Love Birds Wedding Cake Topper

by Ashley Lucas

I made this wedding cake topper for my own upcoming spring wedding that has the theme of ‘alpine love birds’ and wanted to share it with other crafty brides-to-be! I must say, amidst all the craziness of wedding planning, this little cake topper gave me lots of joy while creating it. Here’s how to make your own:

Materials:

• White felt roving {flat condensed roving and/or loose roving}
• Needle felting tool kit
• White wire
• Black beads
• Lace and silk flower scraps
• Artificial moss
• Wooden or cardboard disk
• Miniature hat & mushrooms or flowers
• Hot glue
• Scissors
• Wire cutters
• Toothpicks
• Orange paint
• *Optional – blush for cheeks

Instructions:

1. Determine the size that you want your cake topper to be. I wanted my birds to be medium in size, so I cut two strips of flat white felt roving about 8 inches in length and rolled them up, inserting my felting needle a few times after each roll of the felt. Loose white felt roving works just as well, it just takes a little longer to achieve a tightened shape.

2. After you have both bodies made {the male just a little larger in size}, cut out tails and wings from flat white roving. Connect the tails onto the bodies securely using a two-pronged felting needle.

3. Cut two lengths of white wire for each bird’s legs. My wire was pliable enough to move with my hands, so I created three loops at the bottom of each wire piece for the bird feet. Insert the wire legs into each birds and hot glue in place. You may want to place more roving around each leg to cover the hardened glue afterwards.

4. Next, attach all wings with a felting needle and adjust the shape of the body as needed. The great thing about felting is that once you practice a bit, it’s a lot like working with clay. Adjustments can be made quite easily with your hands and the felting needle.

5. Hot glue two black bead eyes onto each bird. For the beaks, you can simply glue the tip of a plain toothpick on your bird, or color it with orange paint beforehand. Next, glue a little lace veil on the bride and a small plastic hat on the groom. Add silk flowers with the hot glue as you see fit.

6. If you’d like your birds to have rosy cheeks, apply some makeup blush directly to them with a dry paintbrush.

7. Hot glue both birds onto a disk of white wood or sturdy chipboard. Add small bits of artificial moss around the bird feet and additional miniatures if you desire {such as small mushrooms or flowers}. Tip – Place a round or square acrylic disk under your cake topper the day of the wedding to protect it from the icing.

Ashley Lucas {aka Lady Lucas, the queen of cute characters} is an avid illustrator and crafter with her own arts business that caters to those who love all things creative! Her work has been featured within various design teams, children’s books, animations and many different products. Visit her online at www.ladylucas.com or visit her blog Cupcakes + Owls.

Would you make your wedding cake topper?