I Just Might Be Crafty! - May 2008

Note to Reader: I am side stepping a little from literal travel here and moving in the direction of figurative travel. This is a sort of “right of passage” story on my way to becoming a more well rounded (not ROUND!!!) woman. So this is more of a life journey rather than a road trip.

OK, so I’ve never really thought of myself as a “crafty” person, “creative” maybe, but “crafty” nah…, but lately I’m finding myself surrounded by obscenely crafty people. They make clothing for little children that aren’t even theirs. They make perfect little tiny crocheted shoes for perfect little tiny babies! They make burp cloths and blankets for expectant mothers, cookie bouquets for birthday girls, recycled grocery sacks (both ironed and braded)… and more. Anyhow, being friends with these girls has a tendency to make me feel like I am under achieving and as though I need to definitely be doing more.

All of this crafting pushed me a few weekends ago to start searching for a project to prove myself among these super crafty women. I looked high & low, and far & wide for such an occasion that would require the need of my craft… (By the way, at this particular point in time I had no idea what the heck my craft would be. However, I was positive that talking someone’s ear off and texting would not qualify as a craft worthy of display at any event in the near future.) As I sat studying my calendar an idea jumped into my head! I literally felt electricity shoot through my mind!!! If I could pull this one off I just might make it into the rookie crafter’s Hall of Fame! My good friend Amy’s baby shower was scheduled for May 10th and that would be the day that I’d make my crafting debut with the most AWESOME diaper cake the world has ever seen!

PAUSE! Additional Note to Reader: I know that the words Diaper, Awesome, and Cake probably don’t appear together in the same sentence very often, but these “cakes” although not edible are simply amazing. I was inspired by my friend Kristin because of the cake that she made for another friend’s shower that looked incredible and she really made it sound pretty easy. So with that, I embarked on my first serious crafting adventure.

So I don’t know if this is the right way, but this is my recipe for a three tiered diaper cake ha ha… that turned into four! =)

Kristin said that the cake was really just a large package of diapers, lots of rubber bands of assorted sizes, and some. ribbon. Other than that the diaper cake is really what you want to make of it. You can make it as simple or as extravagant as you like. So with husband in toe (primarily to keep my spending in check) we hit the super Target for the needed supplies. Kristin had said “a large package of diapers, so I found the largest package of diapers in the whole store, which was a box of 154 swaddlers for 7-10lbs babies. This would prove to be more than enough diapers! =) Then a quick stop in the office supplies and the to gift wrap for ribbon. I got one spool of ribbon and had a small crisis when I ran out, but thanks to my husband, who we discovered had a hidden talent for splitting ribbon perfectly, we actually doubled the length of ribbon and every thing worked just fine. Then we were off to the baby supplies section of the store.a couple of pacifiers, a bottle, some hats, onzies, and bibs, and a baby first aid kit that was approved by the Red Cross. Oh and I almost forgot the softest little green froggie blanket buddy that literally jumped into our cart and refused to leave. (What are you going to do!?)

The assembly was definitely a challenge but remember, I am not that crafty. I snapped myself about 30 times with rubber bands. I kept launching diapers across the dining room like a sling shot which sent my kitty cats scrambling for cover then returning to investigate the ammunition. I had to ask for assistance from Jeremy about 5 times, so really the credit for this cake is actually half his. After about four hours of assembly, disassembly, and then reassembly, searching You Tube for an instructional video, then disassembly, and then the final reassembly, the result was really AWESOME! I can honestly say that I am impressed that I actually created something that cool and useful!!!

Till Next Time,
Bon Voyage

P.S. These Diaper cake photos aren't the cake that I made. I'm waiting to get photos of my cake, because I forgot to take my own pics before I left the house. I'll post them as soon as I get them =)