cake topper part 1

So I've been working on a cake topper, inspired by the following:

(source)

I did attempt to cover the base with fabric; it didn't work out, so I made a change of plans. But here are the original materials.

• Small cardboard craft box. Found at craft stores.
• Floral wire
• White floral tape
• Wire cutters
• Embroidery floss in different colors
• Charms of some sort
• Acrylic paint
• Brush/sponge
• Hammer and nail
• German glass glitter
• Sealer spray
• Ribbon
  

My first step was making the arch.

I twisted together three pieces of floral wire and wrapped it around the box to create the arch shape.

Then using a nail and hammer, I made two small holes for the arch.

I tested the arch and made adjustments. Next, I painted the base with three coats of white paint. On top of a Bebe catalog. That's definitely a requirement for this project.

After that, here's where it started to go a bit wrong. I forgot to buy glue for the glitter, so I googled around and found that I could apply the glitter directly to the paint. Well, I got silly and thought that meant I could mix the glitter in the paint..

I don't hate what happened, but it's not exactly glittery. More to come.

let's make chevrons!

If you're looking to make a bold graphical statement with your invitations, a pattern is a pretty good way to do that. So I'm going to share a little chevron pattern tutorial. We're going to be doing this the dumb way -- there is a way to make patterns in Illustrator, but my directions will work in Word.

1. Start with a filled rectangle shape. Depending on how thin or wide you want the chevrons to be, adjust your rectangle's size. Then rotate it. I do 45 degrees, but this is also a personal preference thing.

2. Now make a copy of the rectangle and paste it. Reflect it vertically.

3. Zoom into your screen for this next part. We're going to shimmy the second rectangle up into a flush angle with the first one. Pro tip: it's a lot easier to see where they align if your rectangle is not outlined.

4. Select our new angle and copy it. Paste! Shimmy into place.

5. Copy the whole thing. Paste. Shimmy. If your page isn't filled yet with a whole row of chevrons, repeat step 4 again.

6. Select the whole row and center it the way you want it. Copy the row. Paste. Scooch it down, depending on how much space you want between rows.

7. Copy your two rows. Paste. Scooch. Repeat over and over (i.e. copy and paste 4 rows, then 8 rows, etc) until you fill the page.

8. Now you have a pattern! For my save the dates, I just copied a chunk of them into InDesign. In Word, you should be able to group them into one object and create your invitations too.

You could also use this pattern as an envelope liner!

Chevron 2: engaged.*

Now be free with your chevrons!

*Stargate reference. Sorry.