Carrie and I have been very busy, which unfortunately has resulted in a big gap between posts here. Last weekend I had two baby showers in Delaware, which meant lots of fun things to make and prepare. My friend Ilka (who made this beautiful quilt last May) is having a baby girl in May, and her shower was hosted at a friend’s house on Saturday afternoon. The shower on Sunday was for our older sister who is having twin boys in June! Thursday, Friday, and even Saturday morning, we were still finishing up some preparations for the parties. My mom, sisters, and anyone else around helped make these adorable little boxes for favors for Ilka’s shower (the “cake” in the middle).

The pattern was very cute, and they were a big hit, but we only ended up making 8 of them (just the ones you see here). The cutting, folding, gluing, filling with candy, attaching ribbon, and labeling took a very long time. I downloaded the pattern to make them, but I am not sure from what site. I would be happy to send it anyone who asks. The pink petal boxes around the “cake” were purchased and had to be put together, which I have to say was also not very easy! Luckily I found one person early to the shower who could read instructions and fold them perfectly (Thanks, Eileen!).

We did find that some craft stores sell kits to make these, so we purchased brown ones to use for Nicky’s shower to match the blue and brown color scheme. We adapted the boxes to use a different ribbon than came with them, and I think they looked really cute (and probably only took three of us about 30-45 minutes to put together). I am a big fan of do-it-yourself, so it was hard to go buy the kit, but compared to the cost of materials and the time, the kit had greater benefits.

My mom helped me finish a few sewing projects for the showers, too, like this cute baby bunting. It was very easy to make – especially with my mom’s bias tape maker (a super tool if you ever need to make a lot of fabric “rope” or ribbon. We made three lengths of bunting, and I gave Ilka two for hanging in the baby’s room. This project used that adorable baby animal fabric I bought back in January. I want to make some for my nephew’s room; he really like to play with them when we first hung them in the kitchen.

I think Carrie (and the kitchen) was covered in flour, sugar, and fondant for most of the weekend. She made two amazing cakes for the showers. We all sat around and watched as Carrie rolled the fondant and decorated the cakes; it’s as much a baking process, as it is working with an edible canvas! Ilka’s cake was layered pound cake with a raspberry filling. The two tiers were perfectly decorated in baby booties and a puppy dog, and we had plenty of cake to serve from the bottom tier, so Ilka and her husband could take the top tier home with them.

The cake for Nicky’s shower on Sunday was just as delicious, and the tiers were made with two different flavors (lemon on the bottom, chocolate on top), which made it fun to cut and serve. Everyone thought we had gone to a fancy bakery to get the cakes; Carrie really did go all out.

Carrie has a new website that includes a photo gallery of all her cakes, however, I would warn you not to go looking at it if you are hungry! Carrie and I will follow up later with posts about some of the sewing projects we made for shower gifts.