Here is a fun way to add color and flair to a cake, in a non-sugar-filled way. It’s also a quiet, quick project to do late at night when a little someone is feeling wakeful.
Materials:
String – I used a basic cotton string I had laying around. Use whatever works
Paper – any paper and color combination will do, decorative/plain, computer paper/cardstock, I used cardstock in teal and white
Skinny dowels – I bought a pack of 16 from Walmart for $.99 (round, 3/16 inch wide, 12 inches long)
Glue stick, scissors, utility blade
___________________________________________________________________________________
Begin by folding the paper to your desired chevron size. My little flags were around 3/4th of an inch long. Because I used cardstock, I paid close attention to the grain of the paper so I could fold with the grain to get a nice clean fold and not against the grain which crinkles and looks ugly.
Then start cutting out flags. My flags were about 1/2 an inch wide at the top and then, of course, met at a point at the bottom. I didn’t trace them out or make a pattern, just eyeballed it to make them approximately the same size.
I lined up my little chevrons to see how far apart I wanted them before I started gluing.
Then, one by one, I glued each chevron into place using the glue stick, leaving a little string gap between.
Teal, white, teal, white, teal, white.
Completed.
This cake topper was for a cake I made in honor of my friend, Dawn Grandstrand. Two years ago, she got the frightening news that she had ovarian cancer. Dawn underwent surgery and chemo, even lost all her hair, but made it through and now works hard to raise awareness and money for ovarian cancer research through photo charms and bookmarks (more on that tomorrow!!) and the Silent No More Walk/Run here in the Twin Cities. With her team, the Grand Movers, Dawn and her family and friends, participated in the 12th year of the walk/run this past Saturday.
We didn’t make the run (something about our two kiddos needing parenting supervision….) but we did join them for dinner later. Ovarian cancer colors are teal and white and using a white paint pen, I added little cancer ribbons to the teal flags.
To get the bunting to hang, I made notches in the top of each dowel using a utility blade and a sawing action (sorry for no picture!). The string gap between the flags slipped right in. Then, I actually cut off about 3 inches of each dowel because they were too long.
Ta-da!
Just for fun, I made the middle frosting layer teal as well.
Delicious and supporting cancer awareness. Sweet success!!
Here’s a shot of us with the cake after dinner. SC, AK, Dawn and me. I look extremely tall here. Lurch-like. It’s a running joke.
Don’t be frightened. I’m a gentle giant.
Take care.
-amy c
