Supply Cake

We should have internet at home again on Monday. I can't wait! I'd forgotten what a nice luxury it is. I'm sitting at the library with my dinosaur lap top (with a screen that is broken, so you have to prop up books and bags behind it to keep it up), trying to get things done on insanely slow public wifi. These first-world problems are killer, I know. What a rough life we live (please read that with sarcasm you Sheldon Cooper's out there).

Welp. We're nearing the end. It's been a good run, but all things must come to and end sometime unfortunately. The clouds here today reminded me of winter clouds and I had a mini panic attack. I'm just not ready for summer to be winding down, but sadly it is. School is just around the corner (a few school districts start up next week! I think that's insane!). Luckily we still have another month before school starts back up here, unless you're taking summer courses...poor unfortunate souls (please tell me at least a few of you thought of Ursula). A while back we were sent in  a great idea for a supply "cake" that you can give as a gift. Know a recent high school graduate heading off to college? A teacher you just really love? A new teacher jumping into the pool of public education? This could be a really fun idea to do for them to help them jump start their semester. Or...give this project a pin spin, as our submitter did, and adapt it to any occasion. I have a friend who will be leaving with the Peace Corps and this may be really fun to do for her!

The Original Pin:

"Pack up a shower caddy with tools and essentials for surviving freshman year in college – all the little things they might forget. A small sewing kit, shower flip flops, laundry instructions, ear plugs, and a screwdriver." http://www.studentadvisor.com/articles/12-cheap-and-diy-graduation-gifts-that-youll-actually-use

Fun stuff, no? I love it. Bri took this idea and morphed it into what worked for her and her sister. Here's her story:

"My name is Bri and I have a story for you!! I am LDS and my sister last week got called to serve an LDS trial mission. She lives in Salt Lake City and had 5 days to get ready for the first 3 months of her mission where she will stay in Salt Lake for the time being. I currently live in Oregon so I hopped on a plane the day after we found out what was happening so I could help out. So I had ZERO crafting supplies with me. My mom decided to throw a party together and I knew that she would need "supplies" Like paper and pens and notepads etc. So I headed off to Wal-Mart. My first "failure" was going while my sister was with me... I would come back to the cart with all the things and she would be like "Your doing that Pinterest thing, aren't you!?" And she would wink her eye. However there was no way to go to Wal-mart without her. So I just brushed it off and said "Heck No! I have not crafting supplies and would I really buy stuff for a Pinterest project for you while you are here, these are for the poor people mom drives by everyday." She of course knew this was the worst excuse in the world and came back with "why would homeless people need pens and paper!?" By this point I was out of comebacks so I smiled and walked away. And every time I saw her she would ask how the homeless people would use the various thing I would find. I just went with it and I sure the people around us were laughing at my crazy stories.  Her party was on Sunday and I got the stuff Friday night. But I knew looking at the picture and not being able to find any instructions I would have to have help with it. So my friend came over and brought even MORE pens and pencils. And we got to work. I had gotten 2 beach towels to use as the center. I tried stacking them on top of one another and taping the crap out of it. But it kept toppling over. So we stood the towels next to each other on the big notebook. We then took wider items and placed them around the "bottom". I was dead set on having this thing look like the picture, but newsflash 3*5 cards when stacked together do not bend. My mom even told me to unwrap each pack and "layer" the cards into a circle! I about died. Cards would have flown everywhere. This would have been ten times worse than 52 card pickup. So I finally had to give in and make it "square", If you can call it that. So we took the next items and made a second layer. Luckily we had some smaller items that could be put in the corners and it made that layer "roundish". The top layer had a pen holder and going to Wal-Mart at 11 at night made me forget that's what I needed. So the pens, pencils, and highlighters I bought we used for the cake part. And the loose pens, pencils, and highlighters my friend brought we used as fillers. My friend also made a cute jar with thoughts and quotes to help my sister out so it was decided that would be top. However when we placed it right on top of the towels it looked sooooo stupid. Luckily my friend brought my sister some snacks. So we taped the boxes together and put those boxes on the towels and then the jar on the snacks. Now if you look very carefully you can see scotch tape around each layer. We call this our insurance plan. We tried to get the ribbon to hold onto everything (which I only bought one spool. I thought it had to be enough! Wrong I was!) So we dug through my moms black hole of a craft room and found sequins and thin green ribbon. We tied the ribbon on and decided the tape had to stay or the whole thing would collapse. When it was all done we were turning it and the jar toppled over. So ribbon went up and down it as well, as the secondary insurance plan. Over all it turned out okay."

The Pin Spin: 

"Was it what was in my head? Heck no! But she liked it. There is a picture of her holding it and after she held it the whole thing fell apart. And we hadn't even got to the party yet. So we did a quick fix. A lot of people were confused and asked if it was a tower. After a while of having to explain that it was a cake I gave up and said "sure is! I was trying to make the tower of babel!" I guess only the crafty women get it! On the GTC scale I would give it a 3. I think if I had instructions maybe it would have turned out more cake-ish!" -Bri

I've never made a supply cake, only one diaper cake and one diaper tricycle (I know...some of you think those things are hideous, just bear with us). It's easier to get a round cake with diapers because you can fold and mold them. I imagine making a bunch of square items into a round cake would be hard. I love that they just went with the and made a square tiered cake (aka, tower of Babel). Sometimes you just have to do what works! Thanks for the great idea Bri!