top of page
Writer's pictureEmma Solomon

HOW to GUIDE...design your own PAPER cake wrapper


I'm not the best baker, which I think is a fair statement. My cakes always taste good, but they never look perfect. Many a cake I've created in different shapes and sizes for various birthday parties have seen them slowly slide or lean to one side, or icing running off a princess turret that five minutes before had looked perfect! The idea of wrapping a paper cake design around the edges of the cake really appealed to me as it meant I could hide all those sticky out bits!!


I often see Pinterest photos of cake wrappers and downloadable pdfs to print off party goods. But I was looking recently for a pirate theme, but couldn't find what I wanted. So, I went to my trusty canvas.com and created my own.


Canva.com is an online design site that offers the user lots of different templates and images to create pretty much anything. It's all free, unless you decide to download something from their pay for range. I designed and printed our own wedding stationery using canva. I did download a couple of designs, but they were about $1 each, so not really breaking the bank.


So, once you've designed your own cake wrapper and attached it to your cake, it could look something like this...


So what do you need to do:


1. Measure the height of your cake and measure it's circumference. This one is 40mm high and 500mm circumference. Draw out your cake wrap design on a scrap piece of paper, something quite simple is all you need.


2. Visit canva.com and set up an account


3. Click on the button "Create a design"


4. Click on the + sign that says "Custom dimensions" that looks like this....

5. Now, bearing in mind I am assuming you are printing on a home printer and have A4 paper, your maximum width will be the maximum of the A4 paper. So I created a design that was 250mm width and 40mm height. This meant I had to print two copies and attach together so that it went all the way round my 500mm circumference. Once you've entered your measurements, click "Create design".


6. Your screen will show your rectangle blank design on the right hand side, and a whole selection of templates and images and designs to choose from on the left hand side.


7. Find photos or screenshots to help you create your design and upload them to canva. At the top on the left hand side you'll see a turquoise button that says "Upload an image or video". For my wrap, I uploaded screenshots of solid black colour, solid red colour and a black and white stripes.


8. Once you've uploaded the files if you click the "uploads" icon, your files will be stored there. If you're on a laptop or desktop it will be the seventh icon down. I'm not really used canva as much on my mobile phone app as I prefer the larger screen. I often find that the mobile app freezes mid design, which is quite frustrating!


9. In your uploads section, select a file one at a time. It will automatically drop in the middle of your blank rectangle. All you then need to do is drag the corners so that the image to create the shape you want. So for mine, I've screen shot each time I've changed and moved the file so that you can see what I did.



10. If you want to add a central circle photo - maybe of the birthday boy or girl - then go to Elements on the left hand menu (it's the third one down). Choose Frames and select the shape you want. I went for a circle. Click on the shape and it automatically drops onto your design. Move the shape around and position where you would like it.



11. Go back to Uploads on the left hand side and choose the image you want to put into your shape. The image will sit over the shape so you have to pick the image up with your mouse and move it into the shape. It automatically "catches" your image as you move over the shape so it will end up like this.

12. To print this off, go to the top right hand side of the page and you will see a downward arrow to the left of the Publish button. Click on the download arrow and PDF Print. The file will automatically download for you to print off.


13. Print off two copies and attach to the cake. Voila, an easy to design, create and recyclable cake wrapper for you!



Well, that's it! I hope this guide was useful. We always love to see your designs, so tag us on instagram #EmmaBunting if you design any cake wrappers!


Happy Designing!


Love Emma x





IF YOU HAVE ANY DIFFICULTY OR HAVE ANY QUESTIONS WITH THE ABOVE, PLEASE JUST DROP US A MESSAGE VIA THE WEBSITE! HAPPY DESIGNING!








76 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page