diaper cake

July 20, 2015

MODERN MINT & NEUTRAL BABY SHOWER

We LOVE planning parties, especially baby showers! It’s so special and important to shower that mama-to-be with lots of love and thoughtful details. I was honored to co-host with 2 fabulous ladies, Dara and Emily, friends of the guest of honor, Leeron. It will be the second boy for Leeron, but we didn’t want to go all blue blue blue. We went with white, neutrals, and pops of mint and sage green.

Lauren of Rock Paper Scissors designed the invitation, and I really went off of that for decor. It always starts with the invitation for me! The big letter “R” is just a paper mache letter from the craft store… use painters tape to mask off a straight line, paint, and remove tape.

Diagonals, squares, and triangles mixed with all white flowers and live moss made for a simple and pretty party!

The drink tags were my fav! Guests remembered which drink was theirs by the baby picture of the mama and pop-to-be and the color tag. Leeron’s amazing husband, Matt, secretly emailed me their baby pics, I changed them to black and white in photoshop and cropped to a square. Just punch a hole in the corner of the picture and the colored square and tie with string. The color tag was nice so that you didn’t have to have a different baby pic for each guests. Just use different colors for each pic. Leeron was so surprised (and immediately removed that one embarrassing photo from her tween years)!

Use painters tape to mask off a diagonal line. Paint and remove tape when dry! Super simple!

Every baby shower needs a diaper cake, right? See our TUTORIAL HERE. I used double stick tape to add on the triangles of leftover scraps from the garlands to keep that geo-mod vibe.

Cake topper by Rock Paper Scissors to match the invite.

Every party needs Campfire Crispies, especially a baby shower when you can be punny and say “She’s about to POP!” These were SO. GOOD. Fluffernutter flavor: toasted marshmallow and peanut butter with a white chocolate peanut butter coating. Droooool. Order HERE.

And of course us being us, we needed a tattoo station with the party’s hashtag (from our little shop HERE)!

Here’s the actual party! It was at night, so I took the photos above so you could see the details!

The simplest projects make the biggest impact. Jenni and I have done these live moss letters several times. Simply cut the tops of paper mache letters you can find in any craft store, and stuff with live moss from your florist!

Even though Leeron couldn’t enjoy it, we all loved the signature cocktail “The Leeroni”.

Hostesses with the mostesses: Dara, me, Leeron, Emily

The gorgeous and glowing mama-to-be, Leeron!

Loved throwing this baby shower for a very deserving mama!!!

-L

April 6, 2015

JENNI’S CONCERT THEMED SHOWER

HIP HOP HOORAY! A baby boy is on the way!

Jenni is due soooo soon with her second baby, Remy! Don’t you love the name for a sweet baby boy by the way? Two great friends, Lori Mahon and Lauren Rauter, co-hosted with me. We decided to throw a concert-themed baby shower since Jenni ~~currently thinks~~ at one point thought she could be a country singer, and her husband Gabe a singer/performer/song writer (and for that matter Lori, Lauren’s husband, and my husband are all in the music industry as well! It is Nashville, after all). A nod to 90’s hip hop, Jenni’s love of country music, and concert references mixed together to create our decor.

It all started with the invitation, designed by Lauren of Rock Paper Scissors. Actually all of the paper materials you see here were all printed by Lauren. Geez it’s handy having a graphic designer bestie.

Concert posters, concert ticket garlands, and DIY marquee lights were the main decor, offset by cassette tapes and a boom box I got off of Ebay and spray painted gold!

Below is a DIY cassette tape mobile! I spray painted an embroidery hoop and cassette tapes gold, then used fishing line to attach. Command ceiling hooks held up perfectly.

For food, we did all concert food: hot dogs, nachos, soft pretzels, popcorn, and soda all held together in a food tray so it was easy for guests to carry around.

Note the music themed names we gave all of the food… we crack ourselves up.

Custom painted scoops sold on our Etsy shop.

Jenni’s fav Sugarfina gummies in the shape of sneakers! Perfect for our hip hop theme!

At every shower we throw, we like to have the guests write their address on the envelopes for Jenni’s thank you notes! Saves a ton of time for the mama-to-be.

Of course, we have the diaper cake – tutorial HERE – topped with baby Nike Dunks, Jenni’s request for her baby boy!

For favors, Lauren made these little boom boxes wrapped around an animal crackers box.

Being a Love & Lion shower, we had to have a tattoo bar 🙂

Big sis-to-be, Amara, helped open all of the prezzies.

Gorgeous mama Jenni!!

We LOVED throwing you this shower, Jenni! You’re already an incredible mom, and we know you’re going to be a pro with two. Love you!

-L

April 1, 2015

DIAPER CAKE TUTORIAL

At every baby shower we throw, there’s always a diaper cake centerpiece (scroll down for more of our cakes)! Not only is it visually super fun, but it’s also the perfect gift for a new mama. We try to embellish the tiers and topper to match the theme of the party, and this one pictured above was from Jenni’s hip hop/concert themed baby shower we threw last weekend… working on that post… promise! Jenni’s always talked about getting baby Nike Dunks for her baby boy way before she even had Amara, so I knew the topper had to be these little kicks.

I’ve made all the mistakes for you and come up with my fail-safe way to make a 4-tiered spectacular diaper cake!

I’ve found TARGET BRAND diapers to be the best!! First of all, they’re great diapers. When I had Ari I insisted on Pampers swaddlers (they are super soft after all) but when Max was born, I just went to Target brand and they’re just as good and way cheaper. Aesthetically for a diaper cake, they’re the best, because they are plain white and nice and flat. Pampers are a little puffier and look messy on a cake. Still works though- scroll down to see previous diaper cakes.

I bought one small pack each of newborn, size one, and size two. It’s nice to give the mom a variety and it also looks really nice on the cake to have the tiers be different heights.

My secret to the perfect shaped diaper cake is…. an oatmeal can inside! Yep, that’s how I get that nice round shape, it fills in the middle nicely, and it keeps all the tiers sturdy.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 Oatmeal Can

LARGE Rubberbands

String (anything will do!)

About 75 diapers

(see anatomy picture above for size variety)

Embellishment for tiers and topper

Cake Platter (mine is about 13″)

INSTRUCTIONS:

*Tip- make sure each diaper for each tier is facing in the same direction

4th TIER

Start with the largest size diaper for the bottom tier.

Place a large rubberband around the can and start sticking diapers in, layering about 2-3 inches. You want to overlap them evenly all around. Soon your rubberband will get super tight ~~and break in your face and your diapers will fly everywhere and you’ll say a non-baby-shower-appropriate-word~~ and you’ll need to reinforce this layer with a piece of string. (See, told you I’ve made all the mistakes for you!) Just tie loosely around this layer in a bow so that you can adjust the length as you add more diapers.

As you layer the diapers all the way around, tuck the last diaper underneath the first so that it looks continuous and clean. Tie TWO pieces of string around this layer, one on the top and one on the bottom of the tier. This keeps the shape.

This bottom tier (4th tier) will have TWO rounds of layers. So just start layering again on top of the first round of diapers, this time with a string to hold this layer unless you have a huge rubberband! Can’t tell you how many times I thought a rubberband was big enough and -snap-! Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom. You’ll cover these up with embellishment at the end.

3rd TIER

This is one layer of diapers all around, about 17 diapers in size 1. Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom.

2nd TIER

If you’re using the same size diapers and oatmeal can that I did, you’ll notice that there’s only about 2-3 inches of space left on the oatmeal can for the next tier. That’s not going to be sturdy enough to keep the clean, round shape of the tier. You’ll need to take 3 diapers and simply fold them each in half, stack them, and wrap 2 rubberbands around them. Place on the top of the oatmeal can, and now you’ll keep that 2nd tier more sturdy and not falling in on itself.

Wrap only 8 or so diapers around and spread the layers a little wider than before. This keeps the tier thinner than the previous tier. Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom.

1st TIER

Roll 4 newborn size diapers up and individually wrap with a rubber band. Bring these 4 together and wrap all 4 up with a rubberband. This is the center of the top tier which will keep the shape since you’ve run out of room on the oatmeal can. Put another large rubberband around these 4 and start tucking in your diaper layers. Wrap about 8 diapers around, tucking the last one behind the first for that continuous look. Tie two pieces of string around the layer, one near the top and one near the bottom.

You can see each tier has the string tied around the top and bottom which keeps that nice straight shape.

Voila! You’re ready to decorate!

Lauren of Rock Paper Scissors printed these patterned strips of paper to match the invitations she designed. You could use thick ribbon or any type of paper (taped together into strips) to cover the strings and rubberbands.

Don’t forget your cake topper!

Here are some of our earlier cakes to give you decoration ideas:

Modern mint an neutral baby shower HERE.

This was from Jenni’s baby shower for Amara almost 4 years ago! (HERE) This was one of my first diaper cakes, so I used colorful diapers, but I think it still turned out okay not being all white.

Lori’s stork-themed baby shower (HERE) These were Pampers diapers- see a little too puffy and not uniform enough for OCD me. For embellishment, I taped strips of kraft paper together, wrapped around each tier, and glued feathers on top.

Lauren’s Winter White Baby Shower (HERE). I loved this one! I used white silk ribbon so that everything was white…. can’t tell you how many people thought this was a real cake. They were super disappointed.

Please let me know if you have any questions on construction! It can be a little confusing! If you’re in Nashville, we can totally make this for you! Convo us on our Etsy shop or email us 🙂

-L

June 19, 2014

JENNI’S PINK POM POM BABY SHOWER

I’ve been waiting (impatiently) to share one of my favorite events… Jenni’s baby shower! Almost three years ago I co-hosted this charming fete for my bestie along with two incredible and important women in Jenni’s life, Lori and Amanda. Although it was a couple’s shower, we decided on a pink pom pom / chevron theme to match Amara’s nursery (scroll down to see) and just told the boys to get over it! Plus I guarantee 99% of the guys never noticed the girly theme when there was plenty of drinks, great food, and lots of late-night dancing going on! And Jenni and Gabe’s friends can DANCE, people. Actually the dance floor was my favorite area strung with tons and tons of pom poms!

The dessert table laden with all pink desserts and a garland of little tissue paper squares.

Gabe and Jenni! Youngin’s…

I found this pink box in the office section at Walmart!! and filled it with teeny treat bags full of Gabe’s favorite candies, Reeses Pieces. Gotta give the dad one thing, right?

Lori made the BEST oreo truffles…omg

We wrapped the vases and tables with ribbon – simple!

Late night s’mores around the fire pit were the perfect way to end the night!

My favorite thing to make for baby showers- a diaper cake! To fit with the pom pom theme, I just made tiny ones and stuck them in with floral wire.

To give the cake an ombre look, use matching tissue paper and ribbon: two fuschia tiers, one light pink tier, and two white tiers. Normally I use Pamper Swaddlers diapers since they’re all white… but honestly I had these on hand and didn’t mind the touch of green.

More of our diaper cakes HERE and HERE.

We asked Jenni and Gabe’s parents to send us pictures of them when they were little for the centerpieces, so we could imagine what Amara will look like! (Spoiler: exactly like Gabe).

We even anchored some poms in the pool to carry the theme throughout the yard. Amanda’s home is stunning, right??

I made this chevron photo booth backdrop with just squares of pink and white tissue paper. Just layer the squares- no cutting! I used double stick tape on two large pieces of foam core and Lori’s insanely handy hubby hung them with fishing line.

Photo booth props: empty barnwood frames from Hobby Lobby, and a baby bump pillow were favorites. We also left a blank scrap book out for guests to write their best advice and wishes!

Here’s the gorgeous Jenni in Amara’s nursery- the inspiration for the whole shower! She and Lori hand painted this wall! To see Amara’s white and modern big girl room, click HERE, though after all that hard work painting, I can’t believe Jenni switched the look!

The invite! Inspired by the pink chevron wall above. By Rock Paper Scissors.

What a joyful night! We celebrated the crap out of these two. Deserving people who created the most special little lady, Amara. Let’s do it again, Jenni! (She’s reading this going, noooo way!)

-L

January 30, 2014

WINTER WHITE BABY SHOWER FOR LAUREN

As part our #TBT Party Series, we’re sharing Lauren’s baby shower today! Lauren is our bestie and the owner of Rock Paper Scissors, where Jenni and I met and worked pre-babies. It’s quite possibly the cutest and most creative paper boutique… we’re planning a comprehensive post on this later, but for now, here is her baby shower for little Piper (who is turning 2 next week!). She and husband, Tim, wanted a party that wasn’t too girly since it was a couple’s shower, so we decided on a winter white theme. The party was in January and the weather certainly fit the theme. Lauren’s good friends Pauline (who’s gorgeous home you see here), Randi, and sister-in-law Gretchen were the gracious co-hostesses.

We hung parasols from the ceiling using fishing line and clear 3M Command hooks.

All white dessert table with vanilla cupcakes, macarons, meringues, sparkling sugar cookies, and white candy covered oreo truffle pops to match the winter white theme. The middle… is a diaper cake!

Most of the guys were truly disappointed to find out this was a diaper cake and not a real cake. I’ll share the tutorial with you soon! It’s pretty easy and is a great gift for the parents-to-be.

My favorite project to make was this “family tree”. I asked Lauren and Tim’s parents to secretly send me three generations of family photos. I scanned in the photos and made them the same size, mounted them on sparkly white paper to match the theme and hung on a branch spray-painted white. On the bottom level, I hung a blank card that said “Baby Rauter”. Oh, and Maggie, their sweet dog, is on there too! She’s the big sis after all.

Little babies Lauren and Tim!

Instead of a traditional guest book I tied 12 envelopes together, one for each month of Piper’s first year. Then we asked the guests to write advice or encouragement on the cards and place it in the corresponding envelope. Lauren and Tim opened an envelope each month and got to read what their family and friends wrote throughout the year!