Day 20 & CAKE TOPPER...

Can you believe it?  20 more days!  UGH!  I have been waiting forever for this event (wait, that could be an understatement since I have been technically waiting for this day since I was 5).  Bill and I have been engaged since October of 2010 - wow, forever ago.  So now that this crazy day is 20 days away!  AHHH!  Exciting!  I cannot believe it is almost here.

So, now, what did I do today?...

CAKE TOPPER!

And it looks amazing.  My inspiration is from this:

  

So cute!  Of course, instead of buying it, I had to do my own.  So, I did.  Here's how.

Bought/Get supplies

• Floral wire - both bare and covered
• Cute ribbon flowers
  
  
• Ribbon
• Silver beads
• Wood base
  
  
• Fabric
• Small puffy balls (what are those called?  Pom-poms!  I'm dumb and not erasing what I wrote originally just in case you guys thought I was a genius or something)
• Wool Roving
• Needle Felting Needle
• Glue gun
• Drill

I first worked on the birds.  Have you ever Needle Felted?  If not, try it!  It is tons of fun and easy too.  What you do it you get Wool Roving (at your nearest big craft store - the big JoAnns, Beverly's and Ben Franklin is where I found stuff) and a needle-felting needle (also at the store.  Just NOTE, this is NOT your average needle.  It has barbs on it that essentially work the wool into a knot).  Get some foam to protect yourself!  Then teach yourself by looking up needle-felting on YouTube.  I watched this video and felt pretty confident afterward:

You essentially just jab the heck out of the wool to shape your creation.  It is JUST like using clay, but NO mess and you are using a needle.  It is fun and so addicting.  However, not for kids.  The needle is really sharp and I have poked myself a bunch of times.  So, please be CAREFUL.  And have fun, cause it is.  

So, I created my birds using the needle felting technique.  They turned out super cute, I love them.

THEN, I created the stand.

1. Curved the covered floral wire to form the arch.  Marked where I wanted that on the stand.
   
   
2. Drilled the holes into the stand to fit the arch.
3. Took the wood base and covered with fabric.  Glued that on.
4. Cut holes where the floral wire/arch would fit.
5. Took the arch, twirled ribbon around it.  Glued that on.
   
   
   
   
6. Attached the arch to the base.
7. Started placing flowers in random spots.  Just to get an idea!  I didn't glue them them on!
8. Wrapped green flower wire in a few spots, and then curled them around to get a vine affect.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Once flower placement was made and wire was on, I tied green ribbon to the arch to be the leaves.  I cut the ribbon to appear like a leaf and melted the tips of the ribbon very slightly to prevent fraying.
   
   
   
10. Also wrapped green flower wire in a few posts and attached a silver bead, just to get a shiny thing on the arch.  
11. Glued the flowers on top of the leaves
    
    
    
    
12. Glued other random things to fill in and add color - Pom-Poms to be exact
13. Tied the ribbon on top.
14. Placed the arch on the stand
    
    
     
15. Glued flowers at the base
16. Glued ribbon around the base

DONE!

In the picture there is a faux cupcake since we are going to be doing cupcakes at the wedding.  Our birds will be put on one special cupcake.