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. 

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.

Pumpkin Elegance

It's been a minute. Or a number of years. Life has kept me busy, for better or for worse and I haven't given any background insights on my diaper cakes in an extremely long time. No worries, I have pictures to let me know what comes next so here we go.

When the request came for the next custom diaper cake, it was once again, something new and different. I don't know how this kept happening, but it did and as always, I'm glad for the challenge. I love the opportunity to take someone's idea and create something beautiful with it. This go-round, the request was pastel pumpkin themed, but they wanted something elegant, rather than cutsie like so many diaper cakes have a tendency to be. They also wanted minimal, so that's what we went with.

This diaper cake was going to be something that incorporated floral decor rather than baby items. Several years prior, I had switched from creating a distinct front on the cakes and decorating all around. This time, I was going for an entirely new look with a cascade of decorations.

I given that this cake was created in October, I was able to find some Halloween and fall decor including light colored pumpkins and leaves. This was my first time working with floral decor so it was a bit of a task to pull the pieces apart and deciding which aspects I was going to use. Certainly, some of the colors were too dark so I had to pull out only the lighter colors.

This cake was a large one - 4 tiers. Since I wanted the decor to cascade, I needed to come up with a way to have ribbon around the cake without detracting from the decorations. When I build the cakes, I have some ribbon holding the middle of the tiers together. This ribbon is then covered by the larger decorative ribbon in normal diaper cakes, but for this one, I needed to still hide the structural ribbon while keeping the cake as clean as possible. I selected a slightly off-white floral ribbon to place around each tier. While visible, it sort of melts into the cake since it's dull, relatively speaking so when viewing the cake as a whole, it's barely noticed.

I then began adding the various leaves and pumpkins, tucking them into the tiers. I created two spirals that began at the top of the cake and angled downward to the bottom on opposite sides of the cake. This created a beautiful cascade with visual interest on all sides of the cake. For the topper, I used one of the larger artificial pumpkins I found.

This cake was so beautiful. It was the first time I created something with no additional baby items other than the diapers that made up the cake. It created an upscale elegant centerpiece for the baby shower while still being useful at it's core. 

What do you think? Do you prefer diaper cakes with more usable baby items or do you like the elegance and simplicity of this style?

Bananas for Another Monkey Cake

Can I just say, I love monkeys as a baby theme? I don't know why, but I think they are adorable. With all the new fresh trends come new challenges and opportunities to get creative, but sometimes I just like going back to basics and sticking with more traditional baby themes - jungle, monkey, ducks, frogs, elephants, etc. While some of these old standbys come back with a flourish, not all of them do, so when I get a chance to make a good ol' traditional themed cake, I'm excited.

I especially get excited because some of my favorite blankets to use are these great neutral monkey blankets and, of course, if you'd sorted through images of my diaper cakes, you'd see those as well as this adorable Ty monkey that have become some of my favorite monkey accents.

So, I had a request for a monkey cake about 5 months after making a similar cake. I'm more than happy to repeat themes, but I do have to clarify that no two diaper cakes are going to be exactly alike. I can create two that are pretty close to the same thing when made together, but with the changes in availability of certain items, I can't always repeat a design after the fact.

For this cake, I started with my standard spiral cake. I used my favorite monkey blankets around the top and bottom tiers with a coordinating blanket for the middle layer. For this cake, I had some brown washcloths which aren't a common baby item, but I had some extra from a special order for a previous cake, so they made a great addition to this one. One of my favorite parts of this cake was the adorable monkey hat that I found. Complete with monkey face and ears! So adorable! The cake was topped with the good ol' standby Ty monkey. Just like the previous monkey cake I made (and a few other monkey themed baby gifts). I then added some super cute monkey die cuts to decorate the layers.

There are definitely differences between the two cakes I made, though the overall look is very similar. It's tough for me to decide if I like one over the other just because they are so similar. Not that it matters, the finished product was a great hit. I'd love the chance to make another monkey cake. Truth be told, I already have the monkey topper. He's so cute, I just can't help myself.

School Spirit!

In an attempt to show examples of diaper cakes that were school or team spirit based, I grabbed several items I had for my own kiddos and put together several example cakes and gifts to demonstrate what something of that nature would look like and let my potential customers know it was possible to make a diaper cake that showed loyalty to their favorite school or team. Thus was created my "Fan Series." These example cakes were created more than two years ago - I remember because I was in the middle of working on them when my labor started with my second son. Needless to say, I ended up finishing the project after the baby was born. In any case, that was the last time I created a diaper cake for a specific team, until a couple months ago when I was approached to make an LSU Tigers cake. Now, this hurt me a little since I'm an Aggie, but I had to be a good sport and I was excited about creating another team cake to add to my collection.

The LSU cake was a 2-tier "naked" cake. I found some awesome options for ribbon and finally settled on a purple ribbon with tiger and LSU logos on it. The rest of the cake was adorned with purple and gold items. I'm glad I found a supplier of dark purple washcloths because darker colors are not typical among baby items. To top the diaper cake, I found an adorable plush tiger. I also added several paw print die-cut accents in purple and gold to finish out the cake.

Now, you may notice that one of the differences between this cake and my other Fan Series cakes to date is that the decorations and color scheme created the theme rather than the baby items themselves. One big thing to remember when it comes to baby items (or other items in general) is that licensed or specialty items typically come with added costs. For those on a tighter budget or those that prefer to keep the theme more subtle, incorporating items in the chosen colors and a few theme specific decorative accents can present the theme just as effectively. It really leads to a decent amount of flexibility so a gift can be created for a whole range of budgets and personal preferences.

My customer really liked the cake which is awesome. I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to make a team spirit cake and I look forward to helping more expectant parents celebrate their teams and share their spirit with their new additions - especially if they are Aggies.
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Monkey Cake!

Can I just say, I love monkey themes for babies? I really do. So when a monkey cake was requested, I was more than happy to oblige. I have frequently purchased a set of adorable green blankets with monkeys on them which give a great green and chocolate color scheme for a diaper cake. Add in some super cute monkey baby items and you can't help but have an adorable gift!

For this diaper cake, a 3-tier cake, I started with the stacked tiers. On this cake, I opted to include two blankets for the middle and bottom tier and added some waterproof multi-purpose pads to the top tier that matched the monkey blanket. I also found an adorable monkey beanie hat set that I included and a super cute monkey teether toy. Coordinating washcloths and baby lotion completed the baby items on this cake. Of course, I had to add the adorable plush monkey as a topper for this cake - I really like that monkey. To finish off this cake I added some monkey die-cuts, because obviously, I didn't have enough monkeys on this cake. They were just too cute not to include.

The final cake was adorable. My customer loved it. If I had one complaint, it would be the lighting when I photographed it since it ended up with a bit of a glare on the top. Natural lighting really can cause issues at times! Regardless, the cake was a winner, so I can't really complain too much.

Dinos!

The Noah's Ark "diaper cake" led to another order since my friend's co-workers were so impressed by that one. This time, I had the opportunity to create a cake using some blankets that I'd been waiting to use with some adorable dinosaurs on them. I couldn't wait to put it together and add all the details and decorations!

This cake was truly fun and I love the vibrant colors. The order was for a 2-tier covered cake so I began as usual with the stacked tiers and, for this cake, the dinosaur blankets. I added wash cloths, socks, spoons, and other baby goodies to the cake to provide some usable baby items (along with the diapers and blankets).

My favorite part of this diaper cake was the dinosaur die-cut accents. I was fortunate enough to have designs that matched pretty closely to the dinosaurs on the blankets, so I made them in colors to match. It was so exciting to be able to add this kind of detail to the diaper cake. The topper for the cake was also a die-cut dinosaur, but a much larger one. For this I actually placed two of them back to back so there was a finished look from all sides of the cake. Die-cut toppers are a great option as they won't add as much to the final cost of the cake as a plush toy will. This means they are really advantageous for those with a limited budget and they still help to give the cake a finished, polished look.

My customer loved the cake which as I've said before is one of my main goals. I really love how this cake turned out!

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.

Totally Adorable, and I Ain't Lion...

Ok, so the post title needs a little work...

After the craziness that went into projects just previous to this one, I was thankful to have a break from the big challenges and make a more "traditional" cake, so to speak. My customer for this cake wanted a lion cake, but wanted it to be simple. The colors were light blue and light orange.

Creating this cake was really fun and though it wasn't as complex as some projects I've done, it wasn't a cakewalk either. See what I did there? Yeah, I really shouldn't try to be funny. Light orange sounds easy enough, but it's not as simple as one would think. There are limitations on the availability of color options when it comes to baby items. There is a little more leeway with decorations, but I've had to get creative in the past. I was very fortunate with this cake to have exactly what I needed - and I used up the last of some items like light orange washcloths which I haven't seen since. I was also able to find some light orange ribbon which helped out greatly. Add some socks and baby utensils that were not quite light orange, but orange nonetheless and I had everything for a completed cake.

For extra accents on this cake I added an adorable plush lion, which, I'll be honest, was maybe a little big for the cake, but it was way too cute to pass up. I really think that this size plush is the biggest that can work for a diaper cake this size. I also added some little lion head accents which were quite adorable.

This cake came together really nicely and my customer loved it. One of the great things about this cake is that the theme was created by one plush animal and decorations. All the other items were basic baby items in particular colors. This makes it a really good option if people are on a budget since a lot of design specific items tend to come with higher costs. The baby items included on the cake are no less usable, and don't conflict with a nursery theme if one has been selected by the mom. Despite this cake being a more clean and less complex cake, it has quickly become one of my favorite creations. I think it's just adorable.

Little Man: Same Theme, Different Cake

When I had done my first Little Man diaper cake, I knew it was getting popular, but I can't say I expected to have another request for it. No, that doesn't make much sense, but, I didn't. I was excited for my new challenge on the theme, however. This new cake was to be white, grey, and black. While one may think this a dull color combination, it was fantastic, and with the use of pattern, I created one truly adorable cake. In addition, I got to pull out my new gadget, a die cut machine, to add some unique accents which you'll start seeing more and more evidence of as I continue to make cakes.

Some of the adorable tuxedo items I found for the cake as
well as some of the mustache cutouts decorating the cake

The cake started as most others as a spiral tiered cake. My customer requested a "naked" cake (one where the diapers are showing rather than covered by blankets) which made the color scheme much easier since the diapers are already white and finding black and grey baby blankets would have been a bit of a challenge. I found some adorable harlequin patterned ribbon in black and white and placed it a top grey and white ribbons. Next came adding the adorable accents. While my previous little man cake primarily gained its theme from the decorations, I was able to add a bit more in the way of baby items with this one. I had found some precious mustache pacifiers to go with the cake. In addition, my customer requested tuxedos along with bow ties, mustaches, and bodysuits to go with this theme so I was able to find some adorable socks and a precious bib with tuxedo patterns on them.

A "Little Man" badge, bodysuit cutout,
and bow tie cut out can be seen here among
the other baby items adorning the cake.

The top of the cake displayed the increasingly popular "mustache on a stick" that I made with my die cut machine. My previous mustache had been a crocheted one, which was adorable, but relatively impractical. This one was purely for decoration, and while it could be used for pictures and whatnot, it could easily be discarded after use or placed in a scrapbook for memory keeping. To finish off the cake, accents were added such as argyle printed "badges" that declared "Little Man,"  as well as bow tie, mustache, and bodysuit cutouts.

The final cake was adorable, and far from boring with the color scheme. The argyle and harlequin patterns as well as the tuxedo prints gave plenty of visual interest to what one might originally think was a relatively monochromatic cake. My customer loved it and I'm so happy to have gotten the opportunity to use my new little toy for adding accents to my diaper cakes. It's an exciting step to making my cakes unique and helping create my own style. With it, I can do an even better job addressing some of the more challenging themes when baby items aren't always available. I can't wait for future opportunities!

Little Man

It seems that "Little Man" is becoming quite the popular theme. I've made two cakes within the past 4 months with that theme and I'm in talks for a possible third. My first Little Man request came in December. The colors selected were green and blue and my customer wanted to incorporate mustaches, bodysuits, and bow ties.

I had difficulty finding appropriate baby items for the cake that would match the theme that were also at a reasonable price, so I relied heavily on decorations to set the stage, so to speak. I made the 2-tier cake as requested and covered the tiers in blankets to match the colors selected. I added baby items to match the colors as well. For the topper, I wanted to do a mustache on a stick. For that, I created a plush crocheted mustache and attached it to the top of the cake on a tall dowel. Mustache, bow tie, and bodysuit printed accents were added, also in coordinating colors.

The cake was adorable and achieved the look I was going for. It went over great with my customer. This cake is a great example about how any theme is possible. I like to pull from the blankets I use, the baby items, and/or the decorations to create the theme I'm going for. Sometimes, baby items are available, sometimes, they are not, but that doesn't mean that you are restricted from getting what you want.

Two Peas in a Pod - My First Twin Cake!

It just so happened that right in the middle of all my preparations for the craft fair I attend every year, I had an order for a diaper cake. And not just any diaper cake, a twin cake. I was thrilled with the opportunity, but a little stressed since I needed to make it along with all the cakes I was working on for the craft fair. That'll teach me to procrastinate on craft fair prep. Regardless, I was overjoyed with the concept of this cake - Two Peas in a Pod.

My first thought was to create tiny pea pods out of washcloths. I had no clue how to go about doing it, but I figured it out and they came out adorable. My customer loved them! And, not only could I add them to this cake, but I also have that accent in my back pocket should another pea pod cake be requested!

I continued on with the rest of the cake, a green and yellow cake, with blankets wrapping each tier. Because the budget for the cake was a little tight, I wasn't able to get a large plush topper (or two) that are commonly seen on top of cakes so I was struggling to come up with a cake topper and just about had decided to add just the paper shred. Fortunately, inspiration hit and I came up with an idea to create a giant two pea pod for the top of the cake. As one additional decoration for this cake, I added some "Two Peas in a Pod" decals to accent the cake. I also added lettering along the bottom tier that read, "Peas in a Pod."


I loved this cake. My customer was thrilled that I was able to add a topper for the cake and keep within the budget. I finished the cake just in time to deliver it on my way to Dallas for the craft fair, so it worked out great, even with my minor time crunch. This truly was an exciting project for me.

A Little Spacey

When a friend and neighbor showed me some of the blankets and nursery accents she was working on for her newest baby on the way, the wheels started turning. Of course, I had to make a diaper cake for her and being sneaky like I am, I made a point to take note of the theme she was going with - outer space.

I daresay, I thought the project to create an outer space diaper cake was going to be much simpler, or perhaps, it's just the way I work, but the whole project took much more time than I anticipated and sadly, it was delivered after the baby was born. At least it wasn't so late that she couldn't use the diapers.

To coordinate the theme, I decided to make a baby quilt with space printed fabric. I'm still new to quilting, but I wanted to do this right, so I planned it all ahead and went to work. No complicated shapes, just squares and strips, and I think for my second true quilt (not counting the rag quilts I'd made for previous gifts) this one came out great, especially since it was my first time designing one and not following anyone else's instructions! I even managed to have the finished project the size I was going for (40"x40"). In the end it was an adorable quilt made of cotton print with super low loft poly/cotton batting, making it a nice light quilt for a summer baby.

Of course, for a whole diaper cake, I needed a few more items to go around the tiers, so I created some coordinating burp cloths. Two were solid colored in a turquoise flannel that matched the quilt. I then made a third burp cloth with bright orange flannel that coordinated with the quilt and accented it on one end with the cotton space print material used in the quilt. The burp cloths were great, but unfortunately they weren't enough on their own and I needed one more item for the cake.

I decided to try a brand new project and make a pair of cotton pants with some of the matching cotton material. I found a pattern for newborn pants and got to work. The main part of the pants were made with the space print cotton fabric. I added extra thick cuffs at the bottom of the pants using the turquoise material from the quilt so that the ends could be rolled to adjust for length. I love how they turned out. It's hard to imagine a baby that small, but they fit the new baby great.

With all of these items together, it created my third "Nursery Set." Nursery Sets are basically a collection of coordinated baby items that can be created and then either gifted as the set itself or they can be incorporated into a cake to make a themed diaper cake. Previous nursery sets can be seen here where I created two rag quilt nursery sets for cloth diapering mamas. This complete set included one quilt, three burp cloths and a pair of newborn pants.

With all the items completed, I was able to begin work on the cake. the quilt became the decoration for the bottom tier. The middle tier held the two turquoise burp cloths and the pants and third embellished burp cloth adorned the top tier. Additional goodies were added to the cake including a pair of socks, teethers, and washcloths. As a final touch, I placed a rattle on the top of the cake and I love how it looks "spacey" and the colors match wonderfully. I don't think I could have picked a better cake topper. Of course, the best part of the whole thing was that the mom liked the diaper cake and was especially excited that it was spaced themed, just as she selected for the nursery.

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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!

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!

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.

Ready for the Harvest!

I recently completed perhaps my most time consuming cake and I would do it again in a heartbeat because it was so much fun! This cake presented a particular challenge as it was to be diaper free. The cake was for a friend of mine. The mom group that I belong to was planning a shower for one of the moms in the group. We decided on a fall/harvest theme for the shower. I, of course, volunteered to provide the diaper cake which would also be my gift to the expectant mom.

Here is where the challenge came in: the mom is a cloth diapering mom but already had a HUGE diaper stash and didn't need any more. So, it was to be a diaper-free diaper cake. Or just a baby cake, I suppose. Not to worry. I decided that this was an easy enough hurdle to jump. Towel cakes are becoming increasingly popular for wedding gifts so, why not do the same with blankets? I usually use receiving blankets for my diaper cakes anyway and the mom had requested receiving blankets since she didn't have the ones from her last baby anymore. I was all set and ready to make a Blanket Cake! This was easier said than done.

6 blanket cake, first attempt

I collected 6 blankets in various boy patterns (since the mom was expecting a boy) and proceeded to start construction on the cake. I was all set to cover the cake completely in ribbon  to match the theme so the pattern of the blankets really didn't make much difference in regards to the final product. As I began to build the cake, I noticed one big glaring problem. The size. It turns out that since flannel isn't a particularly thick fabric, when relied on entirely to build a cake, it is quite lacking. I put the ribbon on the see how it would all work and the result was less than awe-inspiring. Tiny cake (even smaller than my mini 2-tier holiday cakes), the white crinkle paper looked completely out of place, and there were issues with the ribbon (but that was easily remedied). It was back to the drawing board.

3-tier, 10 blankets, final cake

I had intended a 3-tier cake, but as it was, that would never work. So, in the end, I picked up some bath toys that were in a cylindrical container. That container acted as my core for the cake and I started to build again. With the addition of four more coordinating blankets, the cake, though smaller in diameter to most of my other 3-tier cakes, was much more impressive. New ribbon encircled the cake, coordinating paper shred was added, artificial fall leaves were arranged around the cake board, and then it was on to the final touches.

First pumpkin attempt

The final touches were a whole new ball game. And I mean new. New project for me, new to my diaper cakes. Just new. I decided to maintain the theme, I'd crochet a collection of stuffed squashes and gourds to decorate the cake. After the shower, they could be used by the expectant mom's kids as play food. I'd never crocheted food before so it was entirely new territory for me. Luckily, I had crocheted before (my mom taught me, several times) so I knew how to do the stitches and read a pattern. Armed with my crochet hook, cotton thread, patterns (which were difficult enough to find - or make up as the case turned out to be fore some of them), and the phone to call my mom for help in case of difficulties, I was ready to go. The first project was a pumpkin for the topper. While the pumpkin turned out great, it was entirely too bright and too big for the cake, so I remade it with a smaller hook and different colored yarn. I then moved on to the other gourds and squashes. I followed patterns for some, and others I just made up based on how I knew I wanted them to look. They turned out great. I added them to the cake and wallah! I was done.

Gourd set (including 1st pumpkin)

The final cake was such a work of art. it became my new favorite cake and I was so proud of how it turned out. There were so many new techniques that went in to building this cake and I couldn't have been happier with it. The cake looked fantastic with the rest of the shower decorations and their fall/harvest theme. The best part is that the mom loved it.

Finished cake as presented to the mom

I now can add a few new products to my product line - non-diaper baby cakes and crocheted stuffed toys. We'll see how similar projects turn out, but so far, it's going well.