This is a 16th Birthday cake for a young man. Mom has requested a square cake, royal blue, 2 tiered, quilted sides, with a cell phone as a topper (he's a mega-texter). Easy right? But that's the problem,....too easy, and boring. I've been racking my brain how to put some punch into this one, make it more youthful but stay true to mom's wishes. Any ideas out there? I've seen my fellow cc'ers come through before on other requests, I'm hoping someone can help me with this one..........anyone?

I think it could be fun to put some texting language around the cake or on the board. He'd probably get a kick out of that and it would definitely jazz it up a bit. Of course, I can't recommend any particular texting abbreviations because I still text in complete sentences and spell out 'you' and 'later' and all of the other words. I'm just too old and grammatical for texting, I guess. LOL! (Haha!)

haha...that was the one idea I did think of. Problem is, I text just like you...complete words and sentences lol I looked up some abbreviations, but wouldn't have a clue which ones are frequently used (commonly known)... don't want him scratching his head saying"why has she scattered letters of the alphabet on the cake"! For sure I'll print something in 'text-eze' on the cell phone screen though...

Maybe some balls on wires?

How about some fondnant spirals?

Here is a link to all kids of text abbreviations:
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp

Stuff sticking out on wires always helps alot....

If you have an airbrush, doing some shading would help too...sort of a dark-to-light blue idea...?

....wow, thanks for the link to the text abbreviations. it's much better than the site i found. I'm starting to picture some of these ideas you're all giving me. thanks
Guess i'm having trouble with the mom's request for a quilted impression on the sides...that seems more appropriate for a wedding cake than for a 16 yr old boy! Wondering how to jazz it up? ....like, is there something i could put at every intersect (instead of a dragee or tiny flower etc.) I'm not coming up with anything...think think THINK....

... cool! have you thought about using black balls or royal icing dots in the intersections? or little stars in black or silver? or little squares with different applications symbols on them (ie. messages = envelope, calendar, camera, settings, applications, call log, etc)??? I really like the idea of the abbreviated texts on the board, perhaps painted on in black all skewif (sp?) around the cake, that should add a little more interest. HTH and remember to have fun with it!

it may sound weird but at the intersections how about making it a blue jean button. A brand name that he wears, so that it has more a bluejean fill then a satin pillow tone.

oh btw jam- thanks for the link. now i can figure out some of the abbrev. my nieces send me

Make the quilting squares bigger than normal - so they are not so dainty maybe? Then you don't have as many intersections to fill in with buttons, or app graphics, text symbols, etc.

Thanks guys for all your suggestions...i think i'm going to incorporate several of your great ideas, black and silver accent colors, bigger diamonds, text icons, and maybe some fun stuff sticking out of the top on wires. I know it sounds cluttered, but i see it in my head as working. i'll post a pic in the galleries next week.