Diaper Babies and Baby Food Cake to Welcome a New Addition

My sister recently had her fourth baby, a beautiful boy. My daughters wanted to make their gifts for her baby shower, so they both went on Pinterest, did their research, made out shopping lists and voila!!

 

We'll start with the oldest's gift first.

Baby food cake

 

 

She used cardboard cake rounds to build her three tiers. After a few tries of rearranging the jars, she secured everything in place and added the ribbon.  The stickers went on last along with her frog friend.  I think she had a great first try and my sister loved it, and definitely loved having the jars on hand for when the little one was ready for his first taste of food.  

 

Next up,

 

Diaper Babies

 

Diaper Baby Basket

 

This is the third diaper baby basket that my eight year old has made.  She found this idea herself on Pinterest (she has her own account :)).  They were a big hit and so easy to make!

 

She rolled out size 1 diapers (you can do this with the newborn or size 2 in case someone else at the shower is making a diaper cake).  She then secured them with a clear hair elastic that we purchased from Walmart.  The hats (socks from my sister's registry at Target) were separated from their pairs and each one was put on the top of the rolled diaper and then she pushed in the remainder of the sock inside the top portion.  She drew little eyes (some closed some open, you could also use googly eyes), we used a thin sharpie.  For the blanket (washcloths that were purchased from my sister's registry), she folded them into a triangle and wrapped it in a swaddle, like you would a newborn.  We bought the basket at  the dollar tree and used baby scrapbooking stickers that I had leftover to decorate the inside.  We used spare diapers on the bottom of the basket to give the babies some height (my daughter called it their mattress). :)

 

My sister loved her gifts and the fact that the girls made them their selves. And I thought it was pretty cool that they chose unique, creative gifts, that will get a lot of use.  Oh, and I also liked that they spent time letting their creative juices flow instead of being in front of the computer, on the phone or in front of the tv.  ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Red Sox Spring? Training

We're big Red Sox fans in our house and they've been in beautiful Fort Meyers for Spring Training, so I thought I'd jump start Spring a little early and make a wreath for our World Series Champs.  We need a little spring here!! I think this has been the first day in about six or seven, that it hasn't snowed.  It's suppose to be fifty here tomorrow, I think we'll need galoshes, does anybody wear those anymore?  Anyway onto the wreath.

I used a 14" Styrofoam wreath and covered it with strips of white cotton fabric.  The strips are about 1.5" wide.  I used a dot of hot glue to secure the first strip to the side of the wreath that was to be the back.  I used common pins to secure each of the strips to the back as I went, but you could use fabric glue as well or a dot of hot glue.  Once I was done wrapping the fabric, the letters were glued on and my socks, precut the ribbon and attached it with hot glue to the back.

Go Sox!!!

Perfect snowy day snack - Snowman Snack Mix

I was recently snack mom for my daughter's Brownie Troop.  I wasn't sure what to make to please all thirteen girls, so I looked on Pinterest and found the cutest snack called Snowman Snack mix.  It's supposed to be the pieces of a melted snowman.  The blog that I found it on was nice enough to have template to print off.  Her troop leader said that everyone loved it!  Thank you Pinterest!

 

 

The card reads:

 

It's cold outside so in this pack

is a special mixed-up Snowman Snack!

Look very closely and you many spy

little snowballs, chocolate hats and eyes.

There's a little nose and pretzel arms

and a tasty scarf to give him some charm.

Have fun looking, then you know what to do...

gobble up this snack made especially for you!

 I made enough to make three snowmen in each bag.

9 mini marshmallows (body)
3 junior mints (head)
6 Pretzel sticks (arms)
21 mini chocolate chips (2 each for the eyes, 5 each for the mouth)
3 orange tic tacs
3 red twizzlers (you need to buy the kind that pulls apart)

My Proud Peacock Wreath

I saw this peacock during the Christmas season at Michaels and got it on clearance.  It spoke to me.  I loved the colors and I found the yarn a few aisles over (on sale!!)  and I had the ribbon.  The colors matched perfectly, I didn't think they would go together, being three different items with a similar shad of turquoise, but it worked!  I was a happy girl! Oh and I had a coupon for the wreath, so I was a super happy girl!

 

I started with a 12" foam wreath, used fabric spray to glue one end to the side that was going to be my back. I then began to wrap my soft fluffy yarn tightly around the wreath. It took about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.  Once I finished wrapping, I secured the end to the back with a dot of hot glue.  The bow was glued on first and then my proud peacock went right on top.  For the hanger in the back a pipe cleaner was cut in half, wrapped in the yarn and formed into a circle.  Twist the ends and glue it to the back!  

 

 

Nautical Shower Favor

My sister had her fourth baby recently and she had a nautical themed baby shower.  These were the prizes for the games that were given out., but could also be used as a bridal/baby shower favor. 

 

I found the clip art online for free, sized it down in Micro Soft Word and printed.  I then cut it out with the smaller of my two circle punches and cut out the red paper with the larger.  I used a handheld hole punch to put the hole at the top of the anchor.  For the rope, I cut out the desired length and then put a little hot glue at each end so that it wouldn't fray and unravel.  Once I tied the knot, I put one more small dot of hot glue at the knot, because I noticed that they were loosening.  That did the trick.

 

The ladies enjoyed their prizes at the shower.

 

  

Masquerade Mask

I hope everyone is getting through this long winter.  I just realized that Mardi Gras was coming up and thought I'd share the Mask I made for my daughter's Semi Formal.  Her dress was a pale blue color and she wanted a little bling, so here's what I came up with.  She looked wonderful and had a great time at her eighth grade semi.

I cut the strings off the back of the paper mache mask and brushed a light coat of modge podge.  I covered it with the decorative paper I had purchased and poked a hole with a pencil where the eyes were.  Then the paper was pushed back to form the eyes and glued to the back.  I just kept smoothing and cutting until I was happy with how it looked.  You might need a second sheet of paper for the back.  I then glued on the strand of rhinestones around the outside. A light coat of modge podge was put all over the front and back. Just a note, and I learned this the hard way, depending on the sheen of your paper or if it has glittered on it, the modge podge will dull the paper.  You'll still have the shine, but the sparkle disappears.  Continuing on, the stick is a skewer that was spray painted in a light gray and then sprayed with a light coat of glitter spray.  When you glue the stick make sure the pointed end is glued to the mask.  It accented her dress very nicely and she has a keepsake from her eighth grade semi formal.

 

 

 

I was also on the decorating committee for her semi formal and was in charge of displaying the masks for the students to take when they walked in. The color scheme was gold, black, white and green.  Most of the masks (below) came from Oriental Trading.

 

 

Cake dummies were used for the centerpieces and decorative paper was modge podged around the sides.

 

 

The tops were painted lightly first with modge podge and then with the desired color of paint. 

 

 

Then the glitter which was applied while the paint was wet.

 

 

The accessories were glued on last.

 

 

Valentines Day Corsage

It's been a while since I've posted, but I wanted to share the corsage I made for my nine year old daughter.  She and her dad went to a Father Daughter Valentines Day Dance on Sunday, and of course we couldn't have her go to a dance without a corsage.

I think I found the last bunch of roses at Michaels.  After trimming down the stems, I wrapped them in floral tape and then the red ribbon.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but the edges of the roses are glittered in red.  The corsage was very easy to use.  After turning it inside out, I hot glued my flowers and then the white bow and the red on top of that.

The corsage went perfectly with her red party dress.  She was so excited to go on her date with dad and they had a great time. I think my husband had more fun than she did, I heard the DJ played some old school rap :).