Diaper Cake

Sorry everyone if you thought this cake is edible. Its is not :( Don't be disappointed; after you learn how to make this diaper cake, you are (one day for sure) going to make some expectant-mom so happy that you would come back to thank me :) Sorry about the long post, for, I want to do complete justice to this beautiful experience of making this cake for an expectant mother.

Baby Shower, Seemantham, Godh Bharayi are a few names for the day we celebrate and bless the expectant mother and the fetus. As the  expectant mother eagerly awaits her babies arrival, friends and family throw her a party, perform pooja or other customary things according to ones culture in her 7th month of pregnancy. Gifts are given to the new mother which mostly comprise of things for the baby.

In our family, friends and relatives buy small gifts for the mother-to-be and arrange a small table filled with gifts. On this occasion, Diaper cake acts as a center piece. Which expectant mothers eyes does not mist after seeing this thoughtful gift? I made this when my sister in law was pregnant and she loved it!
You guessed right; Diaper cake is made of Diapers. The below instructions are for making a 3 tire diaper cake.

Ingredients:

Infant Diapers: 80 (usually 1 pack comes with 100 diapers).

Scissors

Elastic bands: 1 pack comprising of big and small bands (about 100)

1 inch width colorful lace: 3 different colors 2 meters each or same color 6 meters.

1/4 inch lace: same as above

Teddy bear: small one or any other stuffed toy

Feeding bottle: 1 big and 1 small

Lots of time (at least 5 hours): I split between 3 days but the effort is completely worth it.

Optional items:

You can also decorate the cake with bibs, booties, pacifiers, socks, mittens, comb and other baby items. I personally did not include these because this would mean I will have to unwrap the items from their cover; after unwrapping these its not hygienic to give the same thing to the baby. If you end up finding some good looking stuff for cheap which the mother will not use anyway, go for these.

Instructions:

1. Unpack the diapers from its pack and roll the diaper from inside out so that the print is shown outside after  you roll the diaper. Put a small rubber band around this diaper roll so that the roll is intact. Repeat this step until you finish rolling all the diapers. Below is how you are expecting to see. Note: make sure to put the rubber band slightly above the center.

 2. After you roll all the diapers, take the big feeding bottle and put a big rubber/elastic band around the bottle. Now, gently insert 1 diaper inside the elastic band in such a way that that the design shows outside. Here is how:

 3. Start inserting the diapers until you make 1 full round around the bottle. Now, the diapers and the bottle are firmly bound together. I used up 7 diapers for this first round.

 4. Now, gently wrap another big elastic band around the first set in step 3. Start inserting diapers one by one into this new elastic band. Once you are done, your second round is finished. Here is the picture.

 5. Now, for the final round in tire one, you will need to wrap the rolls with 1/4 inch lace. This is to hide the rubber band which shows in the outer layer. Cut a small piece of 1/4 inch lace and wrap around the band. Here is how it looks:

 6. Now, insert another big elastic band around the 2 tires. Repeat step 4. Here is how the final version of tire 1 would look like with 3 rounds of diapers. Note: Don’t worry about the big band showing for now.

7. Now the second tire begins. Insert a big band around the feeding bottle, above the first tire. Repeat step 3 and 5. Note: I forgot to put lace for the second round. You can lace the second set before you insert. Here is how it looks like. This completes tire 2.

 8. For the final tire, you might have to attach a small feeding bottle to the big one. Use a rubber band to tie the big bottle to the small one. I removed the nipple for the small one and turned it upside down so that its easier to tie both the bottles together.

9. Now, repeat step 5.

 10. The 3 tire cake is now complete. But you will still see 3 big bands around the tires. This is where you will put your 1 inch width lace to cover up. Just tie the lace around the 3 bands. I used light colors which are not showing in the picture. You could go with a darker color.

11. The final part of the cake is mounting the teddy bear on top. I took the remaining lace and gently tied the teddy's legs to the feeding bottle. This made sure that the bottle is hidden and the teddy is not falling about.

12. As a final step, I wrapped the remaining lace around the teddy! At this point you can also decorate this with all the optional items I mentioned (I however did not for the reason I mentioned above) .Here is the final version of how its looking like:  Note: You can keep a plate or any base to hold everything nicely in the bottom.

 13. Below is a version which has the optional items mentioned. This is not the picture I have taken. I took this picture from external source to just give you an idea of what it looks like with gift items on the cake.

 

So, next time when you are invited for a baby shower, surprise the expectant mother with this! She will forever remember you for your thoughtful gift. I hope you all liked this Diaper Cake.

Edit:
1. Please warn the mother that the diapers are no longer sterile as they are removed from its packing.So, she will have to avoid using the same diapers for her baby. This is mostly for a keep-sake-gift.
2.  I posted this in another ladies forum and they loved this! 

Awards from Rach

Rach was kind to share her awards with me. Even though its been a while she asked me to collect them from her blog, I could just get around to doing so. Thank you so much for thinking of me Rach. Really appreciate it. So many of you are real good chefs; amidst all you my recipes are...are, emm how should I put it? Thanks Rach.

I wasn't aware of the rule of versatile blogger award but learnt it from Rach. I need to say 7 things about me.

1. I am not at all a morning person. I like to be left alone until I have my first cup of coffee.
2. I love reading books. I have read so many and I am seriously contemplating to open a small blog giving my reviews about the books I read so far.
3. I am reserved. It takes some time for me to open up.
4. I enjoy cooking apart from reading (obviously).
5. I like pearls.
6. I like gardening.
7. I love babies.

I realize that all my blogging friends have these awards. But please, if anyone of you are missing, please do collect it from this blog. Gouri, especially you! last time also you didnt collect!

Garden Pictures- Part 3

As promised here are a few pictures of how my garden is looking like as of now. This is going to be the last set of pictures for this year; unless I end up buying more plants before Halloween!

Staring with Shasta Daisies and think seeds amongst pinks and pansies. For these beautiful darlings, I don't mind spending an hour watering the plants. Trust me, on a working day, 1 hour is a lot of time to spend in garden, but totally worth it. Daisies and thick-seeds are perennials but pansies and pinks are annuals.

Here is Calla lily; by far the most beautiful and the most expensive bulb in my garden standing at $15 a bulb. I bought 2 bulbs and only one survived. Its difficult to care for this fussy plant. Every fall I need to take the bulb out before the first frost, store them carefully in a dry place and replant next spring after the last frost. These are perennials but each bulb would yield only one flower.

Here is one of the pink Dahlia plants. When I planted this bulb, I was a bit apprehensive; will they grow at all? But sure they grew! Here is the result. I have so many of these flowers now that I can cut them down for a vase for every room in my home. These are perennials and have to be treated the same way like Calla lilies.

Day lilies are fairly common here. They even grow road side! They also multiply quickly and are super hardy! You hardly need to raise a finger to tend them. They are perennials.

The beautiful beautiful Oriental lilies. This is my husbands favorite for its color and fragrance. When they bloom, the entire garden would assume a soft fragrance.

I have no idea(rather I forgot) of its name. This is an annual and is a lily for sure.

And who have not heard of black eyes Susans? They are fairly common and are perennials. they bring vibrant color around July-August.

And now the white Dahlia's. The flowers are so big and heavy that the entire plant is almost falling off the ground! Aren't they stunning?

And finally, who would want to spend money outside for fresh cut flowers when the beautiful garden can give you all you need and more? This vase is sitting on my kitchen counter.

Aunty now!

Dear blogger's, I am glad to announce the arrival of my nephew! I will not be able to update the blog for at least another week. Planning on visiting my nephew every day after work!
I am an aunt now!

A few plants from my garden:)

I love gardening. Its been just a couple of full-summers since we moved into our current home and this is our second summer here. I managed to grow a few flower plants and a few veggies. Here they are :)

Wait for the recipes of home-grown mint and methi :)

A small patch is all I had for mint and look at this now! Also, this excludes what I had given away to my lucky neighbors.

Below are my methi pot's :)
When i don't use as much herbs (thyme, chive etc), they go into a vase.
Now a few pictures of my flower patches starting with Asiatic lily. I love these bright orange lilies. In between you would also see pansies, pinks etc which I use as fillers to get the brighter side of the entire patch.
Thickseed and daisy buds.
Do any of you know the name for these?
Zinnias and Jasmine...I actually managed to keep my jasmine plant alive in winter!! Yeayyy!
Actually, all these flowers are from the second-phase of summer (June-July). The first phase started with Tulips, Daffodils and a few others (pictures of which are posted in the below link) as soon as the last frost has passed late April/early May.

http://girlnextdoorsretreat.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-garden-pictures.html

There is a third phase too. Flowers like Dahlia, Oriental lilies, Calla lilies and a few other plants whose names I don't remember (Aug-sept). I also brought up a few plants from seeds, hollyhocks, lupines, poppy, ginger etc. I think they will blossom only next year in summer though.

Hope you all enjoyed and wait till August and I will share the third season flower pictures :)