Monkey Flower Cake

Not long after my "Big Challenge" cake, I was presented with a rush order from the same friend. They had a slightly unexpected shower that she needed a gift for. This cake, fortunately, had a much easier theme to work with than a geek cake. This cake needed to be a pink monkey cake.

I was really excited about this cake since I think some of the monkey cakes I had seen were simply adorable. There also seems to be a wide variety of monkey printed baby items making this cake much easier to find components for - and I knew just what I wanted to do. This cake had a modest budget, but I still wanted to get all I could out of it.

For this cake, I obtained some pink monkey blankets which would set the base palate for the cake. I built a three-tiered cake and wrapped the layers in the blankets. A monkey lovee was added to the top of the cake. For decorations, I crafted washcloth flowers. A few were roses, but as my "crowning glory," so to speak, were washcloth daisies crafted to match the flowers found on the blankets. This was the first time I had made the daisies and the finished look was phenomenal. Completed with ribbons and paper shred decorations, this cake became my new favorite creation.


I absolutely love the finished look of this cake. The design is clean and simple, but elegant. I was able to incorporate a new concept to the design which always makes me excited. Of course, my friend loved the cake and I believe the expectant parent(s) did too. I look forward to more projects like this since I love a cake with a clean cohesive concept!

Noah Shoes Wear and Use

This post has been a long time coming! As my shoes continue to gain in popularity, I want to thank everyone who has ordered them or complimented me on them. I started making the shoes because my oldest son, Noah, is on the large side and has a wide foot (he's two and a half now and wears a 9W in a traditional shoe). I felt that just because he was larger does not mean he's more developed and ready for a structured shoe. I wanted him to remain in soft soled shoes to promote proper growth and development of his feet. I had difficulty finding soft soled shoes in sizes larger than 18-24 mo which he grew out of at 20 mo of age. The few I did find available, were only available online and would cost me more than I like to spend on shoes for myself - and I don't grow out of shoes in 6 mo! I had no idea when I started making these that they'd be so popular and that so many people would be interested in purchasing them. I should have known that there would be many moms out there interested in obtaining this style of shoe for their little ones at an affordable price!

I'm writing this blog to provide a little bit more insight on how these shoes work and wear. Since Noah has been wearing these shoes for almost a year now and has gone through several pairs, I have plenty of experience. First, I will explain how Noah wears these shoes. Noah has one pair of shoes. Count that, one. That means these shoes are the only ones he wears for everything. Although we don't typically wear shoes around our house, they are worn for every expedition. Noah has trampled over rocks and pebbles without a peep or negative sound, he runs around play grounds and at parks. He is a HUGE climber. His shoes are for lack of a better term, abused. Greatly. Noah will wear through a pair about every 2-3 months and is in a new size every 4-6 months.

Some dirt and fading can be seen
as the first sign of wear.

The first and most obvious show of wear on these shoes is the color fade. I'd like to say they stay nice, bright, and new looking, but I think the proximity to the ground, especially if worn for outdoor play means that the shoes will get dirty and the color will fade slightly. This, of course, has no bearing whatsoever on the function of the shoe, but it is something to note. Also, you will see the impression of your child's foot begin to show on the bottom of the shoe where pressure starts to wear the sole. This is to be expected and again, has no negative effect on the function of the shoe.

This is the impression of Noah's foot starting to become
evident on the bottom of his shoe after about one week
of use. Some fading and dirt are apparent on the top of the
shoe as well.

These shoes demonstrate how the soles look after several
weeks of wear. They are worn and smooth.

As your child continues to wear the shoe, you will see a more obvious sign of wear on the sole of the shoe. The area where your child's foot is continuously applying pressure to the leather will become worn and smooth. In most cases, this will not cause problems, however, some slipping may occur on smooth surfaces that may be seen at playgrounds and in children's play areas. For me, it is a benefit of the shoe, since I feel it makes Noah a better climber and more surefooted, because his climbing is slightly challenged. That being said, some moms find their child slips too much and may prefer a rubber sole or one with more traction on these types of surfaces. For walking around or playing on the ground, the smoothing out of the leather offers no negative effects to function.

These are two pairs of shoes that were "retired" after use
because of the wear and tear they sustained. You can clearly
see the holes starting to wear in the toes of the shoes. These
holes are only in the outer layer of the shoe.

Because these shoes are fabric, the next sign of wear you will likely see is the fabric wearing through at the large toe on one or both shoes. I find that this is more common in children that walk forward in their shoes. You may also observe this for children that drag their feet or do not pick them up well between steps. Noah has only worn one hole completely through on the shoes that he has had. The fabric is reinforced with a heavy interfacing on both the outer and inner fabrics. I am constantly looking for ways to further reinforce the toe area of the shoe; however, as they are fabric and not leather, it is to be expected that they are likely to wear more quickly. The shoes can still be worn for quite some time even after a worn spot or "hole" starts as it will take some time for it to wear completely through. As I mentioned, Noah has only ever gotten one through-and-through hole in a single shoe.

Heel wear is apparent on this pair of shoes.

Because Noah walks a bit forward in his shoes, the front of the shoe often wears through first. I have noticed, however, some of his shoes will start to wear at the back too. This is most often the case when the shoe is getting too small. His foot pushes the back panel out so it will rub against the ground beyond the edge of the leather sole and wear the fabric near the seam line. This fabric is not reinforced like the top fabric is, yet Noah still has not worn a complete hole through this part of the shoe either. I've likely replaced it before this begins to occur.

A few other notes about these shoes:

As I've mentioned before, these shoes are fabric and although I use sturdy materials and reinforce it, they are not likely to last as long as you may expect from an all-leather shoe. It is recommended that you have two or more pairs of shoes to use interchangeably to extend the wear of the shoes.

Also, these shoes are porous and are not recommended in wet conditions. If they do become wet, so will your child's foot. They will dry quickly, however. I do not recommend washing of these shoes, but if absolutely necessary, they can be machine washed. Do not heat dry them. Let them air dry or, if needed, you may put them on the air only setting in your dryer. If/when these shoes do get wet, the leather will stiffen as it dries. It will become soft and pliable again after your child's next use.

These shoes are ideal for early walkers as it allows children to feel the ground beneath their feet. Noah doesn't seem to mind walking over pebbles, but your child will feel them and may be uncomfortable so be aware of where they are walking.

I hope this helps give insight into the wear and use of these wonderful shoes. Please contact me if you have additional questions or would like to order a pair. I am currently looking into new designs for some of the shoes, so keep checking back for updates.

The BIG Challenge: Geek Chic

Ok, so here it is! My biggest challenge ever! Well, that is until someone else decides it's fun to keep me on my toes...

So, a friend of mine sent me a message and asked how I felt about making a geek cake. Being a self-proclaimed geek myself, my initial response was, sure! Why not? Then I started really thinking about it. How on earth was I going to do that? There are a number of geeky type baby items available on the market, that's for sure. The thing is, many of them spread the whole gamut of geekdom. There may be one thing here and one thing there regarding various aspects of games, TV, etc. that is considered geeky. There really isn't one area that has several baby items. Additionally, the expectant parents were big into StarCraft, a real-time strategy computer game that luckily I had played the original version so I was familiar with it. They liked the game so much, they were naming their baby after one of the character names. So, what I really wanted to do was to make a diaper cake that incorporated that particular game. While I was researching, I found that it would be next to impossible. I found one baby item relating to the game and it would be quite cost prohibitive to order and ship it for a single item to add to the cake. I told my friend that the likelihood of me incorporating the game was slim and asked for color schemes and whatnot so I could keep brainstorming. The colors were brown, green, and purple. Although the parents were having a girl, they wanted no pink.

This is a rough drawing of a pylon.
Don't know what I was thinking...

My first thought was to make the cake in the form of a pylon - a power crystal from the game. After many attempts at figuring out stability for said cake, I decided it was not going to work. Not only that, finding baby items to add would throw off the look and as the power crystal is blue and the components yellow, it was nowhere near the colors the parents wanted.

I went back to the drawing board. I thought I'd do some printable transfers. I could make some burp cloths with binary or geeky phrases on them. After trying different sizes and fonts and figuring out exactly how this idea would work, I scrapped it. Why? Well, I realized that as cute as it would make the burp cloth, an image printed and transferred on would work much better on clothing than a piece of fabric that you intend to soak up messes and something that needs to maintain it's absorbency. I was so close to throwing in the towel and just skipping the geek theme and going with the colors the parents selected. As I mused about my options, I was reminded of the cake I had made not too long ago where I crocheted squashed and gourds. I figured I could crochet a plush topper for the cake!

My crocheted Baneling with an inset of one like you'd
see in the game.

I researched several of the characters, critters, and other items from the game trying to come up with one for the plush topper. I considered a pylon since it seemed simple enough, but the colors were all wrong to go with the cake. I found another critter, called a Baneling and decided that would be my plushie! It's an ugly critter, really, but that's ok, because it works within the realm of the game, would be easy enough to create (ok, I suppose that's relative since I had to come up with the pattern on my own), and would be recognizable for what it was. Not to mention, it could be made in colors to coordinate with the cake. Win all around! While the actual crocheting was a challenge and getting it to look like I wanted, it did come together.

Three burp cloths. Custom hand embroidery.
I may, in fact, be a little crazy.

So, one plush critter was certainly not enough to make this a StarCraft cake. I then decided I could do some embroidery. Sure, I hadn't done it since I was a kid, but I had most of the supplies and with this option I could make a really custom gift. Or gifts. The game has three races that you can play, so I decided I'd embroider (and by that I mean by hand, since I don't have a machine) three burp cloths, one for each race in the game using their race logos. Now, the color thing did cause a bit of a problem, as I couldn't make them match the colors in the game with the colors the parents wanted, but I did it as close as I could. One race is purple, so that worked out. The second, the logo was yellow, so I used green for that one. The third race's logo was red and black, so for that one, I used brown. The embroidery was certainly a challenge and it was a bit of a learning curve, or re-learning curve, if you will. In the end, they came out quite nicely although, if I continue to do some hand embroidery I'll have to look into different tips and ideas to make it a bit easier on myself.

So, after the very custom, handmade items were complete, it was finally time to build the cake! I made a large 3-tier cake using the spiral style of cake. I added large flannel blankets to each of the tiers. I then added some general baby items, washcloths and head bands, and of course, all of my custom items which also included a onsie that declared, "N00B" (a common word/insult in the gaming world) in coordinating iron-on lettering. The final cake was definitely something to be proud of!

Front of the Geek Chic cake

Back of the Geek Chic cake

I was so excited about this cake! I could not wait to hand it off to my friend that ordered it, but sadly, the baby was born early (she's fine, and home, by the way) and the shower was postponed. I did finally get it to my friend and it was of course, a hit! She was so excited that I was able to incorporate the game even though at first I thought it would be impossible. The recipient I hear, also thoroughly enjoyed the cake, so it was a huge success!

I was definitely stretched to the limit on this one. I have never had a bigger challenge, but I'm so glad that I was able to meet it! I now know that with all of the craft skills I possess, I have even fewer limitations when it comes to making diaper cakes. This is a wonderful way to make my mark in the business and I'm very excited about what the future holds!

What To Do For a Cloth Diapering Mama...

This was a recent issue for me. I had an upcoming baby shower for not one, but two cloth diapering mamas. Both mamas had a pretty decent stash of diapers, and though one did ask for a bit more supplementation for smaller sizes, I didn't have enough time to order, so I was left wondering what to do for gifts. I referred back to my previous baby cake that I made for a cloth diapering mama with a plentiful stash and tried to think of ideas. I developed a new concept for these mamas that I'm happy worked out and became a new "product" for my boutique.

Since I tend to be a bit crafty with sewing and crocheting, I decided to create for each of the moms coordinating sets of baby items. For one of the moms, she had a nursery scheme picked out so I was able to coordinate with the colors she had chosen.

The first item I created was a blanket. The blankets were essentially a simplified rag quilt (since these are spring babies that don't need a lot of weight to their blankets, especially here in Texas). I used flannel and super cuddly fabric to ensure they were soft and baby friendly. I used some of the coordinating flannel and created burp cloths, which I've done before and have had as an option in my boutique. I also created matched taggy blocks, but with a twist. Where previous blocks have been a uniform size, the new blocks I made were three different sizes. I also didn't add the "rattle" or crinkle effect to these blocks to make sure they remained machine washable. These items combined created my new product, nursery sets. Future sets may include more than one burp cloth, perhaps two or three that coordinate, or perhaps other baby items. The exciting part about this is that they can be stand alone gifts or the items can be incorporated into a diaper cake or as was the case with these moms, diaper free baby cakes.

For the baby cakes, I started with the three blocks and stacked them. Since they were different sizes, they created the different sized tiers for the cakes. The blanket and burp cloth became the clean outer shape for the cake layers. The smallest block acted as a cake topper. To further accent the cake, I added a few more personal touches. I crocheted hats that coordinated with the colors in the cakes and for the older toddler daughters that each of the moms have, I made matching rose hair clips to create a "big sister" gift. As a final touch, I added matched washcloths which were the only items included on the cakes that were not handmade (well, except for the ribbon).

The final result was two adorable baby cakes, full of baby items, but including no disposable diapers. They made fantastic gifts that not only looked amazing, but included custom items that couldn't easily be found commercially. Both moms seemed to thoroughly enjoy their gifts, which is what really matters in the end.

Snowman!

When I was contemplating several ideas for diaper cakes for Christmas, this idea came up. I've wanted to try my hand at a snowman cake for a while but didn't get around to it for Christmas. Luckily, it's just as appropriate for January as it is December, so it became my Facebook profile picture cake for January.

One of the challenges for this cake is the need for it to be white. Most diapers these days are not completely white, but there are some brands that are mostly white and the small amount of color can be concealed with ribbon. I use blankets, towels, and sheets on my cakes most of the time to conceal the diapers, so usually diaper color isn't an issue. I may have gotten away with a white sheet, but otherwise, my options are pretty limited for achieving the look I wanted. I chose to leave this one "naked" so to speak and used some white ribbon to cover the small amount of color on the diapers. A snowman's recognizable coal face was drawn onto the ribbon for the top tier of the cake for effect.

To achieve the desired look, this cake couldn't be adorned with multiple baby items, so I used what I could to add value and still be able to recognize it as a snowman. A crocheted hat sat atop the snowman's head (the top tier of the cake). A receiving blanket became the scarf. A pair of white socks were stuffed with a second pair of socks and became the arms.

Overall, I think this cake came out great. If I make it again or something similar, I may need to make adjustments. I'd have to revisit the drawing board for scarf ideas since this one seemed short and not as free flowing as I'd prefer. I could make an actual baby scarf, but I prefer to keep my diaper cake components practical. A nice touch is that the hat can be a purchased registry item or made to match a color scheme or theme adding to the versatility of this accent. I hope you enjoy my winter cake! Keep looking out for more updates to come!

Christmas Tree!

This year I had a lot of ideas for my Christmas cake. I actually was contemplating making a couple different cakes but I got a little bit too busy in the pre-Christmas rush and didn't get around to it. I do, however, like the cake that I made and I think it's incredibly creative.

It started out much like many of my other holiday cakes. I built it out of a few premade spiral tiers that I keep on hand. This small cake had two tiers at its core. I chose a green receiving blanket to wrap around the cake to give the look of an evergreen tree. I then added a few decorations - some beaded garland, if you will, and some ornaments on the tree in the form of baby items. It was then topped with a yellow washcloth star and accompanied by several washcloth gifts.

As much as I like the overall look of this cake replicating it might not be very easy. To start, somebody would actually want a cake of this size. Any larger, and my only option would be to have multiple tiers individually decorated with green blankets and then the full cake decorated to look like a tree. In addition arranging the blanket as it was was relatively difficult. Another complication was adding the "ornaments" as these were simply supported by the garland and not attached more securely to the structure. A similar cake could, of course, still be done; however, it would be much more labor-intensive than this display cake was. Merry Christmas to all! Keep checking back for more updates on new projects.

Very Old-fashioned

My sister recently presented me with a challenge for a diaper cake. She needed a cake that would fit an unusual theme. The theme for the shower was "very old-fashioned" since the expectant mom was going to call her new daughter "Pearl Rose." My sister asked if there was anything I could do with that. Fortunately there was.

As soon she told me the theme, the ideas started flying. This particular theme, while new to me, was not nearly as difficult as one might think. When I think of things that are very old-fashioned, I think of pearls and lace especially when we're talking girls. I wanted to use a few blankets that I had that where a very soft pink with a tiny leaf/floral pattern on them. I would accent the cake with lace ribbon and strings of pearls. Even the middle name of the baby, "Rose," could be incorporated into the cake. I decided to top the cake with a bouquet of washcloth roses. The bottom layer of the cake was adorned with sporadic washcloth roses. The roses were surrounded in green washcloths which covered the layers of the cake and acted as leaves/foliage for the flowers.

The finished cake was beautiful. It was rather elegant for a cake that incorporates baby items on it and is not merely decorative. Unfortunately the addition of more baby items would have taken away from the overall effect, so it didn't contain as many as I would normally add. Overall, I was very pleased with how this cake turned out. My sister was pleased with the final product. I hope that the mom who received it got as much joy out of it as I did making it.