School Supply Cake

A couple of months ago while I was searching for some teacher appreciation week inspiration I came across a few school supply cakes and fell in love with the idea!  Right now school supplies can be found fairly cheap and that isn't the case mid-year when classrooms are at their lowest supply! 

I decided to keep this idea for a fun back-to-school gift for our wonderful teachers.  Our school provides us with an optional donation list for each grade level.  I'll admit some of these items weren't on the list but maybe the grade levels can do some supply swapping for what they need! 

A great thing about these cakes is you can customize them in pretty much anyway! 



Here is what I used to make mine:

(1) roll of paper towels
(2) 2 pocket folders
(3) rubber bands
(2) rulers (I used Fiskars rulers from Walmart)
(2) 24 count boxes of #2 pencils
(2) boxes of  Crayola colored pencils
(1) box of Crayola markers
(4) bottles of Elmer's school glue
(6) 24 count boxes of Crayola crayons
(20) glue sticks (Walmart has Elmer's individual glue sticks for $.10 but everytime I went they were sold out)
(1) 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper
(1) paper cup
(1) dessert size paper plate
(1) 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper
(1) 10" round cake base
hot glue and hot glue gun
ribbon



Step 1:

Take one of your pocket folders and wrap it around the roll of paper towels then secure with a rubber band.



Step 2:

With the same rubber band secure the second pocket folder to the roll of paper towels.  Using a piece of ribbon secure the top of the two folders to the roll of paper towels.



Step 3:

Start at the base and use a rubber band to secure a pack of crayons to the folder/paper towel base.  Repeat using all 6 boxes.



Step 4:

Place a glue stick in between each box of crayons.



Step 5:

The top of the boxes of crayons is your second base.  Place a box of pencils (regular or colored) and secure with a rubber band.  Alternate your way around the roll. 



Step 6:

Place a bottle of glue in front of each box of pencils and secure with the same rubber band you used on the pencil boxes.


Step 7:

With your last rubber band, begin securing glue sticks around your paper cup.  They slip a little if you aren't using a straight sided cup so as an alternative you could use a paper towel roll cut in half or toilet paper roll. 



Step 8:

Cut out the inner part of your paper dessert plate and hot glue it to the base of your cup (but not the glue sticks!)  Then glue the paper plate to the top of your paper towel roll.

Step 9:

Cover the rubber bands by taking your ribbon (I used 2" red grosgrain ribbon) and cutting a piece long enough to go around each one of your "layers" (top: glue sticks; middle: pencils and glue bottles; bottom: crayons and glue sticks).  Add a bit of hot glue and glue to your layer then repeat at the opposite end.  **as you can see I used two different ribbons

Step 10: 

Cut out a circle on your scrapbook paper using your cake board as a guide (you could also cut out a circle from some sturdy cardboard).  Glue the scrapbook circle to the top of your cardboard circle. **I forgot to take a photo of the cakeboards but here is a stock photo. 


Step 10:

Hot glue your "cake" to your cardboard circle, only putting glue on the roll of paper towels.

Step 11:

Place your markers inside of the paper cup (now a "pencil cup") and place a ruler on each side.



Step 12: 

I came across these cute Back to School printables and I had a bunch printed for an activity I'm doing for my kids next week so I used the #1 teacher cut it out attaching it to a black paper medallion I made.  Then I used my single hole puncher, threaded some jute twine through it and looped it through the holes in the rulers.  That is why I mentioned I used Fiskar's rulers from Walmart.  They have holes in them to put in a 3 ring binder!



There you have it!  It takes less then 5 minutes to assemble and costs less then $10 to make!! 



My kids are really excited to give them to their teachers on the first day of school next week!

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