11.29.2011

Lack of Posting - I Can Explain!

Hello all - I guess it's not a big secret that my posting has been a little lax lately. As I round the 6 week Countdown-to-Baby, I'm getting slower all around. Not only am I getting winded when I walk up the stairs too quickly (sad but true) but my craft projects have slowed to a halt. The craft fair that I attended a couple of weeks ago went well, although I was surprised that my newest creation, the Ice Skate Centerpiece did not sell, despite a lot of compliments. Oh well, it will look great in our front window this holiday season!

The most creative thing I've done this week is to start some hand-made Christmas cards (I typically do half homemade and half out of the box) and try to come up with some fun and easy little craft projects that I can add onto the gifts I've already bought. Yes, I'm that person - my shopping has been done for weeks.

One of the projects I would like to attempt this week, since I should have some extra time, is a Reindeer Car Costume, like this one: 
I haven't found many tutorials online so I would like to try and make this with items I already have in the house and post the process for others to try as well.

All I can say is that it's a good thing this baby is due after the first of the year or I would definitely be making him wear this to match the car: 


Thanks for your patience while I get back to crafting, in the midst of packing my hospital bag, washing a million baby clothes and linens in Dreft and training my replacement for maternity leave.

How are all your holiday projects coming along? Can you believe it's only 25 days until Christmas?

11.23.2011

Happy Thanksgiving from Babycakes Crafts

I hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday - watch this page for some fun, new holiday craft tutorials, coming soon! 

11.18.2011

Weekend Craft Fair Info

Holiday Craft Fair Announcement

Who: Babycakes Crafts and 50+ craft vendors

When: Saturday, November 19th, 2011

Where: Wilcox High School, 298 Oregan Road, Meriden, CT

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Raffles, bake sale, handmade gifts and more...

11.15.2011

Baby Shower Celebration

It's Tuesday and I'm still recovering from my baby shower celebration! A big thank you to all my family and friends for making it a lovely day. There is more baby stuff around the house than I could ever imagine - how are babies so small but yet they need so much big stuff? :)

Raspberry cake - made by my mom

 
Love these decorations - wrapped pictures on the wall with outfits & bows

Spoiled little guy!

Crib - all set up and ready for his arrival...

Baby's first Red Sox outfit - that's a must!!

Elf on the Shelf - I might be more excited about this than the baby will be!

Teeny-tiny sneaker socks - love these

 Just about 8 weeks left - hard to believe!

11.11.2011

Diaper Cake Tutorial (Baby Shower Weekend)

In celebration of my baby shower being held this weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to post a tutorial for a project that just about anyone can do, not matter what their craft skills may be.

Diaper cakes are a cute and crafty gift, perfect for a mommy-to-be, no matter what gender her bundle of joy will be. Here is a simple tutorial if you would like to try one of these for a pregnant friend or family member. 

This picture of the supplies is not exactly organized but here's the basics on what you will need: 

  • Disposable or cloth diapers; decide how tall you want the cake to be or how much you want to spend, that will determine how many diapers you buy
  • A cardboard base; you can buy cake boards or cut a piece of study cardboard and cover with cute wrapping paper
  • Ribbon; choose your colors based on the gender and make sure to have many different widths 
  • Clear elastic bands to secure rolled diapers
  • Rattles, socks, lotion, pacifiers - extra items for sides of cake
  • Glue gun, tape, scissors, flowers, and wine (for drinking, not decoration!)
  • Cellophane and ribbon for wrapping
The first step is to glue lace around the bottom cardboard base and then start rolling some diapers! 

We used 52 for this cake and it took us about 15 minutes to roll them all. I was initially going to roll them and have Sandy tie them with ribbon but it would have taken too long. A quick trip to the store led us to the clear hair elastics in the picture and still saved about 45 minutes. 

After the diapers are rolled, start lining them up on the base, with the edge facing in, until the outside of the board is covered in a ring of diapers. You may need to use a smidge of rolled tape under each to keep them upright while you are working. We stuffed the center with tissue paper but if you have enough diapers, you can use those to fill the entire circle.

Then, place a slightly smaller cardboard circle on top of the bottom level and repeat the process. We tied some ribbon around the bottom layer while we worked but it's just a temporary hold. The cake isn't sturdy at this point but you can secure it all once the diapers are in place.

Repeat the process from the first layer on the second and third (if applicable). 

If you are using cloth diapers, you will find that as few as 30 will make a full, two tier cake but that will mean your cost could be significantly higher. 

After we finished all three layers and wrapped the layers with thick, wired ribbon with smaller magenta ribbon on top, secured with hot glue, we realized that the top layer was too full (the picture on the side is  the goof-up before we fixed it). There was not enough of a difference between the middle layer and top layer so we simply pulled out one of the diapers from the top layer and pulled the ribbon tight with hot glue for security. Try not to get any glue on the diapers.

 You can see there is one diaper left over in the middle, we used that and the diaper that we removed from the top layer, to hold a bottle of baby lotion in place on top of the cake, creating the illusion of another tier. 

Once we fixed the top layer and positioned the lotion bottle, it was time to adorn the sides of the cake with teeny tiny socks, a package of pacifiers, a rattle (shaped like a diamond ring for the little diva!), small flowers and an adorable star washcloth, with a happy face to celebrate the joyous occasion! 


Of course you will want to cover this cake to protect the diapers, now that they are out of the package. We used rolled cellophane and some ribbon to complete the gift. This also keeps the cake more secure for traveling as well. 


The finished project cost approximately $30 for all the supplies. You can adjust the size of your own cake project based on your own budget. The recipient will certainly appreciate the thoughtfulness of this personalized gift, no matter how much you spend. Happy crafting!

11.07.2011

Ice Skate Winter Centerpiece

Before I introduce my latest creation, I'd like to thank you all for bearing with me while my posting efforts have been a little lax. Weather was crazy here in the Northeast last week - for the second time this year and I've been getting increasingly tired as my belly gets bigger!

I'm happy to be back in action and show you a centerpiece that I've been working on. I'll be honest here and admit that I started this project last year but couldn't get inspired to finish it until recently. I went to Goodwill looking for the ice skates and shockingly, was able to find a size 4 girl's set of ice skates in white. I still took the time to spray paint them white to make sure they looked perfect. After that, I positioned them in a basket, surrounded by greens...and that was where I stopped last year. 


I recently rummaged through my Christmas accents and decided that I was going to decorate the corners and make a sort-of arrangement in the skates to make a centerpiece that will look beautiful throughout the entire Winter season. 

I started by using my trusty hot glue gun to secure poinsettia leaves, pine cones and ornaments in alternating corners.


Next, I used some faux glitter flowers, holiday accent pieces as well as some wood, swirly picks to fill out the openings of the skates. Again, using hot glue to make sure everything stayed in place. 


Because there was soooo much glitter on the flowers, I managed to get quite a bit of it on the skates. Rather than try to tediously remove the glitter, I decided to embrace it. I mixed some loose red glitter with clear, silvery sparkle paint and painted a thin coat all over the skates. 


To finish off the piece, I glued single gold bells in the greens and attached a small painted slate to the front that said "Let It Snow", which I think tied the whole thing together. 



Considering this project could have ended up in the "craft fail" pile, I was very pleased with the way it turned out. If you would like to try this project on your own, definitely check out your local Goodwill or Freecycle.org for the skates, to keep your costs down. Also, find plenty of Christmas pics and accent pieces at Michaels, either at the end of the season or with their regular 40% off coupons in the Sunday paper. 

I just wrapped this piece in cellophane with ribbon to sell at the craft fair I'll be doing on November 19th. I'm excited because it is usually a great show and it's the only one I'll be showcasing in before this little peanut arrives!!

 Tip Junkie handmade projects

11.01.2011

Programming Note


For the second time in as many months, we were without power due to inclement weather here in New England. Thankfully, we are powered up this time a lot quicker than last and we've had heat the entire time. 

Please hang with me while I get the house back in order (hello, laundry!) and get back to my crafty posts. Hope you are all doing well, wherever you are - thank you for understanding!