you with a great bow.) Now you can glue you ribbon to you tube, I placed this one about 9 or so inches (again, no direct measurements, just where it aesthetically looks good to you). Because you cut a little more than the size of the tube you should be able to overlap the ends with some added glue to close the ribbon circle.

And wa-la, you're done! A great candy dispenser that will fill itself for hours. When it's finally empty just open the top dump in more candy and let it go. And if you are wondering if the candy just all came rushing out the answer is no. Because you've left a little bowl (that's how I imagine the bottom, do not add a bowl) that the candy sits in. The candy came out as needed easily but did not overspill at any point.