Cake jewelry? The sweet side of Swarovski

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:24:00 GMT

While beginning the wedding-planning process, I came across a concept that stopped me in my tracks: cake jewelry. As an editor at BeadStyle, I of course love jewelry, and as an amateur cake decorator, I am enamored of cake. So naturally, I had to research this trend.

Cake-jewelry.com offers silver-plated cake-top jewelry studded with Swarovski rhinestones, including blingy monograms, sparkling cake picks (think bobby pins for pastry), distinctly broochlike flowers, sprays of stars and butterflies, wirework spirals, even cake tiaras!

Wedding cake charms are another kind of cake jewelry I had never heard of before. In Victorian tradition, silver charms are tied to lengths of organza ribbon, then inserted into the cake so only the ribbon is visible. Each member of the wedding party pulls out a charm. In some traditions, this is done for good luck, while in others the charm says something about the personality or future of the person who selected it. There is no shortage of vendors that sell wedding cake charms (weddingcakecharms.com, weddingdepot.com, and exclusivelyweddings.com to name a few), but you could easily purchase charms from your local bead store and attach ribbons to them yourself.

Most brides worry about overdressed guests and brides maids showing them up on the big day, but with cake jewelry you might just have another competitor!

Crafts, cakes, and creativity in 2009!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:41:00 GMT

In recent blogs, Naomi talked about her creative resolutions for 2009 and Erin gave us the shortlist (which is actually a pretty long list) of projects she has in the works. Now here’s a sneak peek into the creative pursuits on the front (and back) burners of my own craftiness.

A few weeks ago, BeadStyle’s Senior Editor Linda Augsburg had the fabulous idea of cleaning out her craft room, depositing items she wasn’t using in an empty office here at Kalmbach, and allowing other crafters to raid the stash. I picked up a few rolls of seasonal-colored snowman-printed ribbon, and turned them into what I affectionately call Jacob’s Ladder of Letters.

I absolutely treasure the tradition of sending out holiday cards, letters, and pictures in December, but I could never figure out how to display them in a way that was meaningful but not messy. Inspired by a few holiday card displays on sale at Etsy.com, my Jacob’s Ladder of Letters did the trick. Here’s what I did:
1) Used chainnose pliers to bend a piece of 20-gauge craft wire into a triangle, then used 24-gauge wire to securely wrap the ends together.
2) Secured the end of a long length of ribbon to the wire triangle with a button and thread.
3) Installed a 3M Command Strip Hook upside down on the back of a door and anchored the wire triangle in the arch of the hook.
4) Flipped the ribbon over the front of the door so that it reached almost to the floor, then used wooden clothes pins to secure cards to the ribbon on both sides of the door.

I found that Jacob’s Ladder of Letters also works great for birthday cards. Thanks for sharing your stuff, Linda!

And speaking of birthdays, last week Friday was mine, so it was time to dream up another cake to decorate. Those who know me well know that there is a special place in my heart for my favorite Muppet, Cookie Monster. This year, I decided it was time to give my sweet-toothed hero an equally sweet homage, and below is the result.

So that’s what I’ve been working on so far in 2009. Since this post is already long enough, I’ll give you a glimpse of near-future projects in my post next week Monday. Stay tuned!

BeadStyle : cake

Cake jewelry? The sweet side of Swarovski

Crafts, cakes, and creativity in 2009!