School Supply Cake Tutorial

I've had so many questions and e-mails regarding the school supply cake I made for Georgia Anne's teacher that I decided a tutorial was in order so you can make one yourself!

Back-to-school is the best time to purchase the supplies since you can get really good deals on most of the items needed. I purchased all of the items I used in this cake at my local Wal-Mart. I'm not sure if the prices were sale prices or regular prices, but I made this one for about $23.00 (that includes all the supplies needed except hot glue gun, glue sticks and rubber cement which I already had on hand). The crayons were .19 each, glue was .34 each, 2-pack of glue sticks were .40 each, and the spiral notebooks were .20 each. So you can see the basic supplies are not that expensive. The ribbon is what I spent the most on and this is where you could save money if you already have some on hand.

Supplies Needed:

(1) Roll of Paper Towels

(1) 10" diameter cardboard circle (I used a cake base)

(1) 12"x12" piece of scrapbook paper

(5) large rubber bands

(7) 24 count Crayons

(6) 1-Subject Spiral Bound Notebooks

(10) Bottles School Glue

(20) Small Glue Sticks

(3) Gerber Daisey Silk Flowers

(24) No.2 Pencils

(1) Small Pencil Holder or cup with straight sides (see the instructions for an free alternative)

Ribbon of Varying Widths and Colors

Packing, Duck or Masking Tape

Hot Glue Gun

Hot Glue Sticks

Rubber Cement

**Note: The size of your paper towel roll and pencil holder could alter the number of supplies needed.

1.) Cut your 10" circle from a thick piece of cardboard. You can also use a cake base, which is what I did.

2.) Trace around the circle on your scrapbook paper and cut out.

3.) Glue paper to cardboard circle with rubber cement. Set aside.

4.) Start with your paper towel roll and place one of the spiral bound notebooks and one rubber band around it to hold it in place.

5.) Next, place the spiral bound notebooks behind the rubber band one notebook at a time. Overlap them as you go until you reach the starting point. Once you have them in place you can adjust the spacing.

6.) Add one more rubber band to the notebooks.

7.) To secure the notebooks better, tie a piece of ribbon tightly around the notebooks (This ribbon will not show when the cake is completed so you can use whatever you have on hand).

8.) Starting at the base place a pack of crayons and a rubber band around the notebook/paper towel center.

9.) Begin adding packs of crayons one at a time until reaching the starting point.

10.) Place a glue stick between each pack of crayons.

11.) Using the tops of the crayon boxes as your base, place a bottle of glue and a rubber band around the notebook/paper towel center.

12.) Add one bottle of glue at a time until you reach the starting point.

13.) Now at this point if you have a cup or pencil holder you will need it for this next step. I didn't want to have to purchase one so I'll share with you what I used instead. I found spare bolt of fabric in my closet and used the cardboard center roll to make my own pencil holder. Free is always better than spending more money!

14.) I used the glue sticks to determine the length of the roll. I then cut it slightly smaller than the height of the glue sticks. 15.) Next I traced around a scrap piece of cardboard to make the base for the pencil holder.

16.) Cut the circle out and secure it to the roll using your glue gun.

17.) Start with a glue stick and secure it with a rubber band to the pencil holder (I actually doubled the rubber band here so it would be more secure).

18.) Continue with the glue sticks until the pencil holder is covered.

19.) Take the pencil holder/glue stick section and secure it to the top of the paper towel roll. (I used hot glue because I was afraid it would not be as secure with tape.)

20.) Roll pieces of tape and place on the top of the cardboard circle. (It's hard to see mine since it was clear.)

21.) Place the supply cake body on the cardboard base.
22.) Starting at the top section, cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the pencil holder. This is where the rubber bands come in handy because they help hold the ribbon in place.

23.) Place a dot of hot glue on one end of the ribbon and secure the other end to the glue.

24.) Continue to cover the rubber bands with ribbon, layering ribbon as you like.

25.) Tie bows and glue to each section where there is a ribbon band.

26.) Glue the gerber daises to the bows and add the pencils to the pencil holder.

And there you have it...your very own school supply cake! I'd love to see your creations. You can e-mail them to me at leighanne@elmore.rr.com