I am doing an anniversary cake for this weekend, it's heart-shaped and the theme is "7 years in Paradise." I'll be doing part of the heart with a sand look (crushed graham crackers) and the other part with blue and white icing for an ocean. I have white and bright pink gumpaste hybiscus and orchids to put on top of the cake.

What kind of top and bottoms borders would look right with this? A standard shell or reverse shell? Something else? And in what color?

Could I go without a border on top? That was my initial plan, but I might need something to kind of hold the graham cracker sand in place.

You could definately go without a top border. You could do the regular or reverse shell, both would be very pretty. I think you could use either the white or blue for the bottom border.

If you wanted something around the graham crackers, you could do a very small shell in that area and leave the "ocean" part border-free.

You could do the bottom border as "waves" -- like use a big tip (maybe #32)...and sort of curl up the sides. You might want to make this a very pale color of blue (or just white) so as not to distract from the great idea you have for the top!

The wave border is a great idea. I always like the rope border - looks similar to rolling waves. Sounds like a fun cake!! Did you make the hybiscus and orchids or did you order them?

Great ideas, thanks. I am considering no border at the top, and a rope border at the bottom - they are into sailing, and a rope border might look kind of nautical! That could really work.

I did a wave border on a Margaritaville cake I did a few weeks ago (the lime green one in my photos), and it came out pretty cute.

I made (well, am in the process of making, need to dust with petal dust) the hybiscus and orchids myself. They are the first gumpaste flowers I've ever done, but so far, it's going great.