how do i place sprinkles, confetti, etc.. on sides of cake evenly without messing up the frosting? handplacing could take forever! thanks

just bumping you up!!

Try tilting your cake, ever so slighty..and carefully, put the sprinkles in the cup of your hand and gently press into the icing. I really don't know of any other way besides using your hand!

I used some pixie dust the other day (on my own b-day cake -- never get one unless I make it myself!!!) and I used a 1/8 tsp. measuring spoon and kind of shook it on there while it was tilted on my wilton decorating stand. Worked pretty good.

MrsMissey is right on the nose with this one:
ideally, your cake should be on a board cut to fit, so that you can more easily hold the cake in one hand, and over a big pan or cookie sheet full of the sprinkles/shavings/nuts/crumbs, etc, you pick up a handfull in your cupped hand (no gaps between fingers) and gently press into the side of the cake, pull away, and let excess fall back into the pan (tap the bottom of the cake board to shake off excess). with this method you can either press in semi-circles or triangles or simply coat the entire side top to bottom. you can also do this with a cake on a board cut larger than it, but you'll need to gently sweep the excess off the board as you go. the key is to make sure you have lots of whatever you're coating with, and press very gently so as not to make indents into your icing. on a really big cake, you don't pick up the cake, but rather make a huge mess around the cake and then sweep that away after with a dry pastry brush.

If you're a more visual person/learner, Dawn has a great tutorial here...

http://community.webshots.com/photo/276920554/228920382RLtmWM

wow, yall are fast! thanks so much. i can't believe the hard way i've been trying to do it.