Forty and Fabulous SVG

About this design

A fortieth often comes with a proper cake, and this topper is made to sit on it. The 40 is a sturdy serif standing on a slim bar, which links down through two short posts to the word Fabulous in a thick, joined-up script. A wider bar runs under the script, and from it hang two long, tapered stakes. Every part touches the next, so the whole topper cuts as one solid shape.

It reads well from the other side of a table, which is what a topper is for: the guests see it before they see the cake.

Pieces and weeding

This is a single piece with 18 cut-outs. The cut-outs are the closed centers of the numerals and the script, and once they are weeded or popped out there is nothing to assemble. Leave the stakes at full length so the topper stands steady. It passes our cut checks from about 5.5 inches wide.

Color layer

• Lettering in warm near-black: the whole topper, including the bars and stakes

The color file is one layer because the topper is one piece. Gold glitter card, mirror silver or a solid painted wood are all common choices.

Materials that hold up

Using a topper with food

Craft materials are not food-safe, and the file is not either. Keep the topper from touching the cake: tape each stake to a food-safe skewer or wrap the stakes before they go in, and lift the topper out before anyone slices and serves.

Size guide

Do not go narrower than 5.5 inches; below that, the joins between the script and the bars get thin enough to snap.

Cutting tips

• Make a second pass on thick card instead of raising the pressure.
• Leave the topper on the mat and peel the mat away from it, not the other way round, so the stakes do not bend.
• Check every join between the posts, bars and letters before you lift it out.

Other uses

The same shape makes a sign for a flower arrangement, a pick in a potted plant gift, or a decoration on a dessert table, standing in a small block of foam. Pushed into a jar of pebbles or a balloon weight, it also makes a quick gift-table marker.

Pairs well with

Hello Forty suits the card and the shirts, and One Hundred Years is the other one-piece topper in the set.