A Little Spacey

When a friend and neighbor showed me some of the blankets and nursery accents she was working on for her newest baby on the way, the wheels started turning. Of course, I had to make a diaper cake for her and being sneaky like I am, I made a point to take note of the theme she was going with - outer space.

I daresay, I thought the project to create an outer space diaper cake was going to be much simpler, or perhaps, it's just the way I work, but the whole project took much more time than I anticipated and sadly, it was delivered after the baby was born. At least it wasn't so late that she couldn't use the diapers.

To coordinate the theme, I decided to make a baby quilt with space printed fabric. I'm still new to quilting, but I wanted to do this right, so I planned it all ahead and went to work. No complicated shapes, just squares and strips, and I think for my second true quilt (not counting the rag quilts I'd made for previous gifts) this one came out great, especially since it was my first time designing one and not following anyone else's instructions! I even managed to have the finished project the size I was going for (40"x40"). In the end it was an adorable quilt made of cotton print with super low loft poly/cotton batting, making it a nice light quilt for a summer baby.

Of course, for a whole diaper cake, I needed a few more items to go around the tiers, so I created some coordinating burp cloths. Two were solid colored in a turquoise flannel that matched the quilt. I then made a third burp cloth with bright orange flannel that coordinated with the quilt and accented it on one end with the cotton space print material used in the quilt. The burp cloths were great, but unfortunately they weren't enough on their own and I needed one more item for the cake.

I decided to try a brand new project and make a pair of cotton pants with some of the matching cotton material. I found a pattern for newborn pants and got to work. The main part of the pants were made with the space print cotton fabric. I added extra thick cuffs at the bottom of the pants using the turquoise material from the quilt so that the ends could be rolled to adjust for length. I love how they turned out. It's hard to imagine a baby that small, but they fit the new baby great.

With all of these items together, it created my third "Nursery Set." Nursery Sets are basically a collection of coordinated baby items that can be created and then either gifted as the set itself or they can be incorporated into a cake to make a themed diaper cake. Previous nursery sets can be seen here where I created two rag quilt nursery sets for cloth diapering mamas. This complete set included one quilt, three burp cloths and a pair of newborn pants.

With all the items completed, I was able to begin work on the cake. the quilt became the decoration for the bottom tier. The middle tier held the two turquoise burp cloths and the pants and third embellished burp cloth adorned the top tier. Additional goodies were added to the cake including a pair of socks, teethers, and washcloths. As a final touch, I placed a rattle on the top of the cake and I love how it looks "spacey" and the colors match wonderfully. I don't think I could have picked a better cake topper. Of course, the best part of the whole thing was that the mom liked the diaper cake and was especially excited that it was spaced themed, just as she selected for the nursery.

/

Jungle Fever

Jungle themes in baby rooms are incredibly popular. As a result, I've created a number of diaper cakes and other gifts with jungle themes. I personally love them and can't wait for the opportunity to make more! I recently had an order for a buggy with a jungle theme.

For this buggy, I was hoping to make the design a bit more "mom friendly" as my traditional design incorporates rolled diapers which can be tedious to take apart for use. Fortunately, the buggies contain a modest enough number of diapers to ease the task a bit. In any case, I managed to create this buggy with a minimal number of rolled diapers and achieved a similar enough effect. The outer "basket" portion of the buggy was adorned with a jungle print crib sheet that matched items on the mom's registry. Washcloths from the registry were used to complete the hood and blanket of the buggy. Several additional washcloths were hidden within the buggy to improve the overall shape that was lost due to the alteration in design. Two pacifiers were added inside the buggy, also chosen from the registry. As a final touch, giraffe print ribbon and a washcloth flower were added.

For more ideas about jungle, jungle related, and animal themes, check out my posts on these baby gifts:

2-tier Giraffe Safari Cake
2-tier Lion Safari Cake
Jungle/Safari Taggy Blocks
Jungle/Safari Burp Cloths
3-tier Monkey/Flower Cake
2-tier Giraffe Print Diaper-free Baby Cake
3-tier Monkey Cake
Monkey Tricycle

As I mentioned, I'm excited about more jungle themes in the future and can't wait to see what challenges are presented to me.

Shower Sets

One fantastic thing about baby diaper gifts is the ability to make many different items. This versatility lends itself to so many incredible options. Because of those options, it becomes possible to decorate for a shower using several different types of diaper and baby gifts that can be coordinated to match almost any theme imaginable and give a unified look to your shower as well as providing the mom to be with some baby essentials.

I was recently approached for my second shower set (the first being my Paris set that can be seen here and here). For this set, the request was for items in various shades of blue. Fortunately, the expectant mom registered for a number of items that could be coordinated and included in the set. This set contained a bouquet, baby candy, and a diaper cake.

The bouquet was a mini bouquet. It was formed of washcloths into roses of various blues to match the color scheme requested. Six "flowers" were arranged in a small dark basket, the presentation selected by my customer.

Washcloth candy was also part of the set. For this collection, my customer requested a combination of roll and disc candy. She receive one of each shape in four different colors also matching the overall scheme.

The 3-tier diaper cake was built of diapers in my newer spiral style. Hooded towels adorned with trains created the outer decoration for the bottom and middle tiers. Coordinating burp cloths were then used to cover the top tier and add additional decorations. Also included on this cake, were pacifiers, washcloths, socks and a teether toy. As mentioned previously, many of the items included on the cake were from the expectant mom's registry which make for a great gift since she selected the items. The cake was finished with ribbons and paper shred in various shades of blue and white.

The full set had a unified look with coordinating colors in shades of blue with white and green as accent colors. I truly loved the opportunity to create a group of matched gifts and I hope in the future to receive more orders such as this where my gifts are used as decorations for different areas of a shower.

Camo Cake!

My husband's cousin was planning a shower coming up and really wanted a diaper cake. This cake presented a number of challenges, but it was seriously a joy to make.

First on my list of challenges and probably the biggest factor that lead to difficulty was the time table. I had a very short amount of time to get the cake built and to the recipient. Adding to the challenge was the need to ship the cake. I already had the shortened time constraints and I needed to ship my first cake. Fortunately, it was in the same state, albeit the largest continental state, but the same state nonetheless. Third, the theme was a bit of a challenge. Given a bit more time, I may have been able to incorporate the theme a bit better, however, I think it was still successful in the end.

The theme request was for a pink camouflage cake. Pink camo is really in these days, but I did have difficulty finding baby items. The ones I did find, I didn't have time to order, so I was left with what I could find locally, which much to my dismay, was not much. It would figure that much more recently I've seen many pink camouflage things that I could have used had they been available at the time. But I digress...


In any case, the cake started as many others, stacked three tiers high. I used pink and white basic designed blankets for the tiers so as not to distract from the overall camo theme. I then added pacifiers and teethers in different shades of pink to go along with the overall theme. The main item that maintained the theme for the cake was some adorable pink camouflage ribbon that I found. Paired with a darker pink ribbon it really set the tone for the whole cake. As an added little gift to my husband's cousin, I added a pink crocheted baby beanie that was made from a cotton yarn in various shades of pink. The beanie matched the cake wonderfully.


Despite the time constraints, I managed to complete the cake in record time and get it shipped out where it arrived in time for the shower. The recipient loved the cake, which is what I'm going for in most cases. I'm glad that I can complete some orders so quickly. It really is the exception rather than the norm, but when push comes to shove, I really try to do what I can to appease my customers. After all, without them, I can't do what I do.

Luck o' the Irish

This year, I made my second St. Patrick's Day cake. Similar to most of my holiday cakes, this one was a mini cake made for display only.

This year's St. Patty's day cake started as many of the others do containing 24 diapers and stacked in to two tiers. A green receiving blanket and one burp cloth/pre-fold diaper covered the tiers. Green washcloths were added as well. I then added a few touches to bring in the holiday spirit. On the front of the cake, I added a handmade crocheted four-leaf clover hair clip. The cake also features shamrock ribbon on each of the tiers.

I love that this cake, while obviously a holiday cake, includes items that are not specifically holiday related. It is a perfect demonstration of how simply decorating the cake can represent a theme even if the individual items on the cake do not. with the exception of the hair clip, this cake is entirely gender neutral and the baby items includes are appropriate for use all year long.

Repeating designs

Many diaper cake makers are adept at creating a design that can be repeated or they stock up on supplies and are able to make several cakes of a single design. Up until recently, that wasn't something I had ever done. Since most of my cakes are made individually and items are often purchased specifically for each cake, repeating designs is dependent on available items at a later date. In most cases, there really isn't an issue. Making custom cakes has served me well and it means that expectant moms are sure to receive a unique gift.

But what if a customer wants a design I've made before? Or what if a design is popular and a customer wants something similar, if not necessarily the same thing? I never gave it much thought until I was contacted by a woman who really liked my cupcake cake, but wanted it in different colors.

The original chocolate and
pink cupcake diaper cake

When I first received the request, I was a bit worried. The colors selected for the original cake corresponded with the colors in the cupcake blanket which was the base of my design. Chocolate and pink seemed to go with the blankets naturally, so those are the colors I selected for the cake. This new request was for pink and lavender. After a bit of brainstorming, I discovered a way to repeat a similar design while meeting the request for the alternate colors.

Lavender was incorporated
into decorations on the cake

While the colors for the cupcake blanket were fixed, I did have options where I accented the cake with decorations. The basic design of the cake was easy enough to repeat adding the cupcakes on the large tier and a cupcake for the topper, all made with usable baby items, of course. By using socks for the smaller cupcakes, I was able to incorporate lavender and pink. The large cupcake topper also had lavender from washcloths. By adding lavender and pink ribbon to decorate the tiers, I was able to unify the overall look of the cake. I also had a new method for applying the pom pom "cherries" to this cake without having to worry about glue or pins, a challenge I had with the original cake.

The end product came out great and my customer loved it. The door is certainly open for possibly repeating or adapting designs in the future. I certainly am more open to it now that I've done it once. Certainly, not all can be adapted, but some can and it's exciting to see the possibilities!

Crochet, crochet

Because I don't have enough to do (that's sarcasm by the way), I've been picking up random crochet projects. The thing I like about crochet is that you can sit and crochet while watching TV so it sort of gives you a sense of being productive while vegging. At least that's what I tell myself.

I started to crochet baby items to incorporate into my diaper cakes starting with a harvest baby cake I made in November. I was searching for a way to add decorative accents that would also double as functional baby items, but that's difficult to do when you have a harvest theme, so I came up with crochet plush squashes and gourds which then become soft play food for children. Not long after that, I had an order for a geek cake where finding baby items to go along with this theme was next to impossible, so I crocheted a stuffed critter topper for that cake as well. Then in January, I wanted to add more accents to my nursery set baby cakes so I crocheted some baby beanies and flower hair clips. Before I realized it, I had a whole set of new baby items that could be added to my product line.

While most of the first crocheted items I created were intended as accents to diaper cakes, that didn't mean that was the only option. Many items can be stand alone if a diaper cake isn't appropriate or if the expectant mama will already be receiving another one. I started thinking of all the additional things I could make and offer.

Among the new items I decided to come up with was more crocheted food. Kids and toddlers love to play kitchen and soft play food makes a great gift (especially in my house where items like that have a tendency to become airborne). I started developing my own patterns for a collection of vegetables and a matching market bag. After creating the first set, it was given as a gift for a first birthday present. The kiddo loved it!

It doesn't end there. I have since made many more hair clips, including a four-leaf clover for St. Patrick's Day and more beanie hats. I also have plans for a set of fruit to go along with the play food offerings and more baby friendly toys. I thoroughly enjoy making all of these items and I think it adds a unique twist to the diaper cakes I offer as well as creating stand-alone gifts. This of course is one more way to offer something truly unique.