Sign Kit Assembly from As Unique As U

Please Excuse the Mess Sign kit

Thank you so much for your purchase.

Your kit will arive as follows:

Paint the board any color you like. I prefer to use a yard and garden paint or outdoor paints.

You can find 2oz outdoor paints at your local craft store for less than $2.00 or at Wal-Mart.

I usually paint all of the sides and the back of the board as well

Above, I laid a piece of parchment paper on the table to protect the table and simply squirted some paint directly onto it. You can use a foam brush to paint the board but I prefer brushes.

Let the paint dry completely!!! Do not attempt to place your decal on wet paint!!
Now prepare your decal

Lay the decal face down and peel the paper backing away from the decal. If the decal is a little stubborn just give it a firm press and then peel back and it should come off.

Remove the backing completely

Now position the decal onto the board. Do not apply any pressure.

Find the position that you like best. Once you decide on placement, smooth the surface with a card or hard spatula from the center out

It is ok to apply heavy pressure. Make certain that you rub across the entire decal.

Now slowly peel the transfer tape away from the decal until it is completely removed.

Determine where you want to place the screw eyelets for hanging. This step is not required. You can staple the ribbon to the back if you like, but I prefer the ribbon to be on top. I don't meaure when deciding where to place the eyelets but if you want to be exact you can measure 1" from each side and that will be a perfect distance. Screw in the eyelets on the top edge of the board then thread the ribbon through. Knot it once and Viola--done!

If using indoor acrylics, i do recommend that you use a sealer to protect the paint.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me. I would love to see your finished signs as well so also please email me a picture of it in use.

Thanks again for your purchase!!





Baby Shower Diaper Cake

My daughter's friend is having a baby shower and I was asked to make the centerpiece.

I LOVE going to baby showers and I  loath ENJOY making diaper cakes as gifts.

A diaper cake is simply a layered cake made wholly with diapers. They are really easy to make but they are SO tedious!!! I had to break out the glue gun for this one and so it became dangerous too lol!!

I'll tell ya about that later hehehe!

I always have people asking me how to make one and so I have decided to share with you my step by step process so you can make your own. This post will be very picture heavy!!

Gather all of the following supplies:

84 Diapers (I used 2 brands...Luvs and Parent's Choice)

2" wide ribbon

3/4" wide ribbon

Rubber bands

Straight pins with ball tops

3/4" dowel rod

Johnson and Johnson travel pack

and choice of accessories

(I chose a monkey plush toy, an elephant bath mitt that I took back for a giraffe plush, and a pair of shoes)

Start by rolling each diaper into a tight bundle

Be sure that any image that may be on the diaper is rolled to the inside, then secure it with a rubber band.

Try to keep the rubber bands in the center and make certain that the bundle is nice and tight.

Once you have a good stack start forming your base. You will need to start with 4 diaper rolls. Secure the 4 rolls together with a single rubber band.

Now start adding bundles. To do this simply stretch the rubber band out enough to slip in the next bundle. Continue adding to the base until you have a large enough base.

My first layer has 45 diapers and i only used one single rubber band to secure the entire base.

So, it has been awhile since I made one of these babies and well I forgot that brand name diapers have prints on them. I had to go back to Wal-Mart and exchange a pack for a non-printed diaper...

and I was not a happy camper but since I was going back, i also exchanged the elephant mitt for a cute giraffe.

You will need to make a second and third layer. My second layer had 28 diapers and the third has 11.

Stack the first and second layers on top of each other then enter the dowel rod into the center.

Before adding the 3rd layer, place a single diaper next to the dowel rod and cut the rod shorter than the diaper. The dowel rod is very important because it helps your layers stay stable.

You can either slide your third layer on the rod or build it around the rod. I do the latter.

Now the fun part---add the ribbon. The reason you had to keep the rubber bands in the center is so that you can hide them with the ribbon. I use the straight pins to secure the ribbon.

You can see the two pin heads sticking out the ribbon. This is VERY important so when mom wants to use the diapers, she can easily find the pins. I pull the ribbon tightly around the base layers and secure with at least 2 pins.

This ribbon looked fine all by itself but I always add a center ribbon so that I can easily add the accessories.

And now we can accessorize!!!!

I use straight pins to secure the plush animals to the diapers.

My little daughter was helping me and thought that it would be cute to put the shoes on the monkey. I agree!!! It looks so cute.

Now start adding the Johnson's travel pack items to the layers. I slip them in behind the narrow ribbon and they stay securely in place.

You have to hide the pin heads on the ribbon so use stickers or something cute. I used painted wood ornaments from michaels

I used the glue gun to attach the decals to the ribbon. I used hot melt glue....MISTAKE...and it got on my thumb!!!

OUCH!!

Now I have a pea sized blister on my thumb..waaaa waaa waaa!

Then fill in all the layers with paper shred!!!

VIOLA!

You are done!!! I like to place the cake on a round cardboard base and I add shreds to the bottom. If it's a gift, I wrap in cellophane but if it is the centerpiece, then I leave it as is.

Total cost for my cake:

84 Diapers........$12.71

2" wide ribbon....$1.97

3/4" wide ribbon.....$1.97

Rubber bands.....$.46

Straight pins with ball tops....$1.97

3/4" dowel rod.......$.40

Johnson and Johnson travel pack...$2.77

Monkey Plush..........$5.00

Giraffe plush........$6.00

Wood ornaments.......$.59 x 3

Baby's shoes.....$5.00

Total Cost......$40.02

This is a larger cake than I normally make but you can easily make a smaller cake with less diapers. Normally I would only use one bag of diapers and one plush animal but since this is for a very special person, I wanted her to have a special cake.

I normally have a spending limit for baby showers of 20 dollars and many times I have made these cakes forjust that. I didnt have time to go to Hobby Lobby for 50% off ribbon (shame on me) but I definitely recommend that. I also try to spend 4 bucks or less on the plush. If you did half the diapers cost would be as follows:

42 Diapers........$5.74

2" wide ribbon....$1.97

3/4" wide ribbon.....$1.97

Rubber bands.....$.46

Straight pins with ball tops....$1.97

3/4" dowel rod.......$.40

Johnson and Johnson travel pack...$2.77

Plush..........$4.00

Paper Shred.....$1.00

Total Cost......$20.28 

(and if you bought 50% off ribbon it would be $18!!!)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!!