Diaper Cake

A diaper cake is a wonderfully creative gift for an expectant mother. It is a collection of diapers (either disposable or cloth) rolled and stacked together to resemble a traditional tiered cake. There can be 1, 2, 3 or more tiers. The tiers of diaper cakes can also be decorated with baby care items such as bibs, pacifiers, baby socks, bottles, toys, and more.

After seeing all the photos online of diaper cakes, I just had to try and make one.

Here are the directions on how I did it:

Supplies:
50 to 60 diapers
Ribbon at least 2-inches wide
50 to 60 clear, small rubber bands
A sturdy core piece – a heavy cardboard tube, a baby bottle, or lotion bottle
Decorations – silk flowers, baby items such as pacifiers, bottles, bibs, miniature stuffed animals, etc.

A cardboard or plastic cake platter for the base. The base needs to be sturdy. It can be made of cardboard or metal or even glass. It must be strong enough to carry the weight of the cake. You can buy pre-made sizes or cut cardboard to fit. If you are cutting it yourself make sure that you do not use the any box folds in the circle you cut. The fold will not support the weight. You can cut exact size of the finished layers or leave a little extra around it for decorating purposes.

Assembly:
The first thing you need to do is have a way to secure the diapers once they are rolled up. Some people use ribbon, clear rubber bands, or tape; be careful with this so the diapers are still useable. Roll the diapers and put ribbon or clear rubber bands to hold them in place. This will take the most time. The rest of the assembly will go quickly once they are all rolled up.

Roll the diapers in a manner to have any outside edge decoration facing inward. Try to place the rubber bands in the middle of each diaper. The idea is for the rubber bands not to show in the final piece. It will be easier to cover it with ribbon if they are approximately all in the same place.

Putting the cake together:
The bottom of a three tier cake will need 2 layers of diapers around a center focal point. I used a sturdy cardboard tube for the center piece. Tie a ribbon around each layer to make the next layer easier to construct. When you have the center piece and 2 surrounding layers together, tie it with ribbon to keep in one place.

Repeat this with the second and top layers. The top layer will only be 1 circle of diapers. You may need to put an additional center piece in for the top layer if your cardboard tube or bottle is not tall enough.

Decorating:Use ribbon and final materials to give the cake a finishing touch. I prefer the finished piece to look more like a real cake. So I chose silk flowers, ribbon, and tulle as my only decorations. I just tucked the stems of the flowers in between a few of the rubber bands. No glue! You want the mother-to-be to be able to disassemble your gift and actually use it. I used a purchased stuffed animal/blanket combo for the top of the cake.

If you are a visual person like me, watching a video really helps with the construction. I liked this one -- video.

Dried Floral Arrangements

There are several ways to preserve fresh flowers for years without a great deal of work or expense. The easiest and least expensive method is air-drying. This is a wonderful way to preserve those special flowers received as a gift or flowers from your own garden.

Fasten small bunches of fresh flowers together with a rubber band near the cut end of the flowers. Don't use string or wire, as the stems will shrink as they dry, and may fall out of their tie on to the floor. Hang the bundled flowers from a hook or hanger upside down in a clean, dry place out of direct sunlight, such as a closet.

Let the flowers air dry for two to four weeks. When the flowers are ready, they will be dry and crisp to the touch.

Once dry, spray with clear hair spray to preserve the color and stop the petals from dropping.

So now that the flowers are dried, what do you do with them? You can

make a wreath or a dried flower arrangement, perhaps hang your dried roses in a window, make a photo frame box, glue dried petals or buds to letters or menus, or use dried petals in a potpourri.

I dried my wedding anniversary roses and made this arrangement. Everytime I see it, I'm reminded of the special memories of that day.

How to Create Your Own Silk Flower Arrangements

Looking for a floral arrangement to spruce up your room, but don't want to spend a lot of money? Make it yourself! You can often find silk flowers on clearance or at discount stores. Sometimes you have to be patient and wait for the sale or look for coupons. I found several really nice silk tree branches on clearance. I bought them with no particular plan in mind, but they were really nice quality and the price was right. I ended up making two arrangements.


The first one I created in a floor vase (on clearance of course). It had a few dings, but nothing that couldn't be hidden with a little touch-up paint. I put floral foam inside the vase and using floral pins covered it with moss. Then I placed each branch into the foam.























The second one is smaller and for a table top or shelf. I started with a large styrofoam ball. Then I cut the leaves and flowers off the branches, placing each individual stem into the ball until entirely covered. To display, I placed the ball on top of an inexpensive metal container.