The empty cake dome

Here's a truth about me: I love cake domes.  I love cake domes almost more than I love cake. (And you know I love cake.)  We have just one, a streamlined modern-shaped one from Crate & Barrel, and we keep it out on the retro refurbished dresser we use as a sideboard.  But we don't frequently store baked goods in it, especially since we don't eat a lot of dessert lately. (And when we do, we purchase in single-servings, or bake and freeze, so the dome doesn't get a lot of use.)

Something about that empty cake dome made me feel a tad melancholy.  I don't generally feel down about the changes we've been making, so I wanted to do a little something for that empty cake dome that brightened my mood whenever I looked at it.  And I didn't want that little something to involve fake food of any kind.  The last thing anyone needs is a pretend cake staring at you, daring you to eat real cake. (Heh, that kind of reminds me of a short film I wrote.  Perhaps I'll post an excerpt of it for you tomorrow!)

Fortunately, a recent blog post on The Idea Room caught my eye, and I knew right away I'd found my cake dome decoration.  Paper pomanders!  So I made a pair in purple and yellow, to reflect our sideboard color scheme.  Here's my step-by-step:

These are all of the supplies needed.  Easy-peasy.

Pair up two of the punched flowers, aligning them so they alternate petals.  Attach them to the ball with a corsage pin.

Fluff up the petals to make the flowers more dimensional.

Repeat in a row around the diameter, and then follow with parallel rows for flowers, until you cover the whole ball.

Here are the finished pomanders, in their cake-dome-home!

I think they turned out well, but I would recommend using a punch with a fuller/rounder petal, and pins with more petite heads.

We had a pomander at our wedding (carried by our darling flower girl Julia) and now every time I pass the cake dome, I think of her and our very happy wedding day.

Hurrah for leftover supplies!  I have enough for two more pomanders, so if any of you are interested, I can make one for two of you (or two for one of you.)  First-come, first-served, so if you want one, post a comment here or on Facebook.  If only one person wants a pomander, I will make two for you.  If more than one person is interested, I will make one pomander for the first two people who request it.  We can talk color preference after I announce the winners.

In other news, I made it through Day 2 of #100DayChipQuest with all three rules met, hurrah!  The second day was much easier. I think that the rule-breaking rebellious part of me that was rearing up has been soothed - for now, anyway!