Stepping it up

For quite some time now, I've been wanting to add a bit of extra "umph" to my Noah Shoes. While I'm still looking into options for different styles, I first wanted to start small and make sure I had a quality product under my belt before expanding. Now that I feel I've got the shoes themselves relatively consistent, I wanted to add something. Lucky for little girls, ideas to dress up their shoes are easy to come by.

When I was approached for a review of my shoes from Renewable Mommy I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make an adorable pair of shoes for her to review. Not long ago, I had found some adorable material that I couldn't pass up for little girl shoes so I chose this material for the review and dressed the shoes up with some satin ribbon and a bow (sewn and secured so it wouldn't come undone).

Black, White, Red Flowered Shoes with Ribbon Embellishment

This pair was also part of the review
found on Renewable Mommy's blog

I love how the shoes came out and I received a glowing review on the blog. They are perfect and girly and everything I imagined they would be. I look forward to additional embellishments on shoes in the future as it's my next step before I move into new styles. Keep looking out for changes, updates, and new options available! And certainly, don't be afraid to ask if I can try something in particular. Sometimes, all I need is for the opportunity to present itself and I'm up to new challenges!

The Next "Big" Holiday Cake

Since I set the precedent of making holiday themed cakes, I couldn't very well ignore Independence Day, so I set out to make another of my mini display cakes. This one proved a little more difficult since I use things I have around to create these cakes. They are, after all, intended to inspire ideas and show off the wide variety of things that can be done with diaper cakes.

This holiday cake actually started out with the topper - an American flag pinwheel my father-in-law had gotten for my oldest son. With that inspiration, I set out to make the cake. I had a Red, White, and Blue baby bodysuit in a larger size (18 mo) that actually fit quite well around the top tier of the mini cake. I used two prefold diapers/burp cloths for the bottom tier and added a blue washcloth for a splash of color. Coordinating ribbons decorated the tiers and with a bit of crinkle paper, the cake was complete.

This cake certainly doesn't have the quantity of baby items that I typically add, but I'll be honest, the cake didn't quite get the same attention that I've given some other display cakes since I felt in a bit of a rush for the holiday. I like that the bodysuit fit well around that top tier and it gives me yet another option for future cakes. The only drawback with this is that the bodysuit was a larger size and most diaper cakes focus on very young babies. That's not to say that it's not an option and two smaller bodysuits could certainly be used instead. The "fan" I created with the washcloth is also a new idea and I like the effect, but I may change up a bit how I do it to give it a cleaner look if I incorporate a washcloth in this manner in a future cake.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day! I'll be sure to keep up with the cakes. The holiday ones provide a challenging springboard for my creativity!