Shower Crafts I have made for gifts

Making something is one way to say 'I love you'. So whenever I have a chance, I like to make gifts. This is ALWAYS the case with baby showers and bridal showers. Occasionally, if I know a Mommy-to-be needs help, I will buy something off of her registry as well. But everyone loves a hand made gift! Here are some shower gifts I have made in the past...

 

 

For my own baby shower, we used a pastel butterflies theme and I made this Butterfly Diaper Cake! I used over 100 size 1 diapers, tulle, baby socks, flowers and ribbon as well as some hand painted nylon butterflies I made. This picture has been getting repined like crazy on Pinterest. At the time this post was written it was at 127 repins and it is being pinned about 3 times a day!  I also used a smaller version of the butterflies in my daughters nursery.. I am working on a tutorial for how to make them that I will hopefully post in the near future so check back for it!

 

I also made smaller versions of the diaper cake for each table. Diaper Cupcake Table Centerpieces!

so cute...

 

Each Diaper cake is topped with a baby sock flower arrangement!

 

I also made a Baby Sock Flower Bouquet as a baby shower gift for a special mommy-to-be!

 

 

little baby sock flowers are just so sweet! I learned a little about how to make these from a video by Martha Stewart and combined the techniques with some of my floral crafting skills.

 

Then I started making Diaper Wreaths. They were such a big hit and so much easier to transport and carry into the party.

 

 

I used a hooded towel as the center for this Blue and Green Diaper Wreath for a baby boy! The Mommy has told me it is still hanging in the boys room even though he is about 5 years old now!

 

I also like to use a cuddly stuffed animal blanket for a center like I did with this Pink and Purple Diaper Wreath for a baby girl. Then I embellish them with little toys, rattles, teethers or rubber ducks are perfect! I also like to buy the little Johnson & Johnson sampler box and attach the tiny bottles of shampoo or lotions to the wreath.

 

Sometimes I get lucky and I find a few cute little plushies or bath squirters that match the theme or color like I used with this Winnie the Pooh Diaper Wreath! Then I tie each diaper and each little toy with curling ribbon and curl each and every piece!

 

I don't remember what tutorial I learned to make these from but here is a good example of one for anyone who wants to learn how they are made. This diaper wreath tutorial most resembles the wreaths I make. You can use most anything for the circle. I have used several different things and I prefer the styrofoam circle the best! I always use size 1 diapers.

 

For bridal showers, I do a different version of a cake. The Towel cake! They are especially appropriate for bridal showers because they resemble wedding cakes! When a bride-to-be shares their registry information, the first thing I look for is towels! I buy whatever towel they have on their registry and I revolve the theme of my cake around their color!

 

 

 

For this Blue and Silver Towel Cake, the bride and groom had teal and grey towels on their registry. Some of the towels were solid colored and some were striped so I bought a few of each and made this beautiful towel cake! I especially loved the topper I made with flowers and ribbons that matched the towels!

 

 

I also made a Fall Towel Cake for a bridal shower I threw for my best friend. She did not make a registry but I bought her some brown towels that really made the fall leaves and flowers pop off this bridal shower decoration!

 

 

I sometimes like to make little Kitchen Towel Cakes for housewarming gifts as well. Instead of bath towels and hand rags like the shower cakes, they use kitchen hand towels and dish rags! I made this one for a family member of mine who had not yet decided what color her kitchen was going to be decorated. I embellished it with gripper pads that I rolled into flower shapes and some kitchen utensils. Hidden inside was a small can of coffee and a little bottle of creamer!

 

When my cousin had her housewarming party in late fall, I got a discounted scarecrow in a flower pot decoration and some garland with gourds and pinecones that I used to embellish this towel cake. Hidden inside of it was also a canister of candy corn!

 



 

I don't think anyone makes towel cakes quite the way I do, so I will have to post in the future about how I make them the next time I get to make one! Hope this post gives you lots of ideas for future shower gifts you can make yourself :)

 

Blue and Brown Granny Square Afghan Finished!!

I finally finished my granny square afghan ! It took me 40 hours or so to complete it over the course of two months! It feels like such an accomplishment to finish one! My aunt loves it, she says "It's beautiful and matches my living room perfectly!"  ...Makes it worth every hour I spent working on it!!

 

 

Check out my post about how I began this project for type of yarn and colors used.

I just love the randomized layout of the squares! I'll let you know a secret, it was less random and more planned out than you might think! I started out by making an equal number of squares in each color, but after I had made about 2/3rds of the squares I would need, I spaced them out on the floor to check how the layout would look. I actually made a LOT more tan squares than colored squares so as to spread the color out nicely without making it look like a checkerboard. I filled in most of the blank spaces in this photo with tan colored squares :

 

 

I attached the squares together using a slip stitch method. In the past I have always sewed my squares together with a yarn needle, but I really like the dimension that slip stitch joining adds to the blanket.

 

You can see the raised edges around each square better in this picture:

 

I made 88 squares total for this blanket to get the size I wanted. The finished size is  45"x61" actually a little bigger than the size I was going for! :)

Easter / Spring Decor

Now that I have been married for nearly 7 years and owned my home for 4 years, I finally decided to get some Easter/Spring décor! I fell in love with this Easter sign at Pat Catans and decided it would be the inspiration for all of my spring decorations!

 

 

I also picked up some flowers and these little foam glittered eggs for an arrangement.

 

I wanted my floral arrangement to match the Easter sign, so the yellow had to go! I just painted right over it with white acrylic paint and sprinkled glitter on before it dried. I went over it with mod podge to keep the glitter from flaking off.

 

I also decorated some larger foam eggs. I got these at Pat Catans as well and I just painted them with acrylic paint I had mixed to match the colors in the Easter sign. I sprinkled coordinating glitter on each color as I painted, let each color dry before I painted the next color. It dried really fast! By the time I was finished adding a color to one egg, the other one was dry and ready for its next color.

 

The arrangement looks great with the sign. I especially love the polka dotted eggs!

 

I did not tape the larger foam eggs into the arrangement. I left them separate so they can be removed after Easter and the arrangement can be displayed in my home throughout spring and summer!

 

The little foam eggs are taped into the arrangement, but I like the sparkle and they are less subtle than the larger spotted eggs I made.

 



 

Next up for spring décor: A wreath for my front door! :)