Diaper Cake

A baby shower is a great excuse to make a diaper cake! It was my second attempt (and first for a girl) and I was really happy with how it came out :)

To make one you need about 100 plain white diapers, ribbon, a cake board, cake dowels to stabilize the whole thing and lots of elastic bands. Oh and about 4-5 hours and lot of patience :)

I didn't follow any kind of pattern - I just found building groups of 9 or so easiest...

Once you are done with construction, you can cover the elastic bands with ribbons and hair accessories and some fun turrets and flags...

It looked lovely on the cupcake table :)

Eyeball is craftsy :)

We went over to Eileen's at the weekend and she's been getting busy making pictures for the baby room. Just adorable :)

 

I can't wait to get creative again once we get moved next week!!

Christmas Gifts!!

I actually managed to finish the gifts for the family in time for Christmas! Now they have all been received I can share some of the things that I made :)

A pair of wine bottle lamps for Rita with personalized labels...

An embellished purse for Eileen...

A personalized advent calendar house for Jen, Rich and Mya...

Inspired by the fabulous Etta - "Curious Specimen" ornaments of Gregory and Declan...

And a personalized family wall hanging for Pete and family made from their favorite words and colors...

The responses were so great - I felt like a million dollars! It was really difficult to get them all done in time since we moved house and I started a new job after I had gotten started...but I'm so glad I stuck it out. Think I'll do it again next year. I may need to get started now ;)

Gifts for baby nephews

I decorated some onesies with appliques for my two nephews for their first birthdays.

How-to on Martha Stewart's website here!

An Irish Blessing

I have decided to try and more fully embrace the 'Handmade Pledge!' Basically, that means I'll be either making (or buying handmade) items as gifts (and greetings cards) going forward. I have already made a start on Christmas (and thank goodness since I can already see that it's going to take months to get done:)) and I'm really enjoying the process so far. It feels a lot more personal and regardless of they turn out or how they are received, I hope my recipients all know that my gifts and cards will be made with lots of love :).

For my first gifting challenge I was inspired by this creation by Donna Downey (here) to make this little canvas piece for my nephew, Declan's baptism. I found the Irish blessing online and thought it was perfect! He is only one so a little young for feedback but his parents seem to really like it!

Diaper Castle Cake

I haven't really been living up to my claim to be "craftsy" lately so I thought I'd make something for Liz's baby shower. After a bit of research on line I found some diaper cakes and had a go at my own version of one. It was actually a lot more straightforward than I thought it would be and only took a few hours (with some help from Jen:)). It did take almost 100 diapers though but I was really pleased with how it came out. Most importantly, Liz said that she loved it!