Ribbons, bows, and tiny baby toes

Miss Rachel (whose blog you can read here), a close friend of mine from my Baylor days is having her much anticipated baby shower tomorrow, and I made her a diaper cake for it. This being my first ever diaper cake, I had a lot of learning to do, but was overall happy with the final turnout.

It doesn't actually lean like that, I'm just a bad photographer. And it was my phone camera.. cut me some slack.

Anyways, a few people have asked me how I made the diaper cake, even though I'd rather them just pay me to make them one, I figure I learned how to do it through my internet skills... and I know other people have far more advanced internet skills than I, so here you are. A step-by-step (ish):



Diapers (duh)

I used roughly 80 size 1 diapers for Rachel's cake. I'll explain the how-tos later.










Rubber bands, assorted sizes


I got mine at the dollar store. It just made more sense that way.

But if you want to buy anything you see on my site from Amazon, then by all means.... click my links. :-)







Styrofoam base


If you don't already know, I hate LOATHE styrofoam. Once you've spent 4 hours picking it out of a creekbed, you'll hate it too. But for this sort of thing it's a necessity. Just recycle it, ok Miss Rachel?








Wrapping paper


I (unfortunately) didn't find this cute pink paisley print, but you need wrapping paper. Your choice.









Ribbon


This ribbon is TONS cheaper than the ribbon I bought at Michael's, but at least I got mine on a discount. However, I will be purchasing ribbon off Amazon soon. Using my own links.

Back to the topic: You need ribbon. Customize it how you wish. Be it for boy/girl, nursery colors, etc. Be creative.





Mini Glue Gun


If you're crafty, it's sort of a must-have.











How-To:

• First, roll the diapers from bottom to top. Use a rubberband around the middle of the diaper to hold it together. (For each diaper. Which means you'll do this 80 times (ish). Turn on the TV, it makes it go faster.)

• Bind four diapers together with a rubberband to form a center base around which to build the bottom layer. Pay attention to orient each diaper the same way. If you don't want the Sesame Street characters showing the outside world, then face these inward. 

• For the bottom layer of the cake, you'll use three more rounds of diapers around the center base. To make it more sturdy, use a rubber band around each ring. (Which is why you get assorted sizes. See, I think of everything)

• Repeat this process for each layer of the cake, but using one less ring of diapers. Your top tier (which is wrapped in green on this cake) will solely consist of the four-pack center base. You're a smart cookie, if you can't figure this out, call me and I'll happily make one for you. 

• Decorate as desired. In order to cover the rubberbands around each diaper, I chose to use individual bows on this cake. You can, obviously, do this in many, many different ways. Imagination, y'all.

• I used flowers which I bought at the craft store (and used wire cutters to cut the blooms off of) to adorn the cake and make it look more cake-y and less crap-y. I've seen others which decorate the cake with baby supplies like pacifiers and baby powder, bibs, etc... but I thought that looked tacky. Again, this is very much an imagination based kind of project. It pieces together however you want it. 

• Wrap the styrofoam base with your wrapping paper. Duh. 

I couldn't figure out one solid way to affix all four layers to each other, so they're simply traveling in layers and I will put them together at the party (it's my first one, be nice!). 

(Author's note: Rachel... I *may* have gotten hot glue on *some* of the diapers with ribbon on them. All this really means is that Molly will have a cute little bow on her booty. But I know you're smart enough to figure it out. Or just throw the damn diaper away.)