Friday, September 14, 2012

It’s Just a Stinky Old Diaper...



Figure 18
Or is it? *grins* Today in the interest of something completely different I bring you step by step instructions for creating your very own Frosted Diaper Cake. And no we’re not making it out of stinky used diapers, or baking something. And really all you have to do is look at all the pretty picture to the right to see what I mean. So without further ado let’s get to making!

Materials Required
  • Cardboard base, 1 each (the cardboard form frozen pizza is what I used)
  • Wrapping Paper, enough to cover the cardboard
  • Diapers, ~ 1 jumbo pack (30+) per layer
  • Small Hair Elastics, no. = total no. of diapers (I like the invisible ones)
  • Sticks, 2 each, (I used wooden shish-k-bob skewers)
  • Ribbon, ~2 yd per layer, 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch wide
  • Receiving blankets, 1 per layer, plus one extra
  • Baby toy, one for a topper

Instructions (majority of the figures are at the bottom of the post - sorry for the amount of scrolling you'll have to do, but I just can't get them to work with the text! *grrrr*) 
  1. Cut the wrapping paper to extend about 2 to 3 inches beyond the cardboard base. Since I was using a circle I turned my wrapping paper into an octagon (Figure 1)
  2. Fold over the side and glue or tape them to the back of your base. For the circle I folded four sides (Figure 2), and then the other four sides (figure 3)
  3. Now the fun part – diaper rolling. Open up the box of elastics and a pack of diapers now, start rolling, making sure the pretty top is on the outside (Figure 4 and 5)
  4. Create the first layer by placing one rolled diaper in the middle, then make about three circles of diapers around it. Carefully stick a skewer through the center diaper, poking it into the base if you can for additional stability. The skewers I have will go through 3 layers of newborn size diapers. (Figure 6)
  5. Now cut a lengths of ribbon that will go all the way around twice, plus enough extra to make a bow. Only go around once this time though. Pull it as tight around those diapers as you can and knot it to hold in place. (Figure 7)
  6. Next we fold our first layer of ‘frosting’. Pick a Receiving Blanket, and fold it into a triangle, then fold the point up to meet the top (Figure 8), then, point on the inside, lay it down across the first layer so it touches the skewer and drapes over the side (Figure 9)
  7. Using any origami skills you might have, carefully fold each side around that skewer (Figure 10) and then tuck those stray ends around the base before tying the extra Ribbon around the blanket with a bow (Figure 11 and Figure 12). (Yes, the diapers showing, is a feature – otherwise who’d know what was under there!) *grin*
  8. Make the next layer the same as the first. Since the base of Layer two isn’t as flat as layer one, I used my ribbon to help hold the diapers in place as I worked (Figure 13)
  9. Since my skewer sticks up just enough beyond layer two (Figure 14) that I made one more layer, but since it’s the top layer I covered it in a different manner.
  10. Take another Receiving and fold all the corners into the center and then fold the corners in to the center one more time, almost as if you were making one of those paper fortune cookies (Figure 15 and Figure 16).
  11. Lay that on top of the final layer (the folded parts on the inside) and then tie ribbon around it to hold it steady (Figure 17).   Note: My top layer is smaller than the rest because it was made with Preemie size diapers rather than the Newborn size I used on the bottom one.  If you wanted a decreasing tier cake, you could use three sizes of diapers, or just make one less ring for each layer.
  12. Top the cake (I used tape to keep him on) with the toy and feel free to tuck any other useful item (like a gift card) under the ribbon (guess where I bought my supplies) *grin* (Figure 18)
  13. But I had diapers leftover after this, and as no diaper should go to waste (until filled with waste, ha ha) I rolled those up as well; and made two ‘mini cakes’.
  14. I only had one Receiving Blanket left and after much fussing I decided to fold it in thirds and wrap my little two layer cake. Notice I folded in the end that would be on the outside, to make it look smoother. (Figure 19)
  15. Then I tied it up, one ribbon per layer, and it made a nice little side dish for the main cake (Figure 20)
Figure 20
I’m afraid I forgot to get picture from the baby Shower itself where the cake was presented. But there you have it, and easy, though not necessarily quick, way to create a pretty (comma optional) useful centerpiece for any Baby shower. (Cause I know all my readers are attending lots... *laugh*)

This is just one of the ways I spend my creative energies when I’m not writing.

Next up I might be documenting my Halloween Costume creation process.

I might as well, seeing as this is my Diary, why fill you in on all my creative endeavors. I might even put in some useful information, like how to format a document for Create Space using Word. Cause I can do that. *grins*
 

:} Cathryn

P.S. Appologies for being inconsistant with posting lately. A Family Crisis and adding some new things to my responsibilities list has taken some adjusting to. I hope to return to my more regularly scheduled posting soon. Though if it doesn’t happen until next year (January 2013) you have been warned! *grins*
 
The Figures for your creating reference!
 
Figure 1



Figure 2


Figure 3


Figure 4


Figure 5


Figure 6


Figure 7


Figure  8


Figure 9


Figure 10


Figure 11

Figure 12


Figure 13


Figure 14


Figure 15


Figure 16


Figure 17


Figure 19
 

Saturday, September 1, 2012

To Review or not to Review that is the...


Lemon! No wait, sorry I had a surrealist moment and really, there is no question. I’m not reviewing a book this month because I beta read Destroying by Miriam Joy rather than something published. However, sending her my comments gave me my idea for this post – A review of the edits I made to draft seven of Watching, also by Miriam Joy (and she gave me her permission).

Now, I’m no expert editor with years of experience. Watching was the first non-self book I’ve edited, but Miriam claims it helped her a lot. So, without further ado I give you the original passage, with a word count of 208. 
     “Hi,” I said with a tight smile, and hoped that would be enough to stop myself from appearing rude. It seemed to be all that was required.     Talking to her parents was not easy. It would have been hard to talk to the parents of the girl I had just almost kissed even if I wasn’t absolutely crap at talking to humans – especially the adults – the rest of the time.     “So, Alex, you’re a friend of Jennie’s from school, right?” Her father was speaking, laying the table while Jennie and Alex bustled around, helping their mother to serve the food. I could smell pizza. I forced a smile onto my face before I replied.     “Well, we’re in the same set, yes, but we hadn’t talked that much before recently,” I said truthfully.     “So what brought you here today?”     “Well, I sort of scared Jennie earlier and I actually came over to apologise,” I said, while looking at her to check I was saying the right thing. “Besides, we hadn’t finished our conversation.” Lame excuse, but nobody noticed because at that moment Jennie and her mother brought over the large plates full of pizza and sat down. I was about to tuck in when their father started saying Grace, which surprised me. I hadn’t known that Jennie came from a Christian family.

Now here is where I requested changes and some whys; [brackets = delete] and (parenthesis = add)
  • “Hi,” I said with a tight smile, [and hoped] (hoping) that [would be] (was) enough to [stop myself] (keep me) from appearing rude.
    - The first two changes are about tightening the sentence, while the last one is, I hope, using stronger words,  
  • Talking to her parents was not easy. It would have been hard to talk to the parents of the girl I had just almost kissed even if I wasn’t absolutely crap at talking to humans – especially the adults – the rest of the time.
    - I didn’t change anything here, but I did make a note on how this statement related to Alex’s character and his interactions with others
  • “So, Alex, [you’re] (you are) a friend of Jennie’s [from school, right] (then)?”
    -  Its hard to emphasis a contracted word, and how they are friends isn’t as important to the father clarifying that Alex is or isn’t a friend, since there’s been some waffling on this subject earlier.
  • Her father was [speaking] (spoke as he ), [laying] (laid) the table(.) [while Jennie and Alex bustled around, helping their mother to serve the food.]
    - This sentence was long and the second half of it unnecessary, especialy since Alex wasn’t helping (probably should have been Alys, the little sister)
  • [I could smell pizza.]
    - Not needed, we find out about the Pizza at an appropriate time later.
  • I forced a smile onto my face(.) [before I replied.]
    - His dialog follows this so before I replied isn’t necessary.
  • “Well, we’re in the same set, yes, but we hadn’t talked that much before recently[,](.)” I [said] (was) truthful[ly].
    - I decided that said wasn’t needed and in taking it out the adverb ‘disappeared’.
  •  “Well, I sort of scared Jennie earlier and I actually came over to apologise[,](,)” I [said, while looking] (looked) at her to check I was saying the right thing.
    - notice that removing said, allows us to remove one more word and we break a long sentence into two (not always necessary)
  • I was about to tuck in when their father started saying Grace[, which surprised me]. (Surprised I bowed my head;) I hadn’t known [that] Jennie(’s family was) [came from a] Christian [family].
    - Here I chose to take Alex’s reaction to the action (saying grace) into a separate sentence, while trying to tighten up the wording.


The hardest part of the editing is keeping the author’s style. You’ll not I removed said twice. It’s a word I tend to avoid, but one that Miriam likes to use. There’s no wrong or right way, it’s just a matter of preference. I’d like to think that because I wasn’t changing said to a descriptor (like yelled or whispered), I managed to keep her style. But here, you judge if the 187 word result sounds similar in style, I didn't check to see what she did with my comments.
     “Hi,” I said with a tight smile, hoping that was enough to keep me from appearing rude.
     Talking to her parents was not easy. It would have been hard to talk to the parents of the girl I had just almost kissed even if I wasn’t absolutely crap at talking to humans – especially the adults – the rest of the time.     “So, Alex, you are a friend of Jennie’s, then?” Her father spoke as he laid the table.
     I forced a smile onto my face. “Well, we’re in the same set, yes, but we hadn’t talked that much before recently.” I was truthful.     “So what brought you here today?”     “Well, I sort of scared Jennie earlier and I actually came over to apologise.” I looked at her to check I was saying the right thing. “Besides, we hadn’t finished our conversation.”
     Lame excuse, but nobody noticed because at that moment Jennie and her mother brought over large plates full of pizza and sat down. I was about to tuck in when their father started saying Grace. Surprised I bowed my head; I hadn’t known Jennie’s family was Christian.

Now what do you think? Is it better or worse than the original passage? Are there additional things you might change if you were editing it?


:} Cathryn Leigh