Making a Sunshine Cake Topper With a Plastic Ornament

The inspiration for this cake topper is the famous children’s song. “You are my sunshine.” I wanted the cake topper to be bright and fun and perfect for a spring or summer party. Here's my tips for making a cake topper with a plastic ornament.

Supplies:

• Bazzill Cardstock in Desert Marigold, Granny Smith, Limeade, Kachina 
• American Crafts Cardstock in Butter, Lipgloss, Spearmint
• Bazzill Dotted Swiss in Salt
• Echo Park Paper Co. Enamel Dots
• Bearly Arts Glue 
• Double Sided Adhesive Foam
• 2” Plastic Ornament (Can be found online or at Hobby Lobby)
• Quilling Tool (optional)
• Cake Stick
• Hot glue

I used Cricut Design Space for all my images but you can use any images available to you. I think what makes this cake topper special are the colors and embellishments, not the specific images.

If you are using Cricut Design Space, you'll find the specific files I used below. 

Search these codes and be sure to include the # in your search. The images will not come up in Design Space if you don’t include the #. 3D Flower #M3F171, 3D Flower #M4733C, Sunrise #M42305, Rainbow #M44F09, Sun #M37746, Banner #M8DB16E6, Sunshine word #MB5E765A, Butterfly #M3C228.

 You MAY be able to find the entire project at this link, but Design Space is displaying it intermittently 

https://design.cricut.com/landing/project-detail/ 61b3ed78fd2b85f286fb34bb

Cake Topper Dimensions

The cake topper is 7.75” wide. The sun with its outline and sun-rays is 3.43” wide, but (more importantly) the center of the sun with the face on it is 2” wide to fit inside the ornament. The 3D flowers are 3.25” and 2.75”. The rainbow with the cloud and their border is at 4.665”

How to assemble the sunshine cake topper

First, I use the double-sided foam adhesive to layer the 4 backing pieces. Use the hot glue to attach the cake stick in the center. Two of the backing pieces have cuts in them at the bottom to insert the cake stick into and these are sandwiched in the middle. This will ensure the cake topper is smooth and clean all around. No cake stick will be visible on the back.

Next, assemble all the individual elements. I use a quilling tool to roll the 3D flowers and let me tell you – if you’re not using one you have to try it! Total game changer!

Finally, attach your elements to the topper. Start by gluing down the arch and the green hills. Next, attach your banner, rainbow, sun, and words. The white Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock adds the perfect texture for the clouds. The Echo Park enamel dots for the clouds cheeks are adorable and create a finished look for the topper. Those are two details I refuse to skimp on!

Next, use hot glue around the ornament to adhere it to the sun. (You can use scissors to cut off the top of the ornament tab that would normally be used to hang it on a tree). Use the double sided foam to layer the circles around the ornament as a border around it. This helps conceal the hot glue if there is any visible.

Lastly, attach your rolled flowers and your butterfly. I will mention here that I added multiple layers to the butterfly so that I could hot glue it directly to the ornament. Having the butterfly layered gives me more surface area to glue it down with.

And that’s it! I hope you like this project and cant wait to see your versions of it!

-Naomi