Bunting on a Cake

I've seen this idea around (like here or here, which turned out amazing) and thought Mother's Day would be the perfect time to try it out myself.  I didn't look up any tutorials before embarking on this project, because it seemed so simple.  It was pretty much a total fail.

I got a triangle punch and colorful paper; and I had straws, washi tape, baker's twine and letter stickers on hand. 

Here's what I learned: 

1. Happy Mother's Day is too many letters to deal with - I think on tiny cake bunting, less is more.  So many letters ended up being too heavy to stay in place, so for the picture, my mom and dad had to hold it. 

2. Washi tape as the top "binding" doesn't work. It's too stiff and doesn't curve, like you want bunting to.  Other tutorials I've seen either punch two holes in each flag and weave the string through the top or punch the flag so it's connected at the top and fold it over the string.  I think both of those methods would have worked better.

3. It's really hard to attach the string to the straw (and three strands are triply difficult).  The heart tutorial above uses mini clothespins at the top of the straw and that seems like a good idea.  Or some people use dowel rods rather than straws and maybe that is easier to tie a string around.

4. Sometimes real life gets in the way of picture perfect blogging.  The cake just came out of the oven, we were supposed to gather everything and get to my sister's house, the cake was still too warm to frost, but I did it anyway, because I wanted to get a picture. 

So...this was a learning experience!  I love the look of bunting, so I'd like to try it again and hopefully next time it'll be better!