"Diaper Cycle"

This "diaper cycle" was made for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's baby shower.  This one was geared towards the daddy.  I got this idea from pinterest, of course!

Here is what I used:

• 28 diapers (I used Parents Choice size 2)
• 2 rubber bands
• Ribbon (I used tulle)
• 2 receiving blankets
• 1 link toy
• Bottle
• Baby washcloth
• 2 bibs
• A pair of socks
• Stuffed animal

I started by layering the diapers in the cake pan:

Then, I put a rubber band around the diapers, adjusting them to keep the right shape. (Don't forget to make 2 of these!!)

 Next, I tied tulle (ribbon can be used also) around each "tire" to hide the rubber band:

 Make sure that you have left a hole in the center of each tire:

 I then rolled up one of the receiving blankets and fed it through the front tire:

And through the back tire.  Once you have done that, be sure to hide the ends of the receiving blanket in the back tire:

Next, I rolled up the second receiving blanket and also fed it through the front tire.  This one will become the handle bars:

  Add one bib "fender" to each tire:

Wrap a bottle "head light" in a wash cloth:

Next bring the handle bars together and slide a linking toy around them:

Position the headlight and push the link down to hold it in place:

Add socks (stuffed with tissue paper to keep shape) and position the handle bars:

Finish it off with a stuffed animal:

Here are the instructions I followed.

Simple 3 Tier Diaper Cake

This diaper cake is super simple!  I made this one for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's baby shower.  They are expecting baby girl, Harper, in October!  I can't wait to meet her!  My SIL does not like super girly (lots of pink) things, so I decided to go with neutral colors.  As with most things I have made, I was inspired by some blogs found on pinterest, but I did not follow any of the instructions.  I came up with my own ideas and played around with it until it looked the way I wanted it to.

Here are the supplies I used:

• Diapers (I used 68, size 2 parents choice diapers)
• Receiving blanket
• Fabric or ribbon
• Rubber bands
• Safety pins
• Base
• Cake pan
• and not pictured...tulle 

I started by folding the diapers in half:

I used the cake pan to get them in a circle easily:

Put a rubber band around the diapers:

Then, I added diapers to the circle until it was the size that I wanted the base to be:

 To help keep the shape, I rolled 4 diapers and put them in the center:

 I finished off the bottom layer by tying a piece of fabric in a bow (covering the rubber band):

For the second layer, I used all of the steps above, only using fewer diapers. I only had to use one rolled up diaper to fill the center. I folded a receiving blanket to cover this layer:

And used safety pins to hold it in place:

The top layer used the fewest diapers.  I wrapped it in the same fabric as the bottom layer, only this time I didn't do a bow, but used a safety pin.  I cut a few strips of tulle and stuffed it in the center:

 

At the baby shower:  (The motorcycle is in a different blog post!)

Bathroom Mirror Frame

The month of August was practically non-existent.  Sam had a business trip to Colorado, I took the babies to visit friends and family in Arkansas, and we stayed busy doing other little things around the house.  So…after putting this off for over a month, we FINALLY tackled the bathroom mirror!  It wasn’t nearly as much work as I thought it would be (granted, my husband did most of the work)!  This project could be done in one day; however, it took us 3 days.  Two kids can be a handful sometimes! =)

Of course, this project was inspired by this pin from pinterest.  We didn't follow the directions exactly as the person explained, but this is where the idea came from.

Back in July we bought trim from Lowe’s.  We got the cheap pieces, so we spent about $8 on trim.  We had to buy caulk, liquid nails, and paint as well, so this project ended up costing us $19 and some change.  Seriously, not bad for the end result!  We looked at already framed bathroom mirrors and they were $150 and up!  CRAZY!  So, I’m thinking $19 and a little bit of work is well worth it!

The supplies we used

Measured and marked

Making the cuts

Avery was afraid of the circular saw!

Sam measured the sides of the mirror and then cut the trim.  I’m not going to lie; he made a few wrong cuts before getting it perfect!  Thankfully we had plenty of trim for mistakes!  Once he cut the pieces, he sanded down the edges so that they would sit flush against each other.  Now they’re ready to paint!

Painted trim

 

This is the mirror before the frame

When putting the liquid nails on the trim, make sure to put it in the center of the trim so that when you push onto the mirror, it won’t ooze out.  Also, the trim is likely to slip once you let go, so we had to get crafty:

Painters tape did the trick!

I googled how long it takes for liquid nails to dry.  What I found was that it takes one hour to dry and 24 hours to cure.  

I did not take pictures of this next part, but the day after putting the frame on the mirror we went back and filled in with caulk.  We put caulk in the cracks where the trim pieces came together, and also on the inside where the frame met the mirror.  The day after caulking, I painted over the caulk with paint to match the frame.  FYI: BABY OIL gets paint off of the mirror (and fingers)!

 Finished product!

   

 Looks fancy-shmancy and it was easy-peasy!  The last thing I want to do in this bathroom is change out that ugly light fixture!  But that might be a while.  I have a couple of other projects I would like to tackle first!!