When you can’t find exactly what you want, you have to make it yourself.

I can rarely find exactly what I want, so I’m quite familiar with the DIY route. Craigslist & Ikea are two of my favorite sources but inspiration and resources can really be found anywhere. When looking at a piece of furniture, pile of materials, or even a room, it’s important to see beyond what the item currently is and visualize what it could be.

In this instance, I needed a cake stand. Not just any cake stand though. {Lord knows I’ve got plenty of cake stands; they just weren’t big enough!} I needed a cake stand that would be big enough for a wedding cake.

A wedding cake that would be showing up to a wedding THIS SATURDAY. A rustic, backyard, fall, wedding with lots of natural elements & textures like wood, twine, burlap, & pumpkins.

The largest layer of the cake is a 12″ round, so something 14″ would be perfect. Have you ever tried to find a 14″ round cake stand?? It’s not as easy as one would think. But after promising the bride a cake stand, I had to come up with something.

I also promised the bride orange candles from IKEA. That was easy.

Orange pillars

{I probably bought too many but better too many than not enough.}

Orange tapers

Back to the cake stand.

So I was wandering around the kitchen section & happened upon the SNUDDA {lazy susan} for a totally reasonable $7.99. It’s 15″ wide ~ {almost} the PERFECT diameter!

snudda

Across from the candle section were the plants & planters. There I found the 4 1/4″ MANDEL planter for $2.99.

mandel

You see where I’m going with this??

I also swung by the dollar store & picked up a ball of twine for $1.

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Assembled all my materials.

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Using my handy glue gun, I secured the top row of twine & then wound my way down.

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Well, technically I started at the bottom which would mean I worked my way “up”, not “down”…  Either way.

I then hot glued all around the bottom {technically top} edge, securing the last row & creating a lip of hot glue so the twine wouldn’t slip off.

finishing the edge

Since the lazy susan has a base {that’s how it spins}, I wanted to cover it in twine too.

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All twined!

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Then I hot glued the top {er… bottom} of the planter to the bottom center of the lazy susan. An extra band of twine hid the seam.

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Flipped right side up.

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See how the twine on the lazy susan base & the planter tie both together? It creates one unified base with the wood resting on top.

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And did I mention ~ IT SPINS!!

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So that’s how $13 {w/ tax} made a custom, fall-inspired cake stand fit for a wedding out of a lazy susan, ceramic planter, & some twine.

The Cake Stand

{I’ll be sure to get a picture of it at the wedding, so you can see it in action!}