Baby Blankets and Blanket Cakes

So I've had the privilege of hosting/attending four baby showers in the last three weeks. I sure hope I"m finished with baby showers for a while. :)

My co-worker's shower was a luncheon held during lunch. I made her this blanket.

For the other three showers, I made blanket cakes. Well I can't take all of the credit for them since my cousin helped on one and my best friend helped on two. These three are the 4th, 5th, and 6th ones I've made and I've learned some tricks along the way.

The first one I made was for my best friend's first baby almost two years ago.

The base was a box lid covered in fabric. My cousin had the brilliant idea of using a roll of toilet paper in the center of the cake to roll the blankets around. We also used a LOT of glue dots, and tried to stuff the objects into the blanket rolls. Diaper pins were used to secure things. And ribbon was used to tie the toys on. Result - very pretty cake, but not easy to do.

The second and third ones were very similar to the first.

Cake 2

Cake 3

Both of these cakes used toilet paper rolls in the center to wrap blankets around. The bases were cookie sheets covered in fabric. I'd gotten a little smarter on these cakes. Straight pins were used to secure things. The third cake used 6 blankets instead of 4. And we added some diapers at the top for the octopus to sit on. Still using glue dots and ribbon to secure things. We also used clear packaging tape to secure the fabric as we discovered glue dots didn't work too well.



Cakes 4, 5, & 6
I got really smart for these next three. I went to Party City and picked up round serving trays in different colors. I used pink, purple, and blue. I also got fewer bath toys. I had the brainstorm of using actual diapers in the centers of the cakes and that worked well. Still used glue dots (they held much better on the plastic serving trays) and straight pins. Ribbons were bought from the craft store and used to tie around the cakes, secured with straight pins. Oh and rubber bands. Lots of them. And the results? Here we go.


Cake 4 - 4 flannel receiving blankets, 21 newborn diapers, bath toys, travel sized baby bath products, ribbon, round serving tray, straight pins, glue dots, and rubber bands. My best friend's husband tied a tie for us around the neck of the octopus.

This was made for my cousin who is adopting a baby boy.

Cake 5 - 6 receiving blankets, the remainder of the pack of 36 newborn diapers, 6 larger sized diapers (it's all my friend had in her diaper bag!), bath toys, travel sized baby bath products, ribbon, round serving tray, straight pins, glue dots, and rubber bands.


This was made for the shower my Small Group had last Sunday the 9th for a young couple in our Small Group. They are having a baby girl.

 

Cake 6 - 4 receiving blankets, 27 newborn diapers, bath toys, travel sized bath products, ribbon, round serving tray, straight pins, glue dots, and rubber bands.

This was made for my best friend's shower that was held on Saturday the 15th. This is her second baby and she's having a girl. I think this cake was my favorite.

Instructions on how to make the cakes in a separate post to follow.