Giraffe Diaper Cake

I went to a baby shower last week that had jungle animals on the invitation.  So, I thought a giraffe themed diaper cake would be adorable!  My idea was to find a giraffe print fabric for the burp cloth and matching onesie.  I thought the mom would love how graphic it was and that it wouldn't be too babyish.  She also doesn't know what she's having, so the giraffe print would be gender neutral.  I ended up finding a perfect giraffe print flannel at my fav Fabric Depot (where I've gone for fabric for this project and this project).  Here is the onesie and matching burp cloths I made:

I decided to put a star on the onesie, thinking it would be a good graphic for a boy or a girl.  I also sewed on the new fabric labels I just got for my Etsy shop, Pic-Nik Designs.  I got them here.  Super fast shipping from Australia, great prices, and wonderful customer service.  If you want to get customized fabric labels, I highly recommend them!

Back to the diaper cake.  Since the new mommy and daddy-to-be live in Kentucky and requested gifts to be travel friendly, I only made them a one tier cake.  I used a half pack of Seventh Generation diapers and gave them the other half in a  gift bag (so they would see which brand and size the diapers are).  I wrapped the diapers with some giraffe printed ribbon I found at Joann Fabrics and added some green washcloths, folded to look like flowers (I knew from their registry they were going with a gender neutral green color palate for the nursery).  I also added a yellow stuffed giraffe from Target that has a little wind-up thing on the side to make it play lullabies (kinda like this one) and a little giraffe rattle from Babies R Us. This is kinda like the rattle.  Maybe I couldn't find the original one online because I had bought it in the store a couple months ago?

When I walked up to the baby shower, I saw a giant wooden giraffe on display on the front porch, wearing a bib.  "Score," I thought.  "My gift matches that giraffe."  I then got inside and noticed the mommy-to-be was wearing a giraffe printed dress.  Not only did my gift match the decor, it matched the mommy!  Perfect!  500 points for me!

Another Mill Park baby shower

Here are some fun pics from Laura's baby shower that I helped throw.  We wanted a woodland theme, so notice the pine cones, brown, blue and green colors, and the cute baby food jar favors filled with seeds.  Of course Carla and I made another diaper cake.  Details at the bottom!

 

Mama Martinez

 

Yummy cake from the Johnson Creek Fred Meyer.  Apparently they have an amazing bakery!

 Friends on maternity leave came to visit: Katie & Baby Nash

 

 Abby & Baby James

                        Carrie & Baby Ella

 Playing a game: Creating baby Grayson's first ABC book!

 

  

Game winners: Laura's favorite pages!

 Baby gifts!

 Diaper cake!  Laura's baby bedding has little lambs on it, so naturally we needed a lamb for the top of the cake.  It is decorated with rolled up washcloths, a handmade crinkle toy (I forgot to take a picture of it, but you can see a similar one here).  Inside the cake is a really soft blue and white star blanket and this super cute onesie I made.  I've never done the tie before, but I've really been wanting to.  I think it turned out so cute!

3 different parties, 3 different projects!

This weekend was a busy one!  I went to three different parties for three different occasions!  And of course I had to make something for each of them!  

Party number one was for my wonderful friend Kara's bridal shower.  I went in on a group gift with the girls, but I also added something extra: an oven mitt and hot pad that match her wedding colors.  They took awhile, since they are quilted and I don't have much experience quilting (i.e. no experience quilting!).  I used the patterns from the book, The New Handmade.  The book has lots of cute, simple projects that would make great gifts.  Although I can see every single flaw in the oven mitt, I think they turned out cute.  Here are pictures of both the sides.

For party number two, I took the kids and went to my friend Kelsey's baby's first birthday.  I got the birthday girl, Genevieve, a really cute baby's first birthday book by Karen Katz and I made her an adorable owl out of girly flannel fabric.  I used this tutorial to make it.  I think next time I make an owl, I'll put a bell or some crinkle fabric inside so it can make noise.  Babies love toys that make noise!

For party number three I made a diaper cake for my friend Bob's baby shower.  He and his fiance, Elle, are having a little girl, and since Bob went to U of O, I made a duck themed girly cake.  It had a little Oregon cheerleader teddy bear on top and lots of cute pink, yellow, and green decorations.  Inside the bottom layer was a little outfit I put together: a burp cloth, a onesie with a duck sewn on it, little yellow shorts, and a headband made by my friend at work, Michelle.  Bob and Elle loved it!

Another diaper cake

Baby Shower #2 for this spring at Mill Park was for my friend and colleague, Katie Mauck. Katie is having a little boy and his name will be Nash. Carla and I once again got together to make her an adorable diaper cake. Instead of trying to find fabric that would match her crib bedding that she registered for at Target, I just bought the flannel receiving blankets from the set. From that fabric, I made a burp cloth, bib, two different toys (a crinkly square toy and a wooden ring with fabric and ribbon toy), and a onesie with a cute owl sewn on it (that I designed myself - go me!)

Here is a pic of all the goodies inside the cake:

Here is the cake the night Carla and I made it. We still needed to decorate it, but it has most of the stuff on it: the Jittery Pals owl on top, blue Avent binkies, and washcloths folded up to look like roses stuck inside the bottom layer of diapers. We even put a thermal receiving blanket inside the bottom layer. The rubber duck ended up getting cut from the cake after this. He was just a little too awkward hanging out on the bottom by himself. 

I then started adding some stuff to fill it up, since it was a little bare. I added silk flowers and leaves, little clip on bumble bees to the ribbons, and 6 Ring-a-Links, 3 on each side. My son Nathan has two sets of alphabet blocks, so I snatched the letters to spell Nash from the set he never plays with. The cake was cute, but now it was a little too busy.

On the day of the baby shower, I covered the lower piece of cardboard with tissue paper and then Carla picked it up to decorate. She paired it down a bit, so the finished product was perfect. It still had all the goodies and was pleasing to the eye. What do you think of our masterpiece? I think it's pretty cute! And the most important thing is that Katie loved it! 

Baby stuff

Since starting my sewing projects, I've mainly made baby stuff: bibs, burp cloths, and a little crinkly toy. For my co-worker Abby's baby shower, I decided to make her a set of these items, and also threw in a onesie. She doesn't know the gender and went to U of O, so a Duck theme seemed appropriate. I used U of O fabric for all the items that I found at JoAnn Fabrics. The bib is smaller than other's I've made and doesn't have a pocket. I lined the back with terry cloth, to make it useful for when the baby starts drooling and teething around 3-4 months. The toy has a piece of a wipes case sewed inside to make the crinkle noise. I sewed lots of ribbon loops on the outside for the baby to grab and chew on and also a small wooden ring that I stained with organic beeswax from the PSU Farmer's Market.  The onesie is a silhouette of a rubber duck ironed on with webbed interfacing and then sewn around the border for extra security. If you want any of my patterns for specific directions on any of my projects, let me know!

As the baby shower got closer, my wonderful friend Carla, who made the diaper cake for my baby shower, suggested we make a diaper cake together for Abby. She agreed to make the actual cake and I would use my homemade items to decorate it. We also added a cute stuffed ducky for the top, gender neutral newborn sized pacifiers, and some green and yellow bathtime rubber duckies. The crinkle toy is under the duck, the burp cloth is between the layers of diapers, and the bib and onesie are stuffed inside the bottom layer along with a couple newborn sized diapers and a Hooter Hiders nursing cover. This is what it looked like when we were done:

We thought it looked a little bare, so for the actual event, we added some green and yellow silk flowers and wrapped the bottom cardboard circle with green wrapping paper. We think it was perfect and Abby loved it!