Pink Tea: Babies, Babies Everywhere

I'm not sure what was in the water lately, but it seems like I am surrounded by expectant mothers due around April and May. So far the list includes my cousin, two women in my Sunday School Class, a former co-worker, and a friend of ours... two unknown, two girls, and one boy. I am so excited. Not only am I excited about the beginning of new life, but I am also excited because many of these will be the children that grow up with my son and are in his class in school. Selfish, I know, but I love being able to get together with other families and have the kids play together.

With so many babies due, the baby showers are beginning. And that of course means coming up with cute baby shower gifts. I admit that my baby shower shopping changed drastically after having my own children. I definitely learned what is practical and what is not (newborn sized outfits, particularly if the baby is a 10 pounder like my son was). I think that is what led me to fall in love with diaper cakes. It's a great combination of a practical gift (diapers) and craftiness.

The baby shower we were invited to requested a book for Emma Grace's library instead of a card. (Don't you love that name. I think I'll have to call her Emma Grace all the time.) I love this idea, being a lover of books myself. So, I decided to have the book be the focal point of the cake. Here's what I ended up with...

I know that there are tons of tutorials on the internet for diaper cakes, so I won't go into a lot of detail here. However, let me just say that this was put together pretty last minute. It is much easier than you think, if you haven't tried one before.

I've made several over the years, and I am coming down to the fact that I like the simpler look. So I don't add a lot of embellishment. It's just my personal taste.

That book on top is "Are you my Mother?" I was surprised to learn that it isn't technically a Dr. Seuss book. But I loved reading it as a child, and it is one of those nice hard-board versions that my daughter really enjoyed when she was younger. I just made a cover for it out of scrapbook paper so it would match and then added the stickers for "Baby Girl". Our names are also on it so it can serve as the card.

This cake consists of 70 rolled size 1 diapers (held with hair ties) and is built around a baby shampoo bottle at the center. I had the pink ribbon at home as well. The letters are from a pack of pink $0.99 stickers in Target's Scrapbooking aisle. The butterflies were punched out of the leftover pale pink paper from the book cover. Add the pink tissue paper, and that is all there is to it.

I was rather happy with the finished product.

Here's a boy version from a year ago. I loved the monkey stuffed animal on top and the very simple blue and brown color combo. This one is only two tiers.