Welcome back to the craft room and today’s Easy Birthday Cake Topper with Cricut post! Is there anything more impressive than a handmade birthday cake topper? Today, I’m going to show you how to make an elegant glitter arch Happy Birthday cake topper, along with a matching card to go right along with it!
And because this design isn’t personalized, it works for any birthday. Plus, I’m sharing the SVG file for free so you can make one too!
Stick around!
Supplies
Before we jump into our project, let’s talk about the supplies we’ll be using today.
We’ll start with some glitter cardstock. From the Holiday Glitz Glitter Paper Pad from Michaels, I’ll be using a piece of the silver glitter paper.
For the text on our cake topper, I’ll be using Cricut Everyday Iron-On in the color Royal. I’ll also use a piece of 110lb Recollections cardstock for the text mat on the topper, as well as for the matching card and card base.
Free Birthday Cake Topper SVG File
When I designed this cake topper, I made the choice not to personalize it. That way, I can share the file with you, and it can be used for more than one birthday celebration.
You can download the free file here: Birthday Cake Topper with Matching Card.
For now, let’s jump into Cricut Design Space and start creating!
Prepare the SVG in Design Space
After uploading the file into Design Space, you’ll see that there are two versions of the design. The larger one is the cake topper, while the smaller version is for the matching card.
After ungrouping the designs, you can decide if you’ll be making the matching card. If not, simply click the little eyeball in the Layers panel to hide it from the canvas. I will be making the card, so I’ll leave it alone for now.
Highlight the larger of the two images and choose Ungroup. You can now separate the different layers of the design. You’ll see a layer for the text, the text mat, and two base layers.
I gave you two base panels in case you want to finish the back of your cake topper.
Now, if you’re going to use glitter cardstock like I am, or a holographic cardstock that’s only finished on one side, we need to make a little adjustment to one of these base panels.
Highlight one of the panels. Then, from the top menu bar, choose Flip and Flip Horizontal.
This will mirror the panel so the decorative side of the cardstock will be on the back of your cake topper.
Now that we have everything ready, go ahead and save your project. Then click Make.
There isn’t much to do on the next screen. However, because I’m going to be adding my text with heat transfer vinyl, I do need to make sure my text is mirrored.
I’ll select the mat with the text and toggle on the Mirror button, as shown below.
Choosing Your Materials in Design Space
Now that we’re ready to cut the materials, let’s start with the base layer.
I’m using Recollections Glitter Cardstock, so under Material, I’ll look to see if Glitter Cardstock is listed. If not, I’ll choose Browse All Materials.
Next, I’ll look under the Cardstock category and choose Glitter Cardstock.
When I did my test cut for the glitter cardstock, I changed the pressure to More to make sure it cut through on the first try.
After running the glitter cardstock through my Cricut Explore Air 2, I set the mat up to cut the text mat.
This layer is cut from 110lb Recollections cardstock, so I’ll select 100lb Heavy Cardstock with the default pressure.
Finally, I’ll choose Everyday Iron-On for the text. This will be cut with the default pressure. I’ll also double-check that the mat is mirrored.
Weeding the HTV
Now that all of our layers are cut, let’s get started by weeding the text from the Cricut Everyday Iron-On.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t until this moment that I realized I’d forgotten one step that I always do when working with vinyl.
I normally create a weeding box around text elements like these before cutting. It keeps the pieces together on the mat and gives you more space around the design. That makes the HTV much easier to weed and handle.
I completely forgot to do that this time—and you can see just how close Cricut Design Space placed the text when it cut!
A Quick Weeding Tip
Here’s a little rundown of how I create a weeding box.
I start by selecting the Square Basic Shape in Design Space. After adjusting the square around my text, I arrange it to the back.
Then I select both the box and the text and choose Attach, which you can see in the first screenshot below.
When I do this, you can see just how much more space there is between the boxes. That gives me plenty of room to work. You can see the difference in the second screenshot, and it makes weeding so much easier.
After weeding your design, it’s a good idea to turn the HTV over so you can read the design in the correct orientation.
This gives you a chance to make sure everything that needs to be removed has been taken out. In this case, you can see even better just how close the words are to each other!
After carefully cutting the design apart, I brought out my Cricut EasyPress Mat and Cricut EasyPress Mini Heat Press.
I set the press to the first heat setting. While I waited for it to come up to temperature, I lined up the text on my cardstock mat.
Once it reached temperature, I pressed the Everyday Iron-On for 25 seconds. I kept the press moving over the design the entire time.
After pressing the text for the cake topper, I repeated the process for the matching card.
Once the finished sentiments have cooled to the touch, carefully remove the carrier sheet.
I always go slowly here, just in case the HTV starts to lift. If it does, I can simply heat it again.
Assembling the Birthday Cake Topper
To start assembling our cake topper, let’s glue the Happy Birthday sentiment to the front panel of the glitter cardstock.
For today’s project, I’m using Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue. However, foam tape would add another layer of dimension to the cake topper.
Because I’m gluing onto glitter cardstock, I’ll be using a fair amount of glue today. I’ll also be gluing the smaller sentiment to the matching glitter panel for the card.
The front of our cake topper, along with our matching birthday card, now looks like this.
Making the Cake Picks
For the cake topper picks, I’m using what I have on hand: Everyday Flexible Straws from Walmart.
Because these are longer than I need, I’ll be cutting them shorter. To keep them the same length, I’m cutting each one right below the bendy part.
To make assembly a little easier, I decided to flatten the end of the straws that will be sandwiched between the cardstock layers.
I started by running the end of the straw through my fingers. Then I switched to my bone folder. There’s no need to flatten the entire straw, so I’m only flattening about 2 inches down from the top.
If I were using a bamboo skewer or plastic pick, I would definitely bring out my hot glue gun.
However, since I’m using plastic straws and spent a little time flattening them, I’ll be using 3/8″ Scor-Tape instead.
I’ll add a bit of tape in two locations on the back of the glitter panel.
After laying the flattened end of the straw onto the Scor-Tape, I’m going to press it down to secure it to the base.
A fun little bonus of using the 3/8″ tape is that, once flattened, the straw is also about 3/8″ wide!
To secure the back panel, I’m laying another piece of Scor-Tape over the straws. I’m also adding a fairly thick layer of Bearly Art Glue.
As a quick reminder, the wet glue gives me time to make adjustments before the Scor-Tape creates a very permanent and fast hold.
With this project, I’ll need a little more time than usual to make those adjustments.
I also added glue to the larger part of the cardstock background, but not to the arches. Because they’re so thin, I’ll do that in a bit.
Adding the Back Glitter Panel to the Birthday Cake Topper
In the following image, you can see the reason for flipping one of the provided base panels horizontally.
Cutting the glitter cardstock this way gives us a perfectly mirrored panel to work with.
In all honesty, it did take a little time to line up the front and back layers with the straws in between them.
But I took my time and made small adjustments as I went.
One tip I want to share is to only press from the back of the cake topper. This will help keep the front perfectly flat.
Once the majority of the cake topper was glued down securely, I went back in and added a small line of adhesive to the arches, working on one at a time.
As I pressed them together, I was able to make finer adjustments so everything lined up.
One thing I didn’t do was glue the bottom of the layers together at the base. I really didn’t see a need for it, and it didn’t affect the design at all.
Now that the cake topper is finished, let’s set it aside to completely dry.
Finishing the Matching Birthday Card
To create the matching card, I’m starting with a piece of 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ 110lb Recollections cardstock in white for my card base.
The base is scored down the middle at 4 1/4″ to create a top-folding A2-sized card.
Because we already spent the time applying the HTV to the cardstock mat and attaching it to the smaller glitter panel, there isn’t much left to do.
After adding some Bearly Art Glue to the back of the glitter panel, I’ll attach it to the card base. And just like that, our matching birthday card is complete!
One thing I especially like about this card is that there’s plenty of room at the bottom to personalize it with a name. That makes it extra special for the birthday recipient.
The sentiment can be cut from cardstock, permanent vinyl, or heat transfer vinyl, just like I used today.
If you decide to use HTV, just remember to add the name to the card base before applying the glitter cardstock. That way, you don’t accidentally melt the glitter panel with the heat.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for joining me for today’s Easy Birthday Cake Topper with Cricut project! I absolutely love how this Birthday Cake Topper turned out with the silver glitter cardstock and royal blue HTV.
And I just love how it looks on the cake with the lit candles! This photo doesn’t come close to showing just how much the glitter sparkled in person.
Have you ever made a cake topper before? If you have, what did you use for the pick or support? Bamboo skewers, acrylic sticks, paper straws… or maybe something completely different?
Share your favorite method in the comments. I always enjoy seeing your ideas and learning new tips from this amazing community!
Even though this is my first-ever birthday cake topper, I’m already thinking about all the possibilities for future celebrations. And if you’d like to check out more birthday card ideas, you can find them here: Birthday Cards.
Until then, I hope you have a wonderful week, and I look forward to seeing you back in the craft room soon!
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