April Showers Care Package

April "Showers" Care Package

One thing that many soldiers want when they are deployed are the toiletries that they are used to using at home. My husband told me that they have very generic brands of deoderant, body wash, etc. so I sent him a box of all of his favorites!

Here is what I included in this box:

• Braun Electric Shaver Cleaning Kit: My husband bought an electric shaver before he left, but forgot the cleaning machine so I had to send it to him. I also send him replacement cleaning cartriges.
• Body Wash: My husband likes the Dove Men + Care brand and they had a sale at Costco, thus the three large sizes.
• Deoderant: My husband likes the Old Spice ones so I bought a couple different scents for him so he can switch it up
• Mouthwash
• Eye Wash
• Blistex
• A loofah
• Face Wash
• Wet Ones Wipes
• Q-tips
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Hand Sanitizer
• A rubber duckie to round out the theme!

Impotant things to rememeber when sending any sort of liquid - Put everything that can leak or melt in a ziploc bag. This is so that if one thing leaks it won't ruin the rest of the things that are in the box.



The box all decorated! I just used scrapbook paper to line the sides
and bottom of the box. Then just add stickers and some sayings!




All of the things that I included in the box.




The box all packed. Yes, I pack all of the boxes I send to the brim!



I hope this gave you some inspiration! Have fun and stay safe!

How to Make Diaper Cakes!

Making Diaper Cakes!

Over the past few months, I have attended several baby showers. I started with my sister's baby shower in which I made my very first diaper cake! Then I made another one for my friend's baby shower. I was very intimidated when I started, but it turns out to be super easy, and quite a fun time!

Supplies you will need:

• Diapers - my friend said that the best diapers are Pampers, and you can really choose any size because they will get used! The smaller the diaper, the more you will have to use. For my first cake I used size 1 for the bottom two tiers, and size newborn for the top two. Total I used 150 diapers. For the second cake I used only size 2 and I only used about
• Clear rubber bands - I bought the clear rubber band hair ties from Walmart
• Ribbon - Choose a ribbon that will go along with the theme, I chose pink for my sister's and a baby one for my friend's
• A base - I used a 14" cardboard cake platter that I got from Walmart
• A topper - I like to use stuffed animals
• Baby Stuff! - I like to add travel sized toletries, ribbons, hair accessories, pacifier, socks, etc. But choose whatever works with what you want it to be!

Steps to take:

1. Buy all of your supplies!
2. Roll each individual diaper and wrap a clear rubber band around it. I like to wrap them up so that the markings on the diaper are on the inside so all you see is white.
3.  Create your tiers of diapers. This can be difficult so I'm going to break it down:
• For the first cake I used size newborn and size one diapers which made it difficult because they were so tiny. I had to use the inside corner of a carboard box to help me to stand the diapers up so that I could get a ribbon around all of them. For the second cake I used size 2 diapers which were easier to stand up, I didn't have to use a cardboard box.
• Then, I used the thin like cheap curly ribbon to start becuase I didn't want to mess up the pretty ribbon and it was easy to tie and untie. This part took time because I wanted to make each tier a little bit smaller and still use all of the diapers. This just takes a little bit of time and patience to get it to look the way that you want it to look
• Once you have your tiers the perfect size, tie the pretty ribbon around it. I like to tie the ribbon in a bow because I think that it looks pretty, but I have seen it where they use pins to just secure the ribbon in place. One thing that I have learned is to NOT use super glue because the glue goes through the ribbon and ruins the diaper underneath.
4. Now is the fun part - Add all of the extra decorations and toiletries! I space them out, and even put some on the back if you run out of room!
5. Transporting the diaper cake: What I have learned is to take the tiers apart when you transport them because otherwise they will fall all over your car and can come apart. Then you have to worry about putting the tiers back together once you reach the party instead of just stacking them.  

St. Patrick's Day Care Package

St. Patrick's Day Care Package


My husband left for Afghanistan at the beginning of March, and so the first boxes that I sent him were for St. Patrick's Day! I had a lot of fun doing these boxes!!! At first, I didn't know what exactly to send him, but I wanted to stick with the theme. I ended up walking through the store and grabbed anything that was green. Below is a list of everything that I included in this box.

All of the things that I put in the two boxes.

 

Box #1 All Packed



Box #2 All Packed

Here is what was in these boxes:

• Treat Bags "Pot of Gold at the end of the Rainbow" : Twizzlers Rainbow with Rolos.
• Guiness Chocolate Chip Cookies (because one of my husband's favorite beers is Guiness, and he always drinks Guiness on St. Patrick's Day; and since I couldn't send him the beer, I sent him the next best thing!) I found the recipe on this website: Guiness Chocolate Chip Cookies
• St. Patrick's Day paraphernalia (mostly found at the dollar store or in the dollar section at Target):
• Socks
• Shamrock Glasses
• Neck Tie
• Glow Bracelets
• Beaded Necklaces
• Lights
• Straws
• Light up cup
• Shamrock rug
• "Green" food
• Pringles Sour Cream and Onion
• Nature Valley Granola Bars
• Green Licorice
• Men's Health Mixed Nuts
• Mint M&M's
• Sour Skittles
• Warheads
• Sleepytime tea
• Turkey Jerkey
• Lucky Charms
• Chocolate Gold Coins

Decorating the boxes: Since this was my first time, I had not discovered the trick of using scrapbook paper, so I used wrapping paper. It was very difficult and didn't turn out very pretty. I also decorated it with shamrock stickers, and on the second box I wrote "I'm so lucky to have you because...." and I wrote all of the reasons why I am so lucky to have my husband in my life.

What I learned after my husband received this package: I went a little over board with all of the paraphernalia. I forgot that he really has no place to wear any of this and that it really just takes up space in his tiny room. So, lesson learned... Only a couple silly things to go with the theme! And keep it cheap (dollar store) because they will probably end up throwing it away anyhow.

That's all for now, so until next time.... Have fun and stay safe!