Another Super Cute Frog Cake!

When I found out that some high school friends were expecting a baby I was so incredibly thrilled for them. This was one shower I wasn't going to miss. I wanted to make an especially adorable diaper cake (of course, I think almost all my diaper cakes are especially adorable).

Inspired by a crib sheet that they had picked out on the registry, I got to work making a frog cake, one of my most favorite diaper cake themes. Though the crib sheet and some coordinating blankets that I added were technically gender-neutral, I made sure to add some blue elements into the green and yellow cake since my friends knew that they were going to have a boy. Washcloths, baby spoons, socks, and a super adorable plush frog completed the decorations on the cake. Of course, I also had to add a handmade crocheted baby beanie too.

I absolutely loved the final look of this cake. It made the perfect gift for my friends and earned a lot of oohs and ahhs at the baby shower. Most importantly, of course, the expectant mama really liked the cake and that's really my goal with every diaper cake and baby gift that I make.

About to Pop!

And expectant mama contacted me about a diaper cake that she wanted me to make for her shower. Her shower had an "about to pop" theme. She was planning on using the colors hot pink, orange, and yellow and incorporating as many "pop" things as she could including lollipops and popcorn. The challenge was to make a coordinating diaper cake to go along with the theme and color scheme. As with all themes presented to me, this was a challenge that I wanted to meet.

For this cake given a slightly smaller budget and lack of available appropriate baby items, I chose to do a "naked" cake. I knew right away that I wanted to incorporate baby washcloths formed into lollipops as that would meld well with the theme. I used to washcloths in coordinating colors to go with the scheme and created a topper and added several as decoration on the sides of the tiers. They cake still seem to be missing something, and I really wanted to find a way to incorporate popcorn into the cake as this was something specific the mom had mentioned to add to her "about to pop" theme. After a lot of brainstorming I came up with an incredibly adorable idea that made the perfect accent to the cake. I developed miniature card stock popcorn containers that I attached along the middle tier of the cake. Yellow curling ribbon was then curled and places into the boxes to create the look of popcorn. Rather then finish off this cake with paper shred like I do many of my cakes I chose to use hot pink, orange, and yellow curling ribbon to decorate the tops of the tiers.

The final cake was truly a masterpiece. Once again, I found myself having a difficult time deciding if this or one of my other cakes was truly my favorite. The theme could not have been matched better. My customer loved the cake, and it created a perfect centerpiece for her baby shower decorations.

Another Baby Cake...

The time had come for another shower among my mom group and that meant making another baby cake since the expectant mom was a cloth diapering mom. This time around, I got to try my hand at a project (or several) for a little girl. Ever in search of new ways to use my skills and new items to add to my product line, I decided to make a tagged lovey for this mama - or her baby, rather. I set out to begin my nursery set which would be formed into a baby cake similar to others I'd made for cloth diapering mamas.

The base of the cake was a set of 3 taggy blocks similar to ones I'd made for other baby cakes seen here. I used cotton flannel in various shades of purple (a color requested by the mom) and super cuddly purple material on some panels to add extra texture. My next project was outer wrappings for the cake like how I add blankets to some of my diaper cakes. For this cake, I created the tagged lovey, a small blanket with ribbon tags added for sensory stimulation. Loveys make great gifts since babies can carry them around as a security items without dragging a large blanket with them, and of course, babies love tags! I used the same flannel material that I used for the tagged blocks and the matching super cuddly purple material for the backing of the lovey. My next project was coordinating burp cloths using the same flannel I'd used in the previous projects.

With the items for the main cakes structure completed, I then went on to make the added decorations for the cake. I adjusted the basic beanie pattern that I often use to create an adorable scalloped hat with some open rows, a popular design these days that is often paired with flower or bow hair clips. Other items I added to the cake for decoration included lavender washcloth daisies, a pair of socks, and a handmade purple ribbon bow.

The final cake was beautiful. It was a lot of purple. The mama really enjoyed it and that is what's most important!

Chocolate, Blue, and Puppies!

I was contacted by a woman that was interested in a very short order. As in the next day. Yikes! Sadly, I got her e-mail at the end of the day and was able to reply and get a response fairly quickly, but with limited information - only the colors blue and chocolate. Fortunately, I had an idea right away. I had an adorable set of blue blankets with puppies on them so I decided to use these as the foundation for the diaper cake.

I got to work on a three tier cake, building it with my spiral design that I've switched to for the majority of my projects. I added the blankets and some coordinating white and chocolate ribbon. I finished the cake with a lot of blue baby items including a handmade crocheted baby beanie. I would have liked to add a plush puppy topper, but since this was a rush order, I didn't have time to get a stuffed animal for it. I really liked the finished project even without a topper for the cake.

Unfortunately, I didn't hear back from my customer, even after I finished the cake and sent her a picture. I suppose it was too late. I'm not really sure what happened. I just ended up with an additional cake in inventory. At this point (as of November 2012), I'm still offering the cake for sale. I can always add the puppy topper if requested which I feel would really finish off the cake.