I was looking through some photos today and realized that I never posted the “recycled” cake that I made using Melissa Frances’s new papers for the CHA Green Gallery! Shame on me…

The challenge was that 25% of the project had to be made from a recycled or found object. The piece I built the cake on was a beaded top I found in the thrift store for $7. I took it apart and added a piece to each layer. In order for you to see the cake in all it’s glory, I am going to reveal one layer at a time to prolong the suspense (and give me material for 5 blogs :-)) and then unveil the entire photo in the grand finale!

I think the biggest challenge with this project (as in life) was just diving in and starting. I was going to use styrofoam as a base but quickly figured out that foamboard would be much easier to pack in nesting layers for the plane trip to CA for CHA. I assembled all of the materials and started to work. Decided to use kind of a sewing theme so gathered a bunch of zippers, buttons, ribbons, trim and rickrack to try out. Then I cut apart the top… that was a little scary because it was a one of a kind thing if I messed it up. But then again it was only 7 bucks… I loved the beaded trim that I used on this layer- it was the bottom of the beaded top. And I have to say I was very glad the size was XL- more fabric and beading to work with! More in the next post…