How to Make a Lollipop Pallet Tray

Buy all the ice-cream!

What I Used:
Large lollipop sticks / Small lollipop sticks
Glue Gun [you can read my ode here]
Craft knife / pencil

 To start the 'pallet tray' you'll need 22 lollipop sticks
[feel free to come in to their possession by buying 22 ice lollies].

With 4 of the sticks, mark the centre and then use a craft knife to split them neatly in half:

These halves will become the 'legs' of the pallet tray. 

The sides will be created by connecting one half to the other with 3 full sized sticks.  Start with the

 first stick lined up with the tops of the sides and then continue down.  I left a space at the bottom 

[mine was around a 2cm] so that the pallet tray was raised, but you could space your sticks further 

apart so that the bottom stick sits flush with the bottom.  Secure in place with plenty of glue:

[this is what they will look like from the inside]

...and repeat with the other lollipop stick halves, creating your four pallet tray sides:

 [this is what they will look like from the outside]

Next, take two of your pallet tray sides and attach a lollipop stick along the bottom of each:

 ...hold the lollipop stick in place as it dries to ensure that it sits neatly in place at a 90 degree angle against the side.

Next, we can begin gluing the sides together.  Taking one of the sides that you didn't add an additional lollipop stick to, glue this in place to one of the sides that you did, insides facing.  It should fit neatly above the additional lollipop stick and you can reinforce the join with more glue on the inside:

[I hope that made sense!] 

Repeat this with the other two sides and then finally, join both sets together, holding in place

 as the glue dries and adding additional glue to reinforce the joins if required [this is also useful

 if any sides don't quite fit together and the glue will fill that gap]:

Finally, with the remaining 4 lollipop sticks, I placed these [sort of] evenly across the 

remainder of the bottom of the pallet, fixing in place with my hot glue gun and adding extra 

from the iside to reinforce:

[if you want to reinforce the strength of the bottom, repeat this stage with lollipop sticks in the 

opposite direction, adding more glue at the ends and also where the lollipop sticks cross]

  ...and your pallet tray is complete.

[you can paint and decorate your tray to fit in with your style and decor]

Use your pallet tray for display or as a storage:

[it was surprisingly strong!] 

...or create a smaller version for chocolate [much better idea]:

[made in exactly the same way, just using standard sized lollipop sticks]

see you next time x

More Easter DIYs here.