baby #2 Archives - 2 Sisters 2 Cities

DIY Baby Closet Dividers

Materials

empty cereal, cracker, or snack cardboard boxes

large circle trace (I used a plastic take-out container)

small circle trace (I used a spice jar)

pencil

scissors

decorative contact paper

stickers or labels

Instructions

DIY Baby Closet Dividers {from 2 Sisters 2 Cities}

Use the scissors to cut two large squares out of the decorative contact paper (make sure the squares are larger than the large circle trace you plan on using.)

Remove the backing from the contact paper and place on both sides of a flat piece of cardboard. The squares should match up so that when you cut a circle out of the cardboard, the contact paper will fully cover the circle on both sides.

Using a pencil and large circle trace, trace a circle on one side of the square contact paper. Then, using the small circle trace, trace a small circle in the middle of the large circle that you just traced.

With your scissors, follow the large circle trace and cut the large circle from the piece of cardboard. Then, cut two small even slits to cut out the small circle trace from the center. Neaten any edges so that both circles appear even and smooth.

Repeat this process 5-8 times depending on how many baby closet dividers you want to make. (I made six of them since I will likely be storing away the baby clothes once the baby grows out of them. I will then change the sticker out on the divider for a larger clothes size.)

Label 6-9 stickers with common baby clothes sizes: newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, 18-24 months, 2T, 3T, and 4T. Apply sticker or label to top of clothes dividers.

Hang in closet and organize baby’s clothes by size!

Baby Closet Dividers {from 2 Sisters 2 Cities}

I love how this project turned out! Plus, I love being able to look at that first newborn onesie every time I open the closet door- I can never get over how little and cute newborn clothes are. It barely even fits on the mini hanger!

T never had a closet in our city condo since the closet in his nursery served as my husband’s main closet. I used a lot of baskets to divide his clothes by size and type and stored them on a bookshelf. While that system worked well, I really like having everything organized and hanging in a closet this time around. It’s much easier to visualize what I have by size with everything in sight. I still need to do a little more organizing once I move the dresser and changing table into this room, but it’s come a long way from the catch-all closet it used to be.

Have you ever seen an idea on Etsy or a retail store that you decided to make yourself?

The big day has arrived and we finally found out what the gender of baby #2 was this morning! Thank you so much to everyone who entered our Oh Baby $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway and left their prediction. I loved reading everyone’s comments and guesses as to whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. Congrats to the winner of the gift card, Krystal M.!

I wanted to announce the baby’s gender in a special way- through a cupcake recipe! I have seen so many cute ideas for gender reveals and wanted to fill a cupcake with either pink or blue frosting so you discover the baby’s gender with your first sweet bite of cupcake. I think most people have the ultrasound technician write down the gender and put it in a sealed envelope, which then goes to the baker to make the appropriately-filled cupcakes. I, however, needed to know the gender the very second it was possible for me to know. I thought it would be really fun to try making these cupcakes myself and share the recipe/tutorial on 2S2C!

Before I share the final gender reveal, I did a little number crunching from the gender prediction comments in the giveaway. 51.4% of you predicted a girl, while 49.6% predicted a boy.

OK, who’s ready for the big reveal? Is baby #2 going to be a boy or girl? Team pink or team blue?

Are you sure you are ready?

Would you like to make one final guess?

3, 2, 1…

gender reveal cupcakes

Yes, it’s going to be another crazy little boy in our household! Baby T is going to love having a little brother (I hope!) While part of me hoped the baby was going to be a girl, I pretty much knew it was going to another bouncing baby boy. Many of you mentioned with your prediction that you have to give a lot of credit to mother’s intuition and I definitely have thought that this pregnancy feels very similar to the last. With two boys, I have a feeling the next few years (or 18) will be very active ones- please feel free to send any unused Starbucks cards my way! Hopefully the two of them will be best of friends.

I put together a picture tutorial of how I made these cupcakes. I just happened to find a little tool that made a hole in the cupcakes when I was in Marshall’s the other day. It was only $2 so I picked it up, but you certainly would be able to do the same thing with a small paring knife. Here are the six steps you need to take to enjoy your gender reveal cupcakes:

Gender Reveal Cupcakes Tutorial {from 2 Sisters 2 Cities}

I opted for a vanilla bean cupcake and vanilla bean buttercream frosting so the blue would really shine through. I also just bought a huge bag of vanilla beans on-line for ice cream making and I wanted to try it with baking.

gender reveal cupcakes

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 1 hour 25 mins

Ingredients

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out
½ cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
1 and ¼ cups buttermilk (I did not have buttermilk so I used mixed up a powder buttermilk with water)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Whipped Vanilla Buttercream

1 and ½ cups butter, plus 2 tablespoons (3 sticks, plus 3 tbsp.), at room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare two cupcakes pans by lining them with (gender neutral!) paper liners.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set flour mixture aside. Meanwhile, add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the bow. Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and vanilla mixture for 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Periodically scrape down the bowl.
Add the sugar to the butter mixture, one cup at a time. Beat for 1 minute after each cup. Add the eggs and continue to mix one at a time. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add a bit of liquid mixture and flour mixture to the butter mixture and allow to incorporate after each addition. Continue to add the liquid and flour mixture until it all has been added to the cupcake batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking cup liners about ⅔rd of the way through (you may end up with extra batter.) Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick entered in the center of each cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Let cupcakes cook completely before frosting.

Whipped Vanilla Buttercream

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. With the whisk attachment, blend the butter on medium-high speed for about a minute. Add the scraped out vanilla bean seeds and salt to the butter mixture and continue to whisk for another minute. Add the heavy cream and vanilla, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and continue to whip the frosting for another 4 minutes on high speed.
To make gender reveal cupcakes, remove about ¾ of the vanilla bean frosting and add it to an icing bag. With the remaining ¼ of the frosting, add either blue or pink food coloring for the cupcakes' inner filling. Once completely blended, add blue/pink frosting to a second icing bag.
Using a cupcake corer tool or a small paring knife, cut a hole on the top center of each cupcake. Carefully remove cupcake core and fill with blue or pink frosting. Add cupcake core back to the top of the cupcake and pat it down. Frost the top of the cupcake with the white vanilla bean icing.

Source: Vanilla Bean Cupcake and Whipped Vanilla Buttercream slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats

Was your prediction correct?!?

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