Monday, August 1, 2011

Make Your Own - Baby Shower

This is the first edition of "Make Your Own" Monday. I won't be doing this every Monday, but will do these posts on Mondays when I do them. :) I have asked to be part of the Roberts Crafts design team and am in a rotation of regular posts on their blog! I am pretty excited about it. I will be showing how you can save money on baby related things by making your own! I am here to show you that you don't have to own all of the latest craft tools (although they would help save some time and make things a little prettier) and you don't have to be the next Martha Stewart in order to make your own baby items. I always thought I was somewhat crafty until I worked at Roberts Crafts (where I worked on the marketing team for 2 years before my little M made her arrival) and met some REAL crafters! My posts will show you that you don't have to be as amazing as some of those women (and men) in order to try your hand at crafts. This week's post is not one of the featured posts by Roberts Crafts, this one is just for this blog. But, I will be posting links to all of my posts that will be featured there. 

For this edition of "Make Your Own Monday", I am showing you how you can use your crafty skills (or lack there of) to throw a baby shower! My sister is expecting a baby boy, and I hosted her baby shower at my house over the weekend. She had mentioned 2 things that she wanted, and I made sure it happened. :) She said she wanted a whale theme and she said that she wanted a diaper cake. I will tell you that the party stores do NOT make whale themed baby showers. So, I made my own decorations! It saved us money, and it was what she wanted.

Let's start with the diaper cake. It served as part of my gift to her, and as a centerpiece/party decoration. I will admit, I saved time by using a pre-made diaper cake. So, I did not roll all the diapers and put them on the stand. But, you can save even more money by doing this. Here are some instructions from another fun craft blog. To decorate the cake, I bought chipboard ($0.65 each), a wood letter ($0.99), scrapbook paper ($0.50) and ribbon ($2.00).... and that is it! (I didn't get these items at Roberts Crafts, because they didn't have the chipboard for the theme that I needed, but they do have a wide chipboard selection). I just used double sided tape and wrapped the ribbon around to cover what was holding the diaper cake together and then just added the chipboard. For the letter on the front (the first initial of the baby's name), I took the wood letter and traced it onto the scrapbook paper. Then, I cut out the shape of the letter and used a glue stick to adhere it to the letter. Then, I just used the double sided tape to adhere the letter to the cake. Done!



Next I made the cupcake toppers. To save on hiring an expensive cake decorator, or the disaster of me trying to make them look like whales on my own... I made cupcake toppers to keep the cupcakes in the theme. This was so easy! I got some blue cardstock ($0.25), white cardstock ($0.25), blue ribbon ($2.00) and a whale rubber stamp ($4.00). (All basic craft items that can be found at Roberts Crafts, or your local craft store). I used some markers, tooth picks,  and an ink pad that I already had. I used cups from my cupboard to trace circles onto the cardstock. I used the top of the cup for the bigger circle and the bottom of the cup for the smaller circle. Then, I cut the circles out. On the white circles, I stamped on the whale. I then colored it in and then wrote "It's a boy" on half of them and the baby's name on the other half of them. I then used a glue stick to adhere the white circles onto the blue circles. I used a blue marker and added the dots around the border. Then, all I did was use tape to adhere the tooth picks to the back of the toppers and added a ribbon. Done! So cute and so easy! If you have a Cricut machine, cutting the circles our on your Cricut would make this a lot easier and a little prettier.


For the favors, I got some favor bags ($10 for 24) at Roberts Crafts. Then, all I did was put some cardstock inside and stamped on the whale using my rubber stamp. I also then filled it in using a blue marker. I put the cardstock inside so that the ink wouldn't go through to the other side. Then, I just added in mints and nuts and I was done. I put the favor bags at the bottom of the diaper cake for some extra table decoration. Another cute idea for the favors that would have gone along with the theme would have been to get bottles of bubbles and replace the label with a home made label with the whale stamped on it and the baby's name.


A Fun finishing touch was how we displayed the drinks. We got a baby pool ($10) from Target that was in the shape of a whale. We added ice and put the drinks in it. :) I don't know if this finishing touch would work for a lot of different themes because there might not be baby pools in the shape that you are looking for. But, we got lucky this way! All of the other steps you can make with any theme really, just as long as you can find a rubber stamp and some chipboard to go with your theme.



Here is a pic of the finished table with the food and all (and someones plate of food on there too, lol). You will also see some gift bags on the table. That was for the prizes for the games. I had a whale stamped onto those bags as well. There you have it! She wanted a whale themed shower and she got it! I also made the whale themed invites on my computer and had them printed at Walgreens for under $10! A little bit of design skill on the computer is required for that. But, that is a post for another day. :) Happy Monday everyone! 


Need a fun baby shower gift, but don't have time to make your own? Check out this BEST baby shower gift from Perching At Home. 

We are hosting a giveaway sponsored by Roberts Crafts!
ENTER TO WIN A $50 ROBERTS CRAFTS GIFT CARD HERE!!! (Can be used in the form of a coupon code on their website)  
Ends 8/16



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23 comments:

Shboogoo's Mommy said...

Well done! If only I had had these ideas before my sister's baby shower almost a year ago. ;)

Candice said...

Love the whale theme! New GFC follower...would love for you to follow back :)

http://wherenothinggoodcomeseasy.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

How cute is that?? I love the baby pool drink holder idea, I'm putting that one away in my memory file ;)

Stopping by from a hop, feel free to come by if you have a minute :)

http://www.carstrucksandteethingrings.com

annies home said...

love it you did a great job I am a new blog follower of yours come see me at h ttp://shopannies.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Adorable!! You did a great job on this shower! So cute!
I'm a new follower from Fun Tuesday Hop!
Chanin
www.mommysreviewsandgiveaways.com

Barb Craft said...

Who says you aren't a serious crafter?!! All of your projects are seriously adorable!!

barb :)

Brenda H said...

I have never heard of a diaper cake until recently, but think they are great ideas. If I ever throw a baby shower again, this blog gave me some great ideas.

Following on gfc
randomthoughtsandotherthingsbybrenda.blogspot.com

Catherine L. said...

Great job! I'm not very crafty but I think I can pull off the cake toppers. I've bookmarked this post so I can use your ideas for my sister in laws shower. Thanks for sharing! By the way after seeing your projects, you definitely belong in the "REAL" crafter category. :)
New follower from Blog It Forward Tuesday!

Unknown said...

How cute! New follower from blog it forward.also following on twitter. Would love a follow back
Jessica
http://lifeunexpectedadventuresofsahm.blogspot.com/
@twinsmommyplus1

Taryn McCracken said...

Cute Ideas!

I'm a new follower from Tuesday Friend Connect. I'd love for you to stop by and say hi. The Thought that Counts

Victoria said...

Hmm..I'm going to have to tell my friends it's time to have babies so I can use these ideas! They are fantastic!

Following back from TAT.

The Chic Monkey Boutique said...

Hi, I'm a new follower through Sweep tights Tuesday Blog Hop. I'd love to have you join my blog! http://thechicmonkey.blogspot.com/

Thanks,
Dani

Mama said...

New follower here from the blog hop! :-) Would love to have you follow me back! :-)

http://sewsweetbabyblog.blogspot.com/

Debbie said...

Hello! I'm from Fun Tuesday. I LOVE finding new crafty and DIY blogs. I will definately be back later tonight to look around. Have a good evening.


http://mccormickmadness.com

AdventuresFrugalMom said...

new follower from blog hop would love a follow back http://adventuresfrugalmom.blogspot.com

Jamie said...

Awww what a great post! Cute pics / cute theme! We have the same whale pool but we use it for swimming. Boring. I know. LOL

For Love of Cupcakes

Jellybelly said...

Those are cute! I'd love to try the diaper cake on the next baby shower I attend :)

The Twerp and I

Mandi said...

Super cute!!! I love the baby pool for drinks!

boredombustingmommy.blogspot.com

Samantha said...

I love the baby pool idea!

New follower from Cup of Joe Hop!
Samantha @ Niftymom.com

Studio Mommy said...

Hi! I’m hosting a blog hop today. Come add your blog when you get a chance if you haven’t already. If you’re ever interested in a blog makeover please let me know. Take a look at my portfolio and packages when you get a chance. Hope you are having a Sweet Week.

April
A Mommy’s Blog Design Studio
Join us every Friday for our Blog Hop!
Review and Giveaway Blog Directory
If you feature Reviews and Giveaways come add your blog here!

Jenny said...

Those were so cute! Thanks for sharing!

Found you through the Thursday Cup of Joe Hop. Please follow back:

http://www.fullcartfullwallet.com

Toni Keltner said...

New follower from the Monday Monkey Blog Hop! Please follow me at http://tonithechicmomma.blogspot.com/

Thanks!
Toni

stevenjared0853 said...

Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing post. I think I need to arrange some of the things for my bridal shower. My sister booked a beautiful event space NYC for my bridal shower cum bachelorette party and she got an ankle injury after that. I am glad she is doing so much for me but I will help her with my bridal shower now.

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