teacher appreciation week – school supply cake

Ok. So this is my most favorite Teacher Appreciation surprise ever.

The school supply cake.

It’s really one of the cutest things, combining my love of baking and my love of office-type supplies into one project.

Last year, on my old blog, I showcased this version of the supply cake.

This year, I found something a little different, but equally cute (inspired by One Charming Party).

You’ll need the following:

• about 120 standard wood pencils
• 10″ round craft box
• 2 rolls of 1.5″ masking tape
• 1 12″ cake board
• 3 pencils with colored barrels
• 2 packages colored rubber bands
• 3 eraser toppers
• school supplies to fill box (crayons, markers, glue sticks, popsicle sticks, etc)
• ribbon (1 – 1.5″ wide)

To start, take or glue the two rolls of masking tape to the middle of the cake board in a figure 8 shape. This will help give a little height to the box so the pencils don’t tower too high over the top (not pictured). Position your round box on top of the tape rolls (without the lid) and loop one rubber band around it. Start inserting pencils, eraser up or down, text facing inwards.

(This was before I decided to add the rolls of tape. The pencils are way too tall in this scenario and I needed to give the box some height.)

When all the pencils are placed, fill the box with your school supplies. I ended up taking the glue sticks out of their packages and lining them along the sides.

 Punch three small holes in the lid of the box, using the tips of scissors or a Philips head screwdriver. Carefully, place the lid of the box, rim up, on top of the open box, gently adjusting it between the pencils. Insert three colored pencils into the holes and adjust them around the contents of the box.

Top the pencils with eraser toppers and fill the recess of the box lid with the rubber bands.

To finish, you can position a ribbon over the rubber band and tie it in a bow, or just leave the rubber band as is.

And there it is! An adorable and easy way to give school supplies to your favorite teachers.

I know you’ll have fun putting this together!