Throwback Thursday - Diaper Cakes

I wanted to revisit some of my most popular projects on my blog.  Today we are going to look back at my diaper cake project.

When my sister-in-law was pregnant with my niece in 2009, I wanted to make something really amazing for a centerpiece on the table and as a gift for her, so I decided to make a diaper cake.  I had NEVER made a diaper cake before.  Since we knew she was having a girl, I decided to use pink as my main color.

Remember, these are throwback projects . . . my project photography skills have improved over the years!

This diaper cake project became so popular and I had so many people asking me to show them HOW I made the cake and how many diapers I used that I decided to do three part series showing step by step how to get started making a diaper cake (including numbers of how many diapers you will need),  building the tiers and decorating your diaper cake.

 To see the original post you ca go here.  This post has over 900 pins on Pinterest.

One thing I really like to do with a diaper cake is to decorate it with items that the new parents can use once the baby arrives.  I have used baby spoons standing up in one of the tiers to look like candles on the cake.

Stuffed animals and bathtub toys make great cake toppers.

I have even used baby washcloths and rolled them to look like roses to decorate a cake

I have used ribbons, tulle, rhinestone sticker sheets, adhesive fabric, bath toys, washcloths, stuffed animals, baby spoons and embellishments cut with my Cricut do decorate cakes.  Also, so help save on the weight of the cake and the number of diapers you have to use, I have even substituted some of the diapers on the larger base tiers with empty toilet paper rolls.

To go back and see all of the diaper cake projects and posts that I have done over the years you can click HERE.

FCCB - Thank You for Featuring Me!

I was so happy to be asked to be a Featured Designer on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!  I want to thank everyone over at FCCB for this amazing week.  I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Today I wanted to share a fun shaped card that I created using some of my FAVORITE products!  I just got a new corrugated paper stack from DCWV and I knew I wanted to use that for a fun project.

The ridges in the paper reminded me of the wrapper on a cupcake, so I decided to make a cupcake shaped card.

I knew that the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge has several cupcake shaped cards on it.  If you don't own this cartridge you could go to MyCutSearch.com and enter the search term

cupcake card

into the search bar to see the other cartridges that might have a similar image.  I kind of "combined" two of the cupcakes I found.  I liked the basic shape of the cupcake in the image below, but I wanted to do a heart on the top instead of the cherry.

I placed the corrugated paper down on my Cricut cutting mat with the ridges face down, so I was cutting through the back side of the paper.  I used my deep cut blade on a depth of 6 with a multi cut of 4, with the speed and pressure at 2.

The cut was not as clean as I wanted it to be . . . but of course I am not sure if this type of paper was even MEANT to be cut on a die cutting machine.  

I got out my Westcott scissors, trimmed the edges, did a little sanding to clean up the rough spots and then added ink to the edges . . .in the end I think it cleaned up the rough edges nicely.

Now on to the cupcake.  I used the a fun polka dot from the DCWV Citrus Stack.  

Once I cut the base cupcake shape I hand cut it to separate the cupcake top from the base of the cupcake.

Why did I do that?  

Well, for this project I was going to be layering the corrugated paper over the bottom half of this cut anyway, so I figured if I cut it I could save the bottom to use for a different project.  You will have to come back another day to see what I did with that!

Now it was time for my FAVORITE PART . . . the embellishment!  I wanted a bright heart for the top of the cupcake, so I grabbed my orange rhinestone sticker sheets from The Buckle Boutique and loaded it into my Cricut to cut the heart for the top.  Yes, you heard me right . . . rhinestones you can cut with your Cricut!  For a FULL tutorial on that, and a video that shows me cutting them with my Cricut, you can go HERE.

So now you can see the hearts I cut.  I did a few extra as long as I was cutting them . . . then I have them ready for other projects.

I wanted to take a few photos to show you how the shapes cut right out of the rhinestone sticker sheets cutting THROUGH the "gems".  That is because these "stones" are actually a soft gel material so they can be cut with scissors, a craft knife or your die cutting machine.  Complete cutting directions for the rhinestone sticker sheets, along with a video can be found HERE.

For this photo I had the help of my lovely assistant, my daughter Beth.  We wanted to show you that once you cut a shape with the rhinestone sticker sheets, you just peel off the backing and the entire back side of your cut shape already has an adhesive back!  Just peel and stick!

I layered all of my cuts together over a light gray-blue card shape, and then wrapped some ribbon from 3 Girl Jam around the base of the cupcake.  This also help to hide one spot where the corrugated paper did not cut as clean . . . again . . . not the paper's fault, I think that it was not really meant to be die cut and my blade might have been dull.  I think the NEXT time I do this I will just do a single LIGHT cut on the back of the corrugated paper with my Cricut to create the outline of the shape, and then go around and cut it all the way through with scissors.

And there you have my cupcake shaped card.  I hope you like it!  I have included links to some of the products used below.

Thank you again to everyone over at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!  I had so much fun creating these projects to share with all of you!  We should do this again sometime.

Products used in this Project

Ribbon from 3 Girl Jam - Website // Blog // Facebook // Pinterest

Paper from DCWV - DCWV Website // Blog // Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest

For more information about the rhinestone sticker sheets used in this project, you can check out the following links . . .

The Buckle Boutique's Website // Blog // Facebook Page // Twitter // Pinterest

FCCB - Favorite Colors

I was so happy to be asked to be a Featured Designer on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!  The challenge for this week . . . favorite colors!

I LOVE the color pink.  It just makes me smile.  Since it is so cold and snowy where I live right now, I wanted to do a bright and fun card to make me forget about all of the snow outside!  Here is what I came up with.

This little koala is so cute.  This card will be perfect for my sister-in-law for her birthday . . . she loves koalas.  This could also be a great get well soon, missing you or Happy Anniversary card.

I used the koala cut from the Create A Critter 2 cartridge.  If you don't have this cartridge, there are other cartridges that have a koala on them also.  Just go to MyCutSearch.com and type the word koala into the search bar and it will show you the different handbook pages with images of a koala on them.  Since the name of the cartridge is underneath the preview image you can look to see if that is a cartridge you own . . . then if you DO own that cartridge, just click on the image to enlarge it to see it better.  I do this all the time when I am trying to pick which image I like the best for a project.

I created a shadow cut for the koala from the yellow dot paper from the DCWV Citrus Stack.  I love the bright colors in this stack, and how some of the patterns are "softer" and can be used for a great background piece, like this yellow dot.  Then there are other patters like the bright floral prints that will be great for projects that really need a POP of color.

For the background of the card I used a sheet from the DCWV Honey Chic stack.

At first I was going to frame the whole card with a bright pink accent frame, but then I did not like how that cut off some of the beautiful flowers on the background paper on the right side of the card.  I decided to trim away the frame at the edge of the flowers so that none of them were covered by the frame.

And if you know me at all, you know I like things that sparkle, so I had to give this little koala some bling!  The rhinestone sticker sheets from The Buckle Boutique were PERFECT for this!  I was able to cut them in my Cricut (yes, rhinestones you can CUT in your Cricut!  Full cutting directions can be found HERE.)  I cut just the bow and the heart shape with these sticker sheets.  Then all you do is peel off the backing and the product already has adhesive on the back.

Then for a little extra accent, I added a few dots of Viva Decor in the corners.  I love using this when you want the look of little pearl dots, but don't want to glue down individual pearls.

I hope you liked my little koala card.  She was so fun to make!

For more information about the rhinestone sticker sheets used in this project, you can check out the following links . . .

The Buckle Boutique's Website // Blog // Facebook Page // Twitter // Pinterest

Little Old Me?

Guess who is featured today on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog?  ME!  I think it is kind of amazing that I was even ASKED to be a Featured Crafter . . . let alone that anyone would want to know more about me.  If you follow my blog you know that crafting, Disney and hockey kind of sums up everything I love.

I will be participating in a challenge this week at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog, so please come over and join me.  I cannot wait to see what you create!

ALSO . . . I was wondering if all of you could do a HUGE FAVOR for me

My dear friend Marlo is in a contest to try and win a small business grant from FedEx.  Marlo is the owner of ContainYa Crafts . . . creator of the Scrap N Tote and Scrap N Easel.  If you own either one of these products you KNOW how WONDERFUL they are.

If you would like to help Marlo win a small business grant PLEASE go and vote for her today by clicking HERE.

Let's Play Hockey card

My daughter plays hockey, and one of her teammates was recently hurt and got a concussion in a game.  I wanted to make her a Get Well Soon card and let her know that we all hoped she was feeling better and back on the ice soon.

I started off by stamping the fox from the Day At the Rink stamp set sold at Craffiti Direct.  I have a special fondness for this stamp set . . . not only do I think it is really cute, and about my favorite sports, but it was designed by my son!

Once I stamped the image I colored it in with a variety of Faber Castell markers.  I love how well this markers cover and blend.

Now it was time to make the base of my card.  I knew I wanted to make a circular shaped card, and I did not know if I had a Cricut cartridge that had a cut like that, so I went to MyCutSearch.com and typed in 

circle card

Now the ONLY handbook pages that showed up would have both a circle AND a card on the same handbook page.  Sometimes this meant it was a card with a circle cut out of the center, or that both a circle and a card cut were on the same handbook page, but it did help me to quickly find the PERFECT cut for what I wanted to cut.  This cut was on the Wild Card Cricut cartridge.

I cut the circle card out of a red print paper from the Gone Wild paper pack from DCWV

I love all of the great bright animal prints in this paper stack!  These are great for trips to the zoo, Animal Kingdom or, like this card today, for ANY occasion! 

I cut the liner shape for this card out of a blue dot patterned paper, and then used a white and red chevron paper from the DCWV Basics stack.  This stack is one that everyone needs!  It is filled with chevrons, stripes and polka dot patterns in a variety of colors.  For me, those are the "staples" of any craft room!  Those basic patterns go with so many things.

Then I finished the card off with a little "bling" by cutting some scrap pieces of the rhinestone sticker sheets from The Buckle Boutique into triangles.  I love using these rhinestone sticker sheets!  They are the best way to add some sparkle quickly and easily since you can cut them with scissors, a craft knife or a die cutting machine.  Just cut the shape you want, peel off the backing and stick!

I have included links below 

DCWV Website // Blog // Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest

Craffiti Direct // Stamps by Thomas Mosch // Facebook // Pinterest

To purchase the rhinestone sticker sheets for your next project, head over to The Buckle Boutique.
 

The Buckle Boutique's Website // Blog // Facebook Page // Twitter // Pinterest

New Cricut Cartridge - Box It Up

I just saw that there is a new Cricut cartridge called Box It Up, and it is filled with all kinds of 3D box shapes

Wouldn't some of these be fun cut in glitter papers, or the rhinestone sticker sheets that I love so much!

You can find the full handbook HERE

3M Washi Tape Coffee Sleeve - CHA 2014

While at CHA, my daughter had the chance to go and check out a few booths.  One booth she stopped at was the 3M booth, where they had a Make and Take where you could use the Scotch Brand decorative tapes to cover a coffee sleeve . . . then the next day you could bring that coffee sleeve back to their booth for a free cup of coffee.

Since my daughter knows I need my morning coffee to get me going, she made me this coffee sleeve.

If you want to see the video where she is making this coffee sleeve you can check out her blog HERE.