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.

Introducing Towel Cakes!

One item that I seen starting to pop up is towel cakes. For quite some time now I've been interested in making them but haven't really had the opportunity to try it. My favorite gift to give it wedding is towels and this is most commonly where you see towel cakes given, but I don't seem to have too many friends planning their nuptials these days. There are, however, other opportunities and recently I found one where I could try my hand at it. A friend of mine just recently found out that she was pregnant, so, I decided I would make her a little spa gift to help to pamper herself and find ways to try to relax and feel better in early stages of pregnancy. Thus, I developed my very first towel cake.

I started out trying to nonchalantly probe her with questions regarding her bathroom. I wanted to make sure that the towels I chose would at least coordinate with her current color palette. After succeeding in my task, I began to gather items that I felt would be good to help an expectant mama relax and pamper herself. A jar of coconut oil became the main structure for the the cake. Coconut oil is commonly used as a skin moisturizer (among other things) and used by some as an alternate to cocoa butter to help with stretch marks. This was the personal choice for my friend so that's what I decided to use for the cake. I then began forming the rest of the cake with various sized towels and wash cloths that coordinated with her bathroom. The other touches added to the cake were some LED flame-less tea lights, some morning sickness herbal tea, and a bath pouf.

The cake turned out adorable. It was basic with a very clean look to it. I would love the opportunity to make some more cakes similar to this one as it was such a joy to make. It also was a fantastic surprise to my friend who was really feeling the negative effects of the early stages of pregnancy. Similar cakes could contain any number of other spa products that an expectant mama may like. The options for personalization of this type of cake are endless just as they are with diaper cakes. I can't wait for my next towel cake opportunity!

Naked Cake!

One of the things I always prided myself in when making my cakes was the number of baby items I included in the cakes. I always used blankets or towels (or something similar) and added toys, wash cloths, utensils, etc. to accent and decorate the cake. I loved providing a beautiful cake where my customer could appreciate the value included. I never considered making a cake with no blankets. I figured I could if someone asked, but my default was to always have a covering for the diapers. And then I got that request.

My customer wanted a cake that was simple and clean. She wanted baby blue accents but nothing flashy or too showy, so a "naked" cake was just the thing she needed. We had some discussions back and forth and she had a picture of a cake she liked.

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. After all, to have the diapers exposed meant that special care was needed. The diapers selected needed to be white, or at least the color on them needed to be easily concealed. When building the cake, I needed to be sure the spacing of the diapers was even - this is a lot harder than it sounds. In my opinion, a spiral style cake looks great for a "naked" cake, so that's the style I did (although, regardless of this, I'm moving more toward that style in most cases anyway). For this cake, I also wanted to go big, so I opted for a 4-tier cake. The nice thing about not having a large quantity of baby items, blankets, and accents is that price-wise, you can often trade up for a bigger cake. I found some baby blue ribbon and accents including wash cloths, baby spoons, and baby powder to complete the cake. I finished it off with a large looped bow on the top and several smaller bows applied to the ribbon around the cake. A previous cake I had done included lettering of the baby's name which my customer loved and wanted incorporated into this cake as well. Finding the letters that coordinated was no small task, but I made it work.

In the end, I actually love the final look of the cake. I have to admit, I've always been slightly prejudice against "naked" cakes, but I find that this one quickly became one of my favorites. There is a lot to be said for the simplicity and clean look of the cake. It certainly is one I'm proud to brag about and it definitely raises my confidence in my ability to create a cake that I feel is so exposed (as in, you can't hide and defects in "craftsmanship"). Of course though, and most importantly, my customer loved the cake, and that is what I feel truly makes it a successful venture.

Choo-choo - Take Two

The original train cake with
bold blues that matched the
shower colors as well as the
 bouquet and candies that
completed the set.

Not long ago I was contacted by women who was looking for a basic boy diaper cake. She sent me a picture of a simple cake with a large bow on top. She asked me if I was able to make a cake similar to this. I let her know that I could certainly make a cake for her and I suggested that she check out some of the pictures on my Facebook page to see if any of the cakes that I had made previously struck her fancy. She responded that she really liked the train cake I had made previously (as well as a currently stocked buggy); but, she requested a few modifications. We were both very fortunate that the primary baby items included in that previous cake were still available so I was able to create a similar gift.

Adapted train cake with bow topper and
softer color tones.

The biggest difference in the cake that I made and the one that she wanted was that she didn't care for the paper shred. This, of course, was easy enough to remove from the design of the cake. The biggest challenge in that case was finding something appropriate to do for the top of the cake. I borrowed from the picture she had sent me previously and opted to add a large bow rather than the shred for the top of the cake. Another change for this cake was that I used basic baby blue and white for the primary colors of the cake. The original train cake included a lot of different shades of blue which was by request of the person who ordered it. For this cake she wanted very basic baby blues, colors that are very traditional for boy showers.

Car buggy with softer color tones
that compliment the train cake.and
create a cohesive "vehicle" theme.

I love that this cake not only demonstrates my ability to re-create cakes I've done in the past; but also that I am able to tweak the cakes for my customers' individual tastes. This cake turned out adorable and fortunately coordinated quite well with the car buggy that the customer requested to purchase as well. Of course, the best part of the whole project was that my customer loved the gifts that she purchased.