More Monkeying Around

My next commissioned project was yet another diaper cake that I don't remember a whole lot about the story behind it other than it being another monkey diaper cake for a girl.

The request for another monkey cake made me perfectly content as monkey themed cakes had long been a favorite theme of mine. The baby items you could find with monkeys on them were simply adorable. You basically couldn't go wrong with monkey baby items.

One detail I explicitly remember when planning for this diaper cake was that I could no longer find the plush monkey I had used for so many of my previous diaper cakes and gifts. That monkey was so adorable, but it seemed to have been discontinued from the manufacturer. That really upset me. I love that monkey so much. He was the perfect size and coloration, but I had to proceed as that was the theme I had been provided, and I needed to find another option for a topper.

I do remember that this cake included some items from the baby registry. It worked out really well because I could use some of the pink monkey blankets I had on hand and also incorporate some of the pink monkey items on the registry. Though the blankets were from the same manufacturer, their updated monkey designs also incorporated some leopard print, so I decided to incorporate that into the overall cake design to ensure the entire thing was cohesive. I found a coordinating lovie that had a plush rattle connected to it so that became my cake topper. I included some bibs from the registry and finished the look with some washcloth daisies. Because I chose to use leopard print ribbon on the tiers of the cake, plus the leopard print was part of the baby items, the cake looked a bit busy so I avoided adding too much else to it.

In the end, despite not having the original monkey topper I had wanted, I absolutely loved the finished look of this cake. The print was busy, but not too busy so it all came together in the end and it was well-received. 

Puppy Love!

Having the itch to create another diaper cake, I decided I wanted to create some more holiday themed diaper cakes. The year before, I built some small holiday themed cakes purely for the purpose of taking the pictures so I could have something seasonal for my Facebook page. I wanted to go bigger though. The previous holiday cakes I had created were small, easily put together, and nowhere near the quality that I had started creating. My skill had just improved. My cakes looked better and I wanted the cleaner designs to be reflected. I also wanted to inspire people to think outside of the box - diaper cakes could be great gifts for "Baby's First" holidays.

For Valentine's one year I created what I called a "Puppy Love" diaper cake. All pink and hearts and a cute plush puppy for a topper.

I had on hand some blankets with various heart designs which I though would make a great background for this 3-tiered covered cake. I added coordinating ribbon. I selected some cute hart baby wash cloths and some additional pink socks to add to the tiers. For the top, I added a cute plush puppy I had. I also added some heart die cuts to fill out the cake.

I absolutely loved the final look. Granted, the cake was not for anyone in particular and was dismantled as soon as I created it and took the pictures, but it was so cute and looked just as complete and polished as a diaper cake I would make for someone else. It's too bad it wasn't intended for anyone as it would have made a great gift. Since then, it has always been used as my February profile picture as I love to update my Facebook page throughout the year with seasonal or holiday diaper cake images to continue to remind fans that any time is a great time for diaper cakes.

Owls: Take 4

Less than a month after creating my pastel owl cake, I got yet another request for an owl cake. This time, they wanted a recreation of the original hot pink and lime cake. Awesome. Can do.

Seriously, if I didn't have the pictures dated, I'm not sure I'd be able to tell which diaper cake was made when. The ribbons selected were the same, the wash cloth owls were made in the same manner with the same colors as the original, and even the crocheted plush owl was made with the same skeins of yarn. 

It was a different cake, however, created more than a year after the first one, but it was a successful recreation of the original. Granted, I did change some of the baby items, so the extras included on the cake were different, but they still coordinated with the overall color scheme. It was probably the closest "copy" I had created, though I will always state the caveat that I'm happy to repeat a theme and color scheme, but the cake ultimately will be different than a previous cake since they are made at different times and therefore, materials may be different. I have never made a copy with all the same elements and this time was no different. It was close though.

After receiving this request, the owl cake became the first diaper cake listed in my Etsy store. I had four of these cakes under my belt, each one a little different, but based on the same basic design elements - 3-tier "naked" cake (meaning the diapers are exposed), 5 wash cloth owls, 1 crocheted plush owl as a topper. Additional baby items as desired to coordinate with the selected color scheme. The thing I liked about this was that unlike some other designs which can get very specific, this one can be repeated relatively easily no matter the trends that are available in baby items. Since I create all the owls myself, I can make them at any time with readily available baby items that are not seasonal or trendy for a given year. This is one of the reasons it became a customizable design - in that the colors can change - but it can be easily repeated no matter the current popular themes of baby items available in stores. Can't go wrong with a concept like that.

Copycat - It's the same, but different...

I used to be really good at remembering the story behind each diaper cake I've made. It appears that after years, I don't remember any more. Some of the details are fuzzy. Such is life.

The next diaper cake commission I had was a repeat of a design I had made before. Sorta. The request was for different colors. I don't remember the exact story or the commentary on the initial cake vs. the one I made, but the overall concept was the same. My owl cake was popular. The little washcloth owls are a big hit. How can they not be? They are simply adorable. In any case, the request was for a cake like my hot pink and lime owl cake, but with pastel colors - yellow, pink, and turquoise.


At its core, the cake was the same as before but with different colors. I built a 3-tier naked cake and added the ribbon. There were 5 owls added to this cake in addition to the crocheted plush owl on top of the cake. I also included some other baby items to fill it out as I had done with the original owl cake. To this cake, I added some additional simple die cuts with flowers and hearts. I had wanted to fill in some of the extra spaces without creating too much clutter. To this day I can't decide if I like the more simplistic appearance of the original or if I prefer the added detail. I think it depends on the person ordering the cake and what they prefer.

This cake, along with the cloth diaper owl cake I made a year earlier, based on the same hot pink and lime owl cake was a great representation on how it's possible to repeat a design but be able to tweak it to taste. The cloth diaper owl cake had some die cut as well. While all of these cakes had similar elements, none was an exact duplicate of the others.

This cake was great and I love how different it looked even if the overall design was a copy. It's also fun to make the little wash cloth owls which can be disassembled and the washcloths are completely usable after the decorative elements are removed. Overall, it turned out to be another awesome creation.

A Touch of Spring in Winter

 I love that my family supports me in my crafts. Not only that, they respect the time and investment that creating diaper cakes entails. I have had several requests from family members for diaper cakes, so it was no surprise that one of my sisters was interested in ordering one.

What was surprising was the request itself. My sister had seen my previous cake made a few months before with it's elegant minimalist style (you can check out the pastel pumpkin cake here) and she wanted something similar. She threw me for a loop, however, when she requested a spring floral theme for a December baby shower. That was the plan for the shower - spring flowers.

Inspired by my previous cake, this one was essentially a repeat, however, instead of pumpkins and fall leaves, I selected spring flowers. I also decided to incorporate some butterfly decorations to compliment the flowers and add visual interest. Having one cake under my belt where I incorporated floral decor, I was relatively simple to repeat the design and put this one together.

This 3-tier cake started out a lot like the previous cake with the spiraled tiers in my standard size for a 3-tier cake. The middle tier was made up of cloth diapers as the mom wanted to try them out. Having created an entire diaper cake with cloth diapers, I was able to fold them in such a way that unless you looked closely, they were almost indistinguishable from the disposable diapers that made up the other tiers. Again, I used the off-white floral ribbon to hide the structural ribbon for each of the tiers. artificial flowers were cascaded down the sides in a spiral beginning at the top and worked down to the bottom. The butterflies were then affixed and a bouquet added to the top to finish it off.

This cake turned out as beautiful as the last one with it's elegant simplicity. I love how this cake can add to a baby shower theme and truly look so chic while at the same time keeping overall costs down by excluding extra baby supplies. Incorporating floral elements means that a great amount of visual appeal can still be had.

My sister loved the cake, I'm happy to say, and it brought a bit of warmth to a cold winter month.

Buncha Mini (Diaper) Cakes - Craft Fair Prep from How Long Ago?

Since I'm catching up on my older diaper cake creations, here's a collection...

Several years ago, okay, it was like, 8 years at this point, I was getting prepared for the annual craft fair that I participate in. I was having some issues because I didn't have a lot of inventory but at the same time, I had noticed that my larger cakes just never sold well. I'm not sure if it was a matter of people wanting something more specific or they just weren't able to get something at that price point. So, I came up with an alternate plan.

I decided I wanted to create some diaper cakes with as much impact as the full size cakes, but make them half the size. I already had some 1-tier cakes, but I wanted to make some 2 and 3-tier cakes as well as making some diaper buggies since those sell regularly at the fair.

So, first up is the 2-tier cakes. I created 3 diaper cakes.

The first diaper cake was a cute little boy puppy cake. I used an adorable plush dog I had and matched it up with some puppy blankets. Along with some blue and brown ribbon and baby items, I put together this cake that had 20 diapers which is half of the normal amount for a 2-tier cake. I finished it with some dog die cuts that coordinated with the other decorations.

The second diaper cake I created was a 2-tier lion cake. This cake was a girl cake using pink, light brow, and cream to go along with a little lion plushie I had. Since the puppy cake was a covered cake, I decided to make this one a "naked" cake where the diapers were exposed. I added some pink and cream colored ribbon to the tiers. I included some pink baby items on each of the tiers. Lastly, I added some lion die cuts as inspired by a lion cake I had made previously by request.

I was most excited about the third diaper cake which was a gender neutral cake. This diaper cake was giraffe themed - I love giraffes. I had a super cute giraffe plush and some giraffe print ribbon which pull this orange and brown cake together. I didn't add die cuts to this cake because the printed ribbon created a bit of a busy look and I didn't want it looking chaotic. I absolutely loved it. It was one of my favorite diaper cakes I created for this craft fair.

I already had on full-sized 3-tier cake in stock that was a brown and blue boy cake so I didn't feel the need to create a mini 3-tier cake as well. I just made a mini gender neutral and a mini girl cake to round out my offerings.

For my first 3-tier cake I decided to create a neutral cake. Per my decision to make half-sized cakes, this diaper cake had 30 diapers. I created a "naked" cake with a relatively common theme of ducks. I had some super cute wash cloths with ducks on them and a cute plushie for the topper. The orange and yellow colors kept it neutral. I did add some die cut ducks to this cake as well.

My second 3-tier diaper cake was another favorite for that year. I created a hot pink and zebra stripe cake. With a cute zebra plushie and some zebra print ribbon, I created another "naked" cake with the diapers exposed. I was especially proud of one of the decoration pieces which was a stacked bow placed on an alligator clip. It looked like it was just a bow for the diaper cake, but it was a real bow for a baby's hair. I added some more hot pink and white baby items as well as some die cuts. I'm not sure why the zebra print seemed less busy than the giraffe print, but it was so the die cuts looked just fine.

Along with the diaper cakes I also made three buggies to round out what I already had in stock. I made a pink girl buggy, a green neutral buggy, and a brown and blue boy buggie. They were the basic buggies that I make regularly which include 15 diapers to make the basic structure, along with a blanket and some other baby items.

For my prep for that show I also make a few other items, hair bows and baby beanies and I was ready to go.

Frogs with Frills

As I've mentioned before, I love classic baby themes, so I was excited to receive another order for a frog cake. This one, however, had a twist. Rather than being the typical gender neutral frog cake, this request was for a girl frog cake. In addition, I was asked to make some baby candy to go along with it for added decorations.

I was excited to find at the time of the order that there was actually some girl frog items available so I grabbed them up and they became the inspiration for the overall cake. I found some pink washcloths with frogs on them and then I found some adorable ribbon with frogs and flowers and I was off.

This cake was a "naked" cake starting with my standard boutique spiral design. Three layers of ribbons were added to the tiers finishing with the frog patterned ribbon. Washcloths, teethers, and a handmade bow added decoration to the cake and a super soft plush frog was added as a topper. To finish the cake, I added some precious frog and bow die cuts to bring it all together.

The next challenge was finding a way to make the washcloth candy and diaper cake a cohesive set. To achieve this, I opted to create candy in both styles - roll and spiral. I used green and two shades of pink and wrapped all the candy with the same frog and flower ribbon I used on the cake. These made a precious matching addition to the overall cake and created a great accent as table scatter for the shower.

This set turned out beautifully. I was so excited to see how it all came together. My customer was pleased with the final product which is all I can really ask for.

Purple Carriage

I love getting new challenges! One of the great things about diaper cakes is that they are such a great visual and decoration in addition to being practical and useful. A lot of times they are incorporated into baby shower decorations. One thing I'm really trying to break into is complete baby shower sets. Sort of a complete done for you, baby shower in a box, so to speak. Several years ago, I had a customer send me a diaper cake request to coordinate with some digital invitations she had used for the shower she was planning. I loved that idea. Coordinating a baby shower top to bottom is definitely in my wheelhouse. At the time, including invitations was not something I had developed the skills for, but these days, it's all part of what I can offer.

I love a cohesive baby shower - one where the invitations, decorations, food, and thank you cards all coordinate. It takes planning, but it makes everything so nice and shows the expectant mama how special she is to those hosting the shower. I love to create these complete sets and had the opportunity to really explore it further as time went on, but when this cake was created, I was still new to it.

The chosen design was an adorable grey and purple carriage invitation. At the time, it was actually quite difficult to find purple baby items. Since baby items, colors, and themes change over time, it occasionally can be a challenge to find exactly what I need. If you've been following my blog though, you know I love a good challenge and I try not to limit myself with nay-saying, I stick with it and so far, I've figured out a way to make it all work.

This cake was another big one. 4-tiers tall. It looks rather lavish in my opinion, but it was actually quite simple. The base was, of course, my standard spiral design. To avoid clashing patterns from the invitation, I kept it simple with a "naked" cake and reflected the invitation patterns (grey chevron and purple with white dots) in the ribbons I used. At the top of the invitation, a vintage baby carriage was featured, so I added carriage die cuts to various locations on the cake. By request, I also personalized the cake with a badge reflecting the baby's name. Multiple baby items were included which I finally was able to find in varying shades of purple. I got a bit creative using socks as a topper which turned out adorable. Finally, I added a homemade crochet beanie to finish it out.

I absolutely love the way this cake turned out. I love comparing it with the invitation and seeing how well they work together. It was well received by my customer who was so excited at how closely I was able to incorporate the details on the invitation with the diaper cake. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity. Even though now I have the skills to create invitations myself, I'm so happy to see that I can create a diaper cake to coordinate with a theme that someone may have found elsewhere and I can offer additional decorations to match if the individual that created the invitation doesn't offer diaper cakes and other shower decorations. Very exciting prospects to say the least!

Butterflies and Flowers

Not long after creating my Noah's Ark "diaper cake," another friend of mine contacted me about creating a diaper cake for a friend of hers. She wasn't sure what would work, so I asked for the registry information to see if I could find some inspiration. Fortunately, a lot stood out to me. The expectant mama had registered for a lot of butterfly items and a few thing with flowers. One thing in particular was a butterfly and flower carrier toy set that I decided to use to guide the direction of the cake.

My friend wanted a "naked" cake, so I created the form and began to add items that coordinated with the toy set which was hot pink and pale pink with a little bit of yellow. I created some adorable washcloth butterflies which is something I've done before, but these were smaller and had a different look to them. I also added several washcloth flowers to coordinate as well. I also included some additional items such as socks and teethers. The final decorations included some die-cut flowers.

I really like how this cake included a lot of usable baby items which is a signature thing about my diaper cakes (unless requested otherwise). My friend loved it and so did the mom to be, which is always my main hope.

More Owls!

I'm noticing that owls are becoming increasingly popular these days, so it's a good thing I had two owl cakes under my belt. I was contacted by a potential customer that was interested in an owl cake. She actually liked the first one I had done and wanted a cake like it.

When I first received the e-mail, I was really excited. I started thinking about the possibilities for this cake. Looking at the cake, the color scheme was developed by the ribbon and the owls. That meant it could technically be made in a variety of color combinations depending on the wishes of my customer. I had already made the washcloth owls in a variety of colors for the two owl cakes I had done previously. The color options for the washcloths (and yarn color options for the owl on top) are slightly more limited than the ribbon, but most color requests should be do-able. I made sure to let my customer know that she had the option of selecting other colors if she needed a different color scheme.

In this particular case, however, my customer wanted the same colors as the original cake, hot pink and lime green. I won't lie, I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to try the same cake in a different color, but of course, I was more than happy to create the cake again. I also have to say, I'm quite proud that I had a difficult time telling the difference between the original and "copy" cakes based on the pictures alone. I'm certainly happy that my work is consistent enough that the cake can be what was requested.

Despite not making the cake in a different color combination, I took the idea and this became my fist item that I listed in my Esty shop. To gain access to more customers, I opened an Etsy shop in January, but it wasn't until March 2013 that I opened the shop with this cake as my first item. I offered color of choice for this cake and I'm excited to see how it does. I can't wait for the opportunity to create additional versions of this cake. To view this and other products currently listed in my Etsy shop, please check it out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BethsBabyBoutique00

Owl Tell You All About It

This cake was a hoot! Ok, maybe not a hoot, but I had to get in the owl jokes somehow. This cake was extremely fun though. If you haven't guessed, my next requested cake was an owl cake. I was thrilled beyond belief for two reasons. First, I loved the challenge. Owls are crazy popular these days and it's fun to jump right in there and see what I can do. Second, a close friend of mine was expecting a baby and I was hoping to do an owl theme for her shower, so this let me try things out a bit as a sort of practice cake to see what I could come up with that might be incorporated in my friends diaper cake as well.

Final owl concept with ear tufts and belly patch

Early owl concept, no ear tufts

I was determined to find something that would work for this cake, but I had one big snag. The color scheme was hot pink and lime. While owls aren't terribly difficult to find in baby items, finding them in those colors proved to be a bit tricky. I had to pull out all the stops and see how I could get this done. Fortunately, because I had  obtained hot pink wash cloths for my "About to Pop" cake, I knew I could incorporate those. What I wanted to do was make some washcloth owls, but had no idea how. Fortunately, after playing around a bit and trying to find instructions (which didn't exist, except for a paid pattern) I came up with my own design for creating some adorable little owls. It seemed the more the I worked on them, the cuter they got. The best part of all is that they are completely usable after they are disassembled. I was so excited to find another washcloth creation that could be added to a diaper cake, facilitate a theme, and provide a new mom with a usable baby item. Multi-tasking decorations. As if all of that wasn't enough, these owls can be made out of washcloths of any color meaning that there is more variety in color schemes for the same basic decoration. The creation of these little owls inspired me to create a new album on Facebook that highlighted the different things I can make with washcloths. These little "washcloth creations" can be used as extra accents and decorations on diaper cakes or other gifts and some can even be stand-alone gifts. Its wonderful!

With the owls made, my cake was pretty much done. This cake was a "naked" cake, so with the diapers stacked, ribbon secured, and the owls applied, only a few more accents were needed. I added some socks and no-scratch mittens to the middle tier as the owls were placed on the top and bottom tiers. To finish off the cake, I made a crocheted plush owl in the chosen colors and used it to adorn the top of the cake. This owl could be an adorable keepsake from the shower or be given to the baby as a play toy. Some paper shred finished off this cake.

I was beyond thrilled with the outcome of this cake. It definitely added to my repertoire, adding variety and more customization that could be done to future cakes. It also gave me a launch point for ideas for my friend's cake. Of course, my customer loved the outcome which is better than me being happy about it. I look forward to more owl cakes and more opportunities to test my creativity.

Vintage Rose Garden

I was contacted by a potential customer that was looking for a vintage garden themed cake. She requested pink and mint green as the colors. She also was interested if I could incorporate ballet slippers into the cake as well. Over all, she wanted a clean look for the cake.

I set to work on a "naked cake" (one without blankets). I added lace detailing to a couple of the layers to bring in the "vintage" part of the theme. I added several washcloth roses as both decorations on the tiers and for the topper of the cake. I love incorporating washcloth flowers because I think they add an elegant look to very basic baby necessities. Best of all, they are completely usable once disassembled.

The ballet slippers were a bit more challenging. As far as I knew, baby ballet slippers did not exist. If they did, they eluded me. I looked for decorative ballet slippers that could be added to the cake that perhaps could function simply for aesthetic purposes, but I only found a few ballet slipper items (stickers and whatnot) and nothing that was impressive enough that could go with the cake. Since the alternate was baby booties if I couldn't do ballet slippers, I opted to seek out patterns for baby booties. I came across an adorable pattern for some booties. I decided that I could make them up and with some added ribbon that could be tightened to secure the booty on the baby's foot and double as a decorative bow, I could achieve the ballet slipper look. I made a sample pair and then two to go with the diaper cake.

 The final cake was an elegant clean cake. I love the look and how simple it is. Of course, as with all my cakes, an expectant mama could not only have a beautiful centerpiece at a shower, but all the baby items on the cake are completely usable, making it a fantastic gift for any new mama!

Craft Fair 2012 Prep (Part 1)

October 2012 was a busy month for me with orders, personal gifts, and preparation for the upcoming craft fair that I do every year. Since most of my gifts are custom orders, I tend to not make a bunch ahead of time, so right before the craft fair, I'm typically rushing to get some cakes made up so I have something to offer at the sale.

The biggest project was replacing some inventory. I like to make sure to have a girl, boy, and gender neutral cake in 3-tier and 2-tier so that potential customers can see the variations and have options to choose from. I also like to have one each of baby buggies as well. In late September/early October, my main focus was on the diaper cakes. Since I had other cakes I was making at the time, I decided I'd also take advantage of photo opportunities before all the cakes were wrapped.

The updated duck cake

The original duck cake

My first project was to update a cake that I decided needed improvement. The cake was a gender neutral duck cake I had made for last year's show. I absolutely love the duck theme, but I felt that something was missing - namely a duck topper. At the time I made it, I didn't have an appropriate topper so I made-do with a hat that I had. I'd been toying with the idea of unwrapping the cake and adding a plush duck for a while and when I came across some super cute ducks at a store, I grabbed the opportunity. And the duck. I "fixed" the cake, adding the duck, moving around some of the baby items, and securing the ribbon that apparently had come loose.

Girl geometric cake

The second project was to create a 2-tier girl cake. For this cake, I chose some geometric blankets that I had and built the cake. For this cake, there wasn't an overall theme other than just being a girl cake which makes it extremely versatile. I added several baby items to decorate the tiers including a handmade pink bow hair clip. For this cake, I didn't add a topper, but decorated with paper shred. I don't necessarily think all cakes need a topper, but I think using a baby hat was a poor choice on my part for the previous cake. This one looked great "as is."

After working on those cakes, I placed them with some of the other cakes I had been working on recently that had not been wrapped. I don't often have multiple unwrapped cakes available, so this was a great opportunity for a photo session since cakes tend to photograph better without the wrapping. I took several shots and while I'm not sure where I'm going to use them (with the exception of here), but I have them for future purposes.

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!

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.