DIY Faux Cake Centerpiece W/ Videos – “Graduation”

We are in the heart of graduation season and Crew Member, Erin Reed, shares a fun project for decorating at your next graduation party, a Paper Cake.  Cakes are always fun, but they are cut up and eaten quickly, with their beauty gone in an instant.  Here is a fun idea to keep the memories alive, make a cake out of paper and craft supplies.  You can even make the boxes movable and include gifts and goodies inside to be opened later.  

Paper is a great for making your own party decor and you can create the perfect color palette for your graduate.  Black and white is a terrific choice, but you can also pick the school colors, include the mascot or other fun details.  

My husband is graduating this May with his Master’s Degree and we are hosting a party to celebrate.  So of course I wanted to help make some fun and unique decorations to help celebrate this amazing event!!  My idea was to make a centerpieces look like a cake, but it is not it is made from boxes, clay, paper, paint, and embellishments!!

I first stared out making the graduation cap and used the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist to color the white string orange to match the school colors.  Video below.

I then set out to create all the embellishments and assembling/painting/adding Canvas Corp paper to the base of the cake with boxes, the little paper mortarboard for the sides , more clay pieces, and painting the chipboard items with Tattered Angels paints and mists.    I used 2 different types of Canvas Corp papers to help decorate the sides of the box – Black and White Chevron and Black and White Ribbon Stripe.  They really helped make this a fun piece!!  I also used the Tattered Angels High Impact Paint in white to give the boxes for the bottom of the piece a white wash and then used the Candy Corn Glimmer Mists to help infuse the school colors to the project.

Choose the school colors by mixing and matching paints from Tattered Angels and papers from Canvas Corp to create just the right look.

Here is a video tutorial on how I created all the steps above.

The last step is to combine all the parts together.  Check out my video tutorial below!!

My little faux cake looks amazing as the centerpiece for our food table!!

Here are some up close shots of this fun little faux cake!!  Add the name, school, year, etc.  with so many great ways to cut out lettering these days it is easy to personalize.

Make your tassel out of natural cording for a great look in school colors.

Add graduation embellishments, if you cannot find them, make them.  You can also attach the real tassel to the cake, order an extra one too, they are not much and would look great.

So if you have a party coming up for graduation, birthday, baby shower or wedding shower, why not make a cake centerpiece that matches the theme of the party and is handmade by you.

Have fun at your next party!!!

Supplies Used

• Clay – Makin’s Clay
• Clay Tools – Makin’s Clay
• Papers – Canvas Corp Brands
• Paint/Mists – Tattered Angels
• Chipboard – Creative Embellishments
• Bling/Pearls – Eyelet Outlet
• Brads – Eyelet Outlet
• String
• Ink – Prima
• Boxes
• Heat gun – Marvy
• Scissors/Trimmer – Fiskars
• Glue – Beacon

Enjoy!!!

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