Welcome Guest Crafter

Today is a Thrilling Thursday since Jessica from Cricut After Dark is joining us with a special project. I have to say...this project is absolutely amazing.  I have never made one and my children are older, so I do not think I will be getting one, but I can see this being a great gift. 

Hi! My name is Jessica, and I'm a stay-at-home mom from Houston, Texas. I'm blessed with a wonderful two-year-old son, and my hubby and I just celebrated our fifth anniversary. When I'm not crafting, I lead a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group, volunteer in our church's childrens ministry, and love to bargain shop. I'm so honored Georgiana asked me to be a Guest Designer on her blog, especially since I've only been papercrafting six months!

My mom gave me scrapbooking supplies shortly after my son was born, and I'm ashamed to admit that box sat in my closet untouched for two years -- until a friend invited me to a scrapbooking retreat in January. I did my son's entire first year album that weekend! (Oh...and got massages too.) For my birthday a few months later, my parents and hubby gave me a Cricut Expression -- and my papercrafting addiction was born. I still do layouts for my son's scrapbook, but I've also expanded to cardmaking and incorporating Cricut cuts into fun little projects.

I'd like to share one of these fun projects with you today -- using Cricut cuts to decorate a diaper cake.

Diaper cakes are wonderful baby shower gifts. I was blessed by a diaper cake when my son was born, and I began making them for my expectant friends. I learned to make diaper cakes from the YouTube video by CreativeBabyShowers.

For this diaper cake, I chose a sea creature theme; it's the recipient's nursery theme and colors. Once you've made your diaper cake base as shown in the video, you'll need the following items:

• completed diaper cake base
• ribbons in two widths (Mine are 1.5 and 2.5 inches.)
• die cuts (I used cuts from Create a Critter and Playtime cartridges; see end of entry for more details.)
• floral stems or bush
• double-stick tape
• scissors 

STEP 1: RIBBON

Wrap the wider ribbon around the diaper cake layers to hide rubber bands. Secure with double-stick tape placed along rubber band line every few inches. Repeat with the smaller-width ribbon layered on top of the first ribbon, again securing with double-stick tape.

STEP 2: DIE CUTS

Place your die cuts around the diaper cake as desired; secure to ribbon with double-stick tape.

STEP 3: FLORAL ACCENTS

Cut small sprigs from your floral stem or bush and use as accents for the cake topper and around the die cuts. Stems need to be approximately 3 to 4 inches long. Wedge the stems between or under the rolled diapers; do not use glue, as it will damage the diapers. I used a greenery bush that reminded me of seaweed to keep with the sea creature theme.

STEP 4: TOPPER

Secure die cut as topper of the diaper cake. I used regular transparent tape to fasten the die cut to a wooden skewer and stuck the skewer between diapers. But don't limit yourself to just die cuts -- I often use a small stuffed animal or teething toy as a topper.

And now you have a super cute diaper cake! Below are some close-ups of the topper and die-cuts for this sea creature diaper cake:

 Cricut Cut Details:

• All animals are from Create a Critter; frog, whale, seahorse, jellyfish, and octopus cut at 3.5 inches; turtle and fish cut at 2.5 inches.
• Topper tag is <princess> and <princess_s> from Playtime, cut at 2.25 inches.
  
• Letters for "LANDON" from Opposites Attract using Opposite font, cut at 1.25 inches.
• Embossing for topper tag is Spots & Dots Cuttlebug folder.
• Textured cardstock is Core'dinations; non-textured cardstock is from The Paper Studio.
• Inking with cyan and green Colorbox petal point ink pads.

I've enjoyed sharing this project with you today, and I'd love to connect with you on my blog, Cricut After Dark.

Thanks again to Georgiana for this special honor!

I want to say "THANK YOU!" Jessica for being an awesome guest crafter. This project is beyond what I expected and I love it! Be sure to visit Jessica and send her some love too!

 If you are interested in being a guest crafter, please let me know. I would love to have you.

Stay Creative,

Georgiana