There is a baby boom happening around me lately. It seems like everyone is having a baby! As much as the time allows , I try to make some handmade gifts for them. It is more time consuming, but there is also something special about staying late at night, using my hands to create for your friends. For baby shower gifts, I try to avoid baby clothes because when you get a ton of new born clothes which won’t last for a long time because baby grows so quick. It might not be as fun but I like to give practical gifts like diapers and nursing pads because you will definitely need them. Here are some of my ideas to pretify the rather boring gifts:
1. Diaper cake
This one is fun to make and you can be creative with the toppings. My friend made me one when I was having baby and I appreciated having extra diapers around when I forgot to buy some.
I used one pack of diapers (about 80 diapers). I separated them in three, rolled them up (put in a toilet paper core in the middle for the biggest roll), and tie with an elastic band. To connect three diaper cake rolls together, I used disposable chopsticks, just stick a few of them in the middle.
Since my friend was having a baby boy, I used some fabric left overs in sky blue (from this dress) and trims. To secure the end, I stapled them together. Perhaps you can use hot glue gun to do the same. I added a cardboard cut in the same size circle of the bottom diaper roll, covered in the same blue fabric for the very bottom for extra security.
Now the fun part: toppings! I found these tiny paper cars and trains at Okashi Tengoku （お菓子天国）. It literally means Snack Heaven. They have all kinds of Japanese snacks. The one I went was in the second floor of Toyosu Viva Home. To attach the toppings, I used tooth picks. It wasn’t the most secure way to put them on, but they stood ok.
2. Embroidered card
While I was in Philadelphia, I took some embroidery project with me. I worked on it while I sat on the couch and chatted with grandma. One of my favorite stitches I learned is the chain stitch. I looks pretty when you use a thick thread, like 6 thread embroidery strand. There are many tutorials on how to do chain stitch on the internet so I won’t go into the detail here. This tutorial is easy to follow.
To make the card, I stole a colored paper from Kiko’s craft drawer and drew the letter, “BOY”. Then using 6 embroidery together, chain stitch along the letter drawn with a pencil. 
Guess what’s inside the tulle wrapping? It is nursing pads! Well, they were specifically requested by the mom-to-be. You need a lot of those for the first few months. I made myself some washable nursing pads, but by the end of breast feeding, I was tired of washing them after each use. Disposable ones would have come very handy.
3. Initial embroidered cloth washable wipes
The idea is the same as the gift idea #2. I bought a plain white cloth wipes and embroider the baby’s last name initial using chain stitch. 
Hope you like my ideas!
最近私の周りではベビーブームが来てます。
毎月、誰かが出産していて、よくベビーシャワー（産まれる前に妊婦さんにベビーグッズのプレゼントをあげるパーティーみたいなもの）にお呼ばれするので、時間がある限り、手作りギフトを持っていくようにしてます。
おむつケーキ。これは持ってくと結構注目の的になれるのでうれしいです♪
簡単だし、性別に合わせて上に載せるトッピングに凝ったりして、楽しい。
今回は男の子だったので、お菓子天国で買ったお菓子トラックなどを載せました。
女の子だったら、造花とか、赤ちゃんが使えるヘアグッズ（ヘッドバンドとか）でもかわいいかも。
他の二つは、刺繍のチェーンスティッチを使って、カスタマイズできるものです。
少し、時間をかけてパーソナリティを加えてみるのが好きです。
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