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.

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.

Hippo Trike

A friend of mine was expecting a little girl, so, of course, I was going to make her diaper cake. I was a little concerned that she may have already had a diaper cake for the shower so I decided to make something a little different. Because I wanted a little more practice making motorcycles and tricycles I decided I will go ahead and make her a trike.

Diapers make up the wheels of the trike. The structure is put together with receiving blankets. I selected a few blankets that she had chosen for her registry. I then added some baby wash cloths, some diaper cream, and other baby items. To ride the trike, I added a pink, super soft, stuffed hippo.

The trike turned out super adorable. I did have a few problems with some items not staying in place, so in the future I may need to make more of an effort to secure them better. I think this boils down to me not having a specific set formula for my trikes. I like to incorporate different items that aren't on the typical trike and make some substitutions to add variety and personalize it a little bit more. This means that in putting it together, some adjustments need to be made to make sure it stays secure. Regardless, it came out really cute and I am happy with the final product. My friend seemed thoroughly overjoyed by it too. I can't wait for more opportunities to make these adorable diaper cakes.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

Prepping for the Craft Fair

After finishing up my harvest diaper cake (and another order which will be written about after the shower in a couple of weeks), I needed to get to work preparing for the annual craft fair I do with my mom. This year would be my second year bringing my baby gifts to the show. I actually had some inventory left from last year, but I had sold a buggy at the show last year. I also sold one of my gender neutral cakes sometime in the middle of the year that I had in inventory from the show. I dismantled two cakes I had made for last years show to use some of the baby items for another cake. All those items needed to be replaced so that I would have enough at the craft fair.

The first cake I worked on was 2-tier girl cake. I was super excited about this cake. Ever since I saw the blankets I used for it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. This cake, the "Cupcake Cake" features a cupcake printed receiving blanket, plus another coordinating blanket. The lower tier is lined with washcloth cupcakes. The topper for the cake is a large cupcake made with a onsie and a washcloth. All the cupcakes are topped with red pom pom cherries for effect.

The second cake I made for the show was a 3-tier girl cake, a butterfly cake. For this cake, I used two butterfly print receiving blankets and a coordinating green blanket with dots. To embellish this cake, I added washcloth butterflies and flowers. I also added pink flower shaped teethers to decorate. This cake incorporates a kind of washcloth flower I had never done before and I love the final look. While not in the pictures, I did at antennas to the butterflies before wrapping the cake for sale.

The third new item I made for the craft fair was a 2-tier gender neutral cake. This cake featured a duck patterned blanket, plus another coordinating blanket around the tiers. Added to this cake was a matched duck hat and mitten set. I also added a washcloth, some baby bath samples, and water filled teethers.

The final new item I made for the craft fair was a buggy. This buggy needed to be a boy buggy. I selected a car print receiving blanket for the main buggy basket. I added coordinating washcloths for the buggy hood and the "blanket" inside the buggy.


Along with these new creations and the other baby items I had in inventory, I was ready for the show. I had high hopes of improving on last year's sales. There has been a definite progression of my work over the past year and I was proud of many of the new cakes I had to offer. In my next blog post, I'll give an update on the show including pics, so make sure to check back!