What To Do For a Cloth Diapering Mama...

This was a recent issue for me. I had an upcoming baby shower for not one, but two cloth diapering mamas. Both mamas had a pretty decent stash of diapers, and though one did ask for a bit more supplementation for smaller sizes, I didn't have enough time to order, so I was left wondering what to do for gifts. I referred back to my previous baby cake that I made for a cloth diapering mama with a plentiful stash and tried to think of ideas. I developed a new concept for these mamas that I'm happy worked out and became a new "product" for my boutique.

Since I tend to be a bit crafty with sewing and crocheting, I decided to create for each of the moms coordinating sets of baby items. For one of the moms, she had a nursery scheme picked out so I was able to coordinate with the colors she had chosen.

The first item I created was a blanket. The blankets were essentially a simplified rag quilt (since these are spring babies that don't need a lot of weight to their blankets, especially here in Texas). I used flannel and super cuddly fabric to ensure they were soft and baby friendly. I used some of the coordinating flannel and created burp cloths, which I've done before and have had as an option in my boutique. I also created matched taggy blocks, but with a twist. Where previous blocks have been a uniform size, the new blocks I made were three different sizes. I also didn't add the "rattle" or crinkle effect to these blocks to make sure they remained machine washable. These items combined created my new product, nursery sets. Future sets may include more than one burp cloth, perhaps two or three that coordinate, or perhaps other baby items. The exciting part about this is that they can be stand alone gifts or the items can be incorporated into a diaper cake or as was the case with these moms, diaper free baby cakes.

For the baby cakes, I started with the three blocks and stacked them. Since they were different sizes, they created the different sized tiers for the cakes. The blanket and burp cloth became the clean outer shape for the cake layers. The smallest block acted as a cake topper. To further accent the cake, I added a few more personal touches. I crocheted hats that coordinated with the colors in the cakes and for the older toddler daughters that each of the moms have, I made matching rose hair clips to create a "big sister" gift. As a final touch, I added matched washcloths which were the only items included on the cakes that were not handmade (well, except for the ribbon).

The final result was two adorable baby cakes, full of baby items, but including no disposable diapers. They made fantastic gifts that not only looked amazing, but included custom items that couldn't easily be found commercially. Both moms seemed to thoroughly enjoy their gifts, which is what really matters in the end.

Snowman!

When I was contemplating several ideas for diaper cakes for Christmas, this idea came up. I've wanted to try my hand at a snowman cake for a while but didn't get around to it for Christmas. Luckily, it's just as appropriate for January as it is December, so it became my Facebook profile picture cake for January.

One of the challenges for this cake is the need for it to be white. Most diapers these days are not completely white, but there are some brands that are mostly white and the small amount of color can be concealed with ribbon. I use blankets, towels, and sheets on my cakes most of the time to conceal the diapers, so usually diaper color isn't an issue. I may have gotten away with a white sheet, but otherwise, my options are pretty limited for achieving the look I wanted. I chose to leave this one "naked" so to speak and used some white ribbon to cover the small amount of color on the diapers. A snowman's recognizable coal face was drawn onto the ribbon for the top tier of the cake for effect.

To achieve the desired look, this cake couldn't be adorned with multiple baby items, so I used what I could to add value and still be able to recognize it as a snowman. A crocheted hat sat atop the snowman's head (the top tier of the cake). A receiving blanket became the scarf. A pair of white socks were stuffed with a second pair of socks and became the arms.

Overall, I think this cake came out great. If I make it again or something similar, I may need to make adjustments. I'd have to revisit the drawing board for scarf ideas since this one seemed short and not as free flowing as I'd prefer. I could make an actual baby scarf, but I prefer to keep my diaper cake components practical. A nice touch is that the hat can be a purchased registry item or made to match a color scheme or theme adding to the versatility of this accent. I hope you enjoy my winter cake! Keep looking out for more updates to come!

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.

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.

The Big Weekend

So, now that you've read up on my craft fair prep, here's the skinny on the fair itself, so to speak.

The show started out well. I headed out in plenty of time to stop at my mom's house and help her finish loading up before we went to the show. We arrived early and had to wait a little bit before we could get in (which is pretty much a necessity since parking is at a premium for this show). My mom watched the booths and my youngest kiddo while I unloaded (I also had my 2 year old with me. He rode on my back in the Ergo while I unloaded since he surely would not stay still and my mom would not be able to chase him). We got unloaded and started setting up.

No sooner had I gotten my display up and picture taken, than I got my first sale of the show! I sold a buggy right away. I was ecstatic! The show was off to a great start! The momentum didn't keep though. It was a good sale for my non-baby items, but my baby items didn't sell very well. I had a ton of people looking at and interested in my navy blue three tiered cake. It really is an eye-catcher. I handed out a few business cards, but since I'm not local to the area, it makes future purchases difficult. I really need to get shipping figured out.

The sale over all was great for me compared with last year; however, on the baby side, it could have fared better. I sold a pair of shoes too which was exciting. The mom of a toddler had trouble finding shoes that her kiddo could walk well in and wouldn't pull off so she was happy to find these. I'm so glad that they were what she was looking for!



Next year, I want to see how things would work out with an additional table, a differently arranged space, and many more small items as they seem to do better at shows than larger items. I'm not sure if and how this would all work out, but we will see. I've got almost a year to think about it and plan.

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!

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.