My first diaper cake!

My sister is helping host a shower next weekend and asked me for some help.  I suggested a diaper cake and of course that meant I actually had to be the one to make it!  This post is really for my reference and to show you that it's not that hard if you wanted to make one. There are 2 ways that I've seen them done.  I liked this one where each diaper wasn't individually rolled.  I got some pictures, though they're kind of crappy because I had to make it at night while Alex was sleeping.

1. Gather your supplies!
   
   
   • Diapers (I used 2 - 36 packs)
   • Rubberbands
   • Tall/Center Items (I used some bath wash and bath towels) (and used the wash cloths to make it sturdy in some locations)
   • Items to decorate the outside (ribbon, bows)
   • Cake Topper (i.e. stuffed animal)
   • Baby things to attach (i.e. pacifier, bibs, bibs, carseat toy, wrist rattles, socks, rattle, etc)
   • Base for cake (I used a piece of a cardboard box wrapped up)
     
2. Place your 'tall/center' items in the middle and put a rubber band around them. (unfortunately I didn't start taking pictures until after this point, oh well)
3. Put another rubber band around the center and put 4-6 diapers staggered slightly under the rubber band.  Work your way around in a circle leaving even spacing and overlapping the top and bottom of the last ones when you close the circle.  For the base row I did ~10 diapers.
4. Repeat for a 2nd and 3rd time on the bottom layer of the cake.  The 2nd row has ~12 diapers and the 3rd row ~14.  I used a different rubber band around each row to make it a little easier.
   

5. Start with the second layer of the case, repeat step 3.  I used ~11 diapers.  Add a 2nd row to the second layer ~13 diapers.

6. Repeat for the top layer of the cake ~12 diapers.  When you get to the top your tall items may not reach all the way, so I stuffed some tissue paper in to make it solid before I could stuff in the cake topper.
   

7. Decorate as desired!  I had to use a hot glue gun to get the ends of the ribbon to stay together.  I used some white ribbon to tie other items on.

After I took all my pictures and was done, I wasn't a fan of the base I had (a piece of cardboard covered with wrapping paper), so I took it off and put some white paper underneath and then stamped on it, unfortunately no picture.  I think my sister came with 2 more decorations afterwards too.

I looked up on etsy and they charge anywhere from $50 - $450 for these!  Yikes! (Maybe I should look into selling them!)  This cost about ~$75 I think and many of the things were off the registry of the recipient so I was happy that it served multiple functions.  There are so many different kinds and different ways to do them.  I hope I have a chance to try again sometime!

I had a lot of fun making it and decorating.  I would say that overall it took me about 2hrs to complete.  I was feeling like I hadn't gotten to do any crafting since Alex's arrival, but now I feel a little bit better after doing this.