Feathering Kristin's Nest - Part 4: DIY Cupcake Tower How-to

I researched different materials to construct a cupcake tower, and found many websites that used styrofoam and boards.  I also found a kit to put together a cardboard tower at a craft store.  However, when looking for the styrofoam I wasn't able to locate something that worked well, and the all-cardboard kit appeared unstable.  I finally found information where someone had used cans of vegetables for the core of the tower, and indicated this made the tower much more stable.  

I decided to give it a try.  Instead of constructing the entire tower, I used my Pottery Barn Emma Collection cake stand as the base, which matched the other serving dishes on the table and gave stability to the tower:

I bought cake boards from this local bakery supply store.  Since my base was basically 12 inches, I went with 10 inches, 8 inches and 6 inches for my tiers.  I bought two of each cardboard round, and glued them together with my hot glue gun so that each tier was thick enough.  Then, I glued thick pearlized cream card stock to the cardboard and cut the card stock around the cardboard using an exacto knife:

Tip: 12x12 scrapbook paper will perfectly cover a 10 inch cake board

Then, chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon was glued along the edge of the cardboard:

Then I got two cans of Rotel tomatoes for the larger tiers and a can of tomato paste for the top tier.  These cans are smaller in diameter than typical vegetable cans and therefore leave more room for cupcakes on the surface of the tiers.  I covered the cans in a toile print paper using a hot glue gun:

   

Then, turning the cardboard tier upside down secure the top of the vegetable can to the bottom of the cardboard using the glue gun.  

I also secured each tier to the other using glue on the bottom of the can.  Be certain you have the can centered in the cardboard before utilizing the glue.  

Here are the pictures from the party and the finished tower courtesy of Amber Beckham Photography.  (see my previous blog for info about the muffins done for the bird nest theme baby shower):