Knitting is the new Nintendo

3 Tier Diaper Cake

Supplies:
1 package (84) of size 1 baby diapers
1 round base (I found a cardboard cake base at the dollar store)
1 small package of multi-sized elastic bands
1 paper towel roll
A hot glue gun
2-3 rolls of ribbon
3-6 baby items to decorate (baby utensils, socks, pacifier, hair brush and comb, hair bow, etc.)


Directions:
1) There are two methods to assemble the diapers to create the cake tiers, I used both. The first way is to roll each individual diaper. I did this for the base and top tier. For the base layer I used an elastic to hold them in threes around the paper towel roll, and I did enough to cover the entire cardboard base. The second way is to stagger layer them one on top of each other (does that make sense? see the picture below if you're not sure.) Once you've got the entire layer done you'll use 1 or 2 very large elastics to hold it all together.
As you can see above I didn't start with the paper towel roll in the middle, but I realized part way through assembly that it would be extremely beneficial to keeping the 3 tiers together!

2) Once you have the cake built, it's time to jazz it up! Use the ribbon to conceal the elastics. (It also helped cover the faint blue bears on the diapers in the middle row!) Use the hot glue gun to keep the ribbon in place.

3) And now the best part! Decorate with all the baby items you collected. There should be space enough that they rest easily on the different levels of each tier. I used a hair clip as the bow at the top and I didn't glue the items to the cake because when stationary, they seem to stay just fine.

This cake was obviously for a baby girl, but I've seen some just as cute for baby boys, plus you could just as easily create a gender neutral cake if the sex is unknown at the time you're making it. Just let your imagination go!

Recently my lovely friend and her husband had a baby girl! What an exciting time for them (though not without any hardships - that's another story)! I had the pleasure of first being asked to help plan their gender reveal party and most recently the baby shower! I love this kind of stuff - 'showering' people with love, ya know! ;) So this post is dedicated to the basics and ideas of how to throw a successful baby shower!

The basics of any party in my mind are three things: decorations, games/activities, and food. Let's break it down!

Decorations
I am not the most visually capable decorator so I rely heavily on the ideas of others... yay Pinterest! But it doesn't take too much to create a nicely decorated space. The basics are obviously streamers and balloons, easy and simple. You can really make some nice accents with streamers that are unique to the usual.

try to ignore what's outside the window...

I also was able to find some banners and specific baby shower decor at the dollar store, didn't use all of it, but it could be a one-stop-shop for the person who doesn't want to do too much 'DIY'!

The idea I will take credit for :) is the framed quotes. I'm not a graphic designer, but I love to play around and make some fun posters (though I'm limited to Microsoft Word I think they still turned out nice). I looked up some relevant quotes and bible verses online and then printed them as pictures and framed them. Placing them around the room for the shower was cute! And it gave mommy some extras to take home for the nursery! I will work on providing the printouts for these soon!



The must have decor piece at a baby shower these days is a diaper cake. So that I went to the internet for a tutorial and ideas. It was quite simple and fun to put together! Stay tunes for more on this later!


Games/Activities
The mommy is not too much of a games person so I didn't want to overwhelm the shower with game after game. I wanted the feel to be relaxed and a fun time to mingle and see the new baby and just spoil the new parents. Thus I only planed two simple games to do as a group and two activities that could be done while people mingled.

The two games were The Price is Right: Baby Style and What's in Your Purse. Both ideas I snagged from Pinterest :) The first has everyone guessing the actual retail price of typical baby items like bottles, diapers, baby food etc. and the second is un-baby related, but just for women to see if what they have stashed in their purse can win them a prize!


That said, I did have a few prizes for the winners of each game. Nothing extravagant (some colourful socks, bath salts, lip balm, and notepad), but it's always nice to have some treats for the guests as well.

The two activities were Make Mom Laugh and Wishes for Baby. I loved both of these because it meant that Mommy and Daddy would have some fun things to bring home and laugh at/cherish later. Again, both ideas from Pinterest! The idea behind the first is for people to write fun notes on diapers so that when changing the diaper there is a little something to laugh about despite the current situation! The second is a print out for each party attendee to fill out with wishes for the new baby to read when she grows up :) I will work on providing the printouts soon as well!


Food
I have to admit I had nothing to do with the food at this party as it was collaborative effort! And unfortunately though large and has the word 'cake' in it, the diaper cake was not edible haha! Here my co-hostesses had some crunchy nachos, a sweet fruit platter, scrumptious cupcakes, a delicious lemon cake, and a refreshing pink lemonade!


That's it, it's as simple as that! I hope that you found as much inspiration on this page as I had as much fun doing all of this! Now go and plan that party and have fun!

I call it the 'happy jar'.


I saw this idea that someone had re-posted on Facebook at the beginning of the new year.

The idea is that whenever you have a memorable moment, something happy happens around you, small or large, you write it on a piece of paper and add it to the jar. Then on New Year's next year you open it up and read about all the good things that happened in your life over the past year.

I love this idea because similar to my cue card calendar, it's a great way to remember the little things that you may not otherwise recall. And especially with this jar you are remembering the blessings and extra positive things that may get lost amidst the busyness and stresses of everyday life!

So far it's only been one month and I haven't added that many, not sure if that's because there haven't been that many good things (let's hope not) or I just need to be more generous in adding even the littlest moments (likely as those are the ones you forget over time...).

What would you put in your happy jar today?

Do you enjoy looking back in time?
Is being crafty a challenge for you?
Do you have a bad memory?
Do you agree with the phrase: "the simpler the better!"
Is your life so exciting that you want to remember everything you do, everyday, forever (or do you just like to be reminicent)?

If you answered yes to any of those questions then this is the project for you! This is the project for you! (did I already say that?)

Discovered on Pinterest, this is the cue card calendar!

All you need:
-a writing utinsel
-366 cue cards (maybe keep the extras in case you need a replacement)
-a small box/tin

All you do:
-Everyday, write down the most memorable or exciting thing that you did/happened.

And that's it!!


I love it because for one I do not have a good memory and so every day as I write down something for the day I can see what happened exactly a year ago and it's really neat! I think it will be a great keepsake in the years to come :)  I started ours on our wedding day and so I'll have a record of most everything through our married years.


*You will have to put the date on each individual cue card, but it's easiest to do that everyday for the first year and then you won't have to after that. 

If you’re thinking of doing something similar here’s how I did it*:




























 

I wear my wedding bands 24/7...except when I take them off to sleep and apply lotion (I can hear Deniss in the background saying "the lotion industry thanks you!"). I used to keep my wedding and and engagement ring in the ring box they came in, until one day I'd opened and closed it one to many times and it broke. I do have a jewelry box that I could put them in, but it just didn't seem right to dump them with the rest of my regular bling.

And then one lovely day I came across this idea on Pinterest! See the original tutorial by clicking here!



It's the simplest and one of my favorite 'crafts' that I've done yet.

All you need is:
-small frame about 3x5 (I got mine at Michael's with a 40% off coupon so it was about $3)
-small piece of cardboard to place in the back for the pin to stick through
-a 'nice' pin
-lace as the original pinner used or what I did is a print out of wedding vows, or something to personalize it to you (even a picture would work) to cover the cardboard.
*and assemble...when I put the pin through the cardboard I bent it slightly and taped it down so you can close the back. it's all pretty self explanatory.

It is so easy to make and now I always know where my rings are when I take them off and it makes for a nice decor piece on my dresser as well!

I have a tendency to accumulate things throughout the year. Things like wedding invites, Christmas picture cards, and post cards I collect when we travel etc. And I have a hard time parting with them. I found this idea on Pinterest (where else!?) to create a 'Scrap' Book for each year.




All you have to do is gather all the scraps you're hanging onto from the last year, whole punch them and use rings to create the book look! The original creator is a little more 'scrapy' :) with extra embellishments and such, but I like to think of mine as a work in progress! Click here for the original link.