Lots of new ideas...

This week I have been inspired. Most likely, it's because I recently joined a diaper cakes forum where various diaper cake makers get on and discuss ideas and concepts, talk about pricing methods, and share other general information. It's great to see what all is out there and discuss with others in the business, but at the same time, I'm starting to feel a bit of pressure to step up my game and try new things, especially since many of my ideas and items aren't as unique or uncommon as I may have previously thought. So, with inspiration from that group and other forms of inspiration, I've developed a few new items that I'd like to add to my product line. Some will need more tweaking than others, but that's ok.

My first new item is a piece of cake, no really, a piece of cake. A slice of cake! Inspired by some towel cake favors I saw, I decided to adapt the idea to diaper gifts. Like the cupcakes, these could be presented in a single serving bakery cake/pie container. The main shape is created by diapers. A burp cloth is wrapped around the "slice" and a wash cloth gives a nice clean top. I added an additional wash cloth for an icing effect. I'd like to tweak this a bit more by maybe adding some wash cloth flowers or other small baby items on top of the slice. I also thought that aside from single servings, I could make several and piece them together for an entire cake which would make a cute decoration for a shower. I think I need to experiment with this a little bit more before I add it to the product line, but it's a definite option and I think it's cute and have never seen it with diapers before, so that makes it even more unique.

My second new item is one I've seen in several places. It's similar to the wash cloth "candy" I've made before, but it's lollipops. The lollipops are rolled very much like the disk candy. I experimented with a few different sticks for the lollipops. The standard candy stick gives a great effect, but because of the way it's put together, it is less stable and the stick can slide out easily. The second lollipop stick option is a baby spoon. This works wonderfully since the varying contour of the spoon helps the whole thing to be more stable. Not only that, it provides an additional baby item to the gift. Similar lollipops are used as favors at baby showers, but I'm not sure how that works if those attending the shower go home with them, what would they do with baby items if they don't have a baby? As decorations around the shower they'd be super cute and then could be sent home with the expectant mom. They also could be incorporated into a diaper cake or basket quite easily to make an adorable candy theme. I can very easily start marketing these with a little more practice making sure I give a really clean look to these, but I'm comfortable adding them to the product line shortly as soon as I work out pricing for them (and gather a few more materials).

My third new idea is more wash cloth "art." I've seen many places where people have made little creatures and critters out of wash cloths so I decided to try my hand at it with a collection of sea creatures. I put together an octopus (inspired by a pic a friend posted on Facebook of a pet octopus he wanted), a turtle (which really I just wanted to see how it would come out), and some fish (which I've seen before but wanted to see if I could make my own). The critters all turned out really cute and I was pleased with the final outcome. Similar to the lollipops though, the application of items like these is slightly questionable. They too could be used as shower decorations that are then given to the expectant mom or they could be incorporated into an "under the sea" themed cake. The latter, I feel may be more popular. I would like to see if I can come up with additional sea creatures to add to the collection because I think it is super fun and different.

I'm constantly trying to think of new things to do for baby gifts and shower decorations. Some work, some don't, but I keep trying and I'm always open to suggestions. =)