Easy Rustic Baby Shower Centerpieces

These DIY sock rose arrangements are fun and easy to make. They can be made well ahead of time, just adding baby's breath on the big day. Choose your theme with matching coloured socks and the new baby will have a bunch of new socks when the day is over!

What you'll need:

Mini clay pots

Green florist sponge

Burlap

Wooden skewers 

Pruners or strong scissors

Cuffed baby socks

Silk greenery, vines

Cupcake toppers

Double stick tape

Baby's breath

Start by cutting florist sponge into pieces that will fit in the pots. Tuck in a square of burlap. 

Our theme was classic Winnie the Pooh so we found these cute cupcake toppers (Amazon find) and used double stick tape to attach them back to back on a skewer.

The sock roses were fun to make but remember when buying the socks that you will be turning the cuff inside out so make sure the inside looks the same as the outside (not thready). What you need to do is start at the toe and roll the sock up, then turn the cuff up over the bottom of the rose. Adjust to form the shaped rose (full or bud) you want then place the skewer up in the bottom for the stem. You may want to snip the skewers at different lengths using a pruner.

Once all the roses are made add a sprig of greenery to the pot, place the roses and themed toppers then fill in any gaps with baby's breath. 

They can be placed on burlap runners with garlands of more greenery to complete the look.

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Flavoured Sugar Shower Favors

In this post I'm sharing two flavour infused sugar recipes ... lavender and vanilla cinnamon. They are simple to make and add a hint of something extra to your tea. Pair them with some flavoured teas and pop in goodie bags for guests to take home from a bridal or baby shower. Or just treat yourself! You could use flavoured sugar to rim an iced tea glass or you could bake with it. Imagine a lavender sugar shortbread cookie? Hmm...I might have to get on that!

Lavender Sugar:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp edible lavender

2 1/2 tsps water

food colour (optional)

mini zipper bags (I found mine at Michael's craft store)

Using a mortar and pestle grind up the lavender adding a little sugar to help with the process. When it is ground pretty fine mix it with the sugar, cover and store at least 2 weeks so the lavender has time to infuse the sugar. You can sift the lavender out once infused or leave it in. Your sugar is ready to use.

If you choose to make sugar cubes or molds like these bells it is best to sift out the lavender. Mix water (and food colour) into the infused sugar, with just enough for the sugar to hold together when pressed. Using small molds, I used a bell-shaped chocolate mold, firmly press the sugar into each. Let them sit overnight at room temperature to set.

Once set gently turn them over and pop out of the molds. As you can see here I tried some with the lavender left in the sugar and found sifted out looked better.

Place them in mini zipper bags and attach to your chosen tea. Label if you like. I paired these lavender bells with Lemon Ginger tea.

Vanilla Cinnamon Sugar:

1 cup sugar

2 or 3 cinnamon sticks

2-4 tbsps pure vanilla extract

Bury the cinnamon sticks in the sugar, cover and leave to infuse for 2-3 weeks.

After the sugar has had time to absorb the cinnamon scent remove the sticks and add the vanilla.

Stir well to combine the vanilla with the sugar, then spread on a lined cookie sheet to dry, usually 12 hours or so. Then crush the lumps of sugar with a mortar and pestle or you could grind in a coffee grinder or food processor.

This time I left the sugar loose, bagged and tagged it and attached to a Chai Spice tea.

We packaged these teas and sugar with some chocolate kisses and honey spoons for a sweet take-away treat.

Follow hotandcoldrunningmom on Pinterest. You can scan the pincode seen here with your phone if you're on a desktop. If you're on a phone just screenshot it, go to the Pinterest app, click camera. Then instead of taking a pic use the option to use one of your photos. Click on the screenshot you just took and go right to my Pinterest profile where you can follow me 🙂