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Friday, August 16, 2013

Lil' Inker 3rd Birthday Celebration

Happy 3rd Birthday Lil' Inker!  It seems like I have been using your dies forever, it's hard to believe it's only been 3 years.  Lil' Inker is having a huge birthday celebration with lots of prizes up for grabs.  Ever since it was first announced that they would be having a big celebration about a week ago, I have been thinking and thinking about what I might like to make.  Obviously their challenge was going to be "birthday related" so I started thinking about everything I could make using Lil' Inker products that had to do with birthday.  I did google image searches of balloons, pinwheels, presents and kept coming back to the fabulous custom cake designs that people make to celebrate birthdays.  Yesterday the Lil' Inker challenge was posted and here is the challenge photo to base our project on:
Lil' Inker 3rd Birthday Challenge
What did I see that inspired me?  It would be a lot easier to say what "didn't" I see that inspired me. Front and center I saw that cute cake, the bright blue color, the big poofy bow, the patterns on the party hats and of course, those great balloons.  Now, what kind of cake do I want to make based on all this inspiration?  I remember I had seen a pinwheel cake somewhere so decided to make one myself using Lil' Inker dies.  Here is what I came up with:



I started with a stacking round box and lid cut file from the Silhouette online store.  I sized the boxes to be the exact size as two of the Lil' Inker's Stitched Mat Circles.  I wanted to add that extra nice stitching detail to all of the round portions of my box.  Here's a little closeup of that great stitching detail so well known to Lil' Inker fans.
(The largest box uses the largest stitched circle and the smaller box used the third largest circle)
Here's the finished birthday cake:


Embellishing the boxes was easy.  I used a variety of bold double-sided patterned papers (Simple Stories, Snap) and Lil' Inker Mini Pinwheel dies to cut 8 pinwheels and a My Favorite Things grass border in the same three shades of green as the cake photo.  The pinwheels are adhered to the top of the box making it easy to open for filling with some kind of birthday goody.  The small box has Lil' Inker Clouds (Rainbow & Cloud Dies) and also a couple of Lil' Inker Sun dies (large).  


I cut the #3 and added some punched polka dots to match the original photo and since balloons were the main image for their birthday celebration, I added a few Balloon Dies along with their Balloon String die too.


I had such a good time making this tiered cake and I don't know anyone other than Lil' Inker that is turning "3" anytime soon, so I doubt I will ever really use it, but it is actually quite sturdy.


Lil' Inker's birthday celebration challenge runs until August 25th...plenty of time to make something extra special to help them celebrate.  Here's a link to the challenge just in case you have missed it.  Happy Birthday Lil' Inker!

I also am going to enter this in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes challenge.



28 comments:

Kim Heggins said...

Cathy, you are just amazing! What a cake and all your fabulous little decorations too. From the pin wheels to all the grass, the sun and clouds, so creative! Just love it!

Jeanne J. said...

OMG This is over the top crazy good! A one of a kind masterpiece! Absolutely wonderful Cathy!

Tracey McNeely said...

Are you kidding this is so fantastic Cathy! I absolutely love this creative endeavour!

Laura Pryor said...

HOLY (insert expletive here)!!! LOL!!! This is outstandingly fantastic!!!!!! I bow down to thee, oh fabulous creator of the most beautiful paper cake eva!!!
WOWZA! I'm floored!
Truly, I'm blown away!
Laura
Lil' Inker Designs

Larissa Heskett said...

OMG!! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!! I LOVE everything about your AMAZING cake and feel like anything I could make for the challenge won't even compare to this paper cake full of Happy Details!! THANKS for sharing and I'll just say it now CONGRATS on winning the First Prize!! ;) LOL!!

Joyce said...

Get outta here! That is so stinkin amazing. If there is a prize--you will win it. And, if they are looking for a new member of their DT, they should look no further than right here. Every single bit of this is so amazing--how did you ever think of it. Be patient, because before you know it, you will have grandbabies, and before you know it again, they will be turning three.

Lyndal said...

SUPER FABULOUS Birthday creation - just LOVE it!!!!!!

Kara said...

This is so awesome Cathy!!

Sarah said...

What an incredible cake, Cathy! I love the layers, but that topper is a showstopper too.

Kristie Goulet said...

This is TOTALLY amazing! Great job!
Thank you for your comment on my blog too! ;)

Unknown said...

Girl, you just blew my mind all over the place! Not only is this cute, but it is SO WELL EXECUTED!!! Perfect diecutting, assembly...it's just awesome!!!

Sharron said...

YOU are amazing! What an incredible cake--and the perfect entry for the birthday challenge! Love all the decorations--the pinwheels were such a fun idea!!

Vickie Z said...

Wow girl!! This is fabulous!! So much detail!!

Jen Carter said...

Cathy! This is amazing!! What a spectacular centerpiece! I love it!!

Marybeth said...

GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!! This is just the cutiest birthday cake! I love all the clouds, pinwheels and perfect round cakes. Amazing!

Darnell said...

I wonder if someone could help me back up to my chair?!

Unknown said...

Wow! What an awesome paper cake! Great colors :)

Best crafty wishes!
Amber
Staying Crafty

Amy Kolling said...

Cathy, you have OUTDONE yourself here! This is just one of the most creative ways I've seen using LID goodies. Wonderful job!!

Bonnie said...

What an amazing cake! Love the colors and all the embellishments, especially the pinwheels!

Isha Gupta said...

WOW WOW WOW!!! This is just GORGEOUS. Love every detail on this one and the topper truly amaze me :)

JoAnn said...

Wow, what a fabulous project. I really like the colors and the way you attached the pinwheels and embellis so you can lift the lids off and fill with goodies. Thanks for joining us at Seize the Birthday.

Jill Norwood said...

Cathy this is FANTASTIC!!!! I love the details and those fantastic round circle dies which I own too may get a whole new workout thanks to your lovely inspiration!!!!!!
Wow!!! :)

Macarena said...

OMG! This is amazing! I am really impressed! You made a great work. All the colors and details go so well on this sweet cake! Thank you for joining us at Seize the Birthday this fortnight!
Hugs, Macarena DT

Carol said...

Cute!

Kim Heggins said...

Congrats on your Lil Inker's win...I knew your fabulous cake would win, just incredible.

Darnell said...

This was so deserving of winning and recognition, Cathy! It's ingenious!! (It's so, so fun to see you and Jeanne and Kim in the winner's circle together! What are the chances?!!)

Jodene said...

Wow, this is awesome, I love it!! Thanks for playing along at Seize The Birthday :)

Kim Heggins said...

congrats on your HM with Seize the Birthday, so fun to see your fabulous cake again!