In search of diaper cream

My latest order came from a friend who has an expectant cousin. Unable to attend the shower, my friend asked me to make a diaper cake to deliver to the mom-to-be a couple of weeks before her due date as a final, "Surprise! Here are some last minute supplies!"

We experienced a bit of a disconnect when it came to what would be incorporated in the cake, however. The expectant mom wanted some Butt Paste and my friend thought it would be a great idea to include several of the large tubs that are now available. In the structure of a typical diaper cake, there is no place for a tub of diaper cream, let alone several. However, determined to create a gift that my friend would be proud to present, I decided I could use the large tubs on the inside of the cake so they didn't create extra bulk on the cake. There were a few issues with this solution, however. One problem would be the fact that the diaper cream wouldn't be seen. I like for the items in the cake to be seen so you know "what you are paying for" so to speak. Another complication is that with tubs in the center, it would sacrifice the structural support that is typically hidden within the cake. That problem I decided I'd figure out when the time came to build the cake. Yet another problem was the fact that with tubs of diaper cream in the middle of the cake, fewer diapers could be used for the overall structure.

As it turned out, my problems were solved when I went shopping to collect items for the cake. I discovered that the tubs of diaper cream cost a significant amount. Just 2 tubs would use up most of the funds I could put into the materials of the cake and still provide it at a reasonable price for my friend. I opted to pick up smaller tubes of the diaper cream and hope that it would be ok. They did however help inspire part of my color scheme for the cake, giving me a nice yellow to match with the blue that would be used as the cake was for a boy. The cake happened upon a safari theme because of the receiving blankets I used and the carrier toy I selected to match.

The cake was built with hand rolled size 1 diapers (in the brand registered for by the mom-to-be). Receiving blankets created the finished "fondant" look of each of the two layers. Wash cloths, diaper cream, and pacifiers decorated the sides of the cake secured with curling ribbon. The topper for the cake was a coordinating lion carrier toy. I've been doing a lot of double ribbon bows for the main tie around the layers, but I opted for a single decorative ribbon to prevent this cake from being to busy. The wash cloths were a bit of a last minute addition, but I think it balances out the cake.

After completion of the cake, I sent a picture to my friend that ordered it. She liked it and was understanding about the diaper cream issue I had. I delivered the cake a few weeks before the mom's due date and she was, of course, surprised to receive it. I only hope she liked it!

My First Order (Part II)

So, now that I've kept you guessing, I can continue on with pictures and more information on the building of my first order (especially now that the sip 'n' see has passed and everyone that was there has hopefully now seen the diaper cakes).

I'll start with the bouquet. The bouquet created a bit of a challenge as I found that the materials I had did not in fact provide a lot of lavender to go along with the colors chosen for the sip 'n' see. I had black, white, and lavender tissue paper for decorating around the bouquet and created a lavender bow to decorate the vase. The "flowers" however, needed a bit of tweaking to go with the color scheme. I solved the problem adding lavender ribbon to the wash cloths and diapers to bring in the extra color so all but one of the flowers was not white. These all came together nicely in the beautiful vase I had selected. The bouquet included 2 wash cloths, 2 diapers, and 2 body suits.

As usual, the cakes started with hand-rolled diapers. Size 3 diapers were selected for this cake since the baby had been born and this provided the mom with some larger size diapers when the baby grew into them. The layers were sacked and the blankets and sheets were wrapped around the layers. The added bulk of the crib sheets meant that to give a better varied layered look, I had to remove some diapers from the top tier, but I left as many as I could so as not to sacrifice the value of the diapers in the diaper cake.

Adding the extra decorations proved a little bit difficult. First, the cakes needed to match. Second, since the cakes were going to be used as centerpieces, possibly at a table where people would be sitting, I needed to decorate them all the way around. While the other cakes I had made were decorated only on the front and immediate sides, this one needed more added touches. Add in the lack of lavender and white items I was able to find and it proved to be quite a challenge.

I improvised a bit and created my first ever hair clips to add to the decorations. These were made with ribbon that coordinated with the diaper cakes. I made four hair clips. 2 each of white ribbon with lavender flowers, and 2 each of black and white striped ribbon. They made a perfect addition to the cakes, allowed me to match the cakes and added to the other decorations.

Another decoration I selected for these cakes was wash cloths. I had seen the technique used on diaper cakes before, but only in pictures and never on an actual cake. The effect turned out quite nice, and I'm likely to use it again in the future. For these cakes, I used two rolled wash cloths which were strategically placed along the seam of the receiving blankets on the lower cake layers. This is how I was able to provide attractive views not matter the angle the party guests were coming from.

I added yet another new decoration to the cake. This one included sock "roses" that adorned the bottom and top layers of the cake. One sock from each pair was used on each cake so the cakes matched. Together, the new mom had a total of 8 pairs of socks. 7 were used as sock roses and the 8th pair was used as additional decorations on the sides of the cakes (one sock per cake). I had used sock roses before in one of the bouquets I had made, but never as a decoration on a cake, but I like the effect it provided.

The cake toppers stumped me since the party was a France/Paris theme, I really wanted to do Eiffel Towers on the tops, but I didn't know how I'd be able to pull it off. Finding Eiffel Tower figurines is not terribly difficult, but most would be too big or heavy to act as the toppers. I also considered doing a small bouquet of sock roses, but I had difficulty arranging them so they looked right. I finally found some paper art that could be printed out and put together and thus, I was able to create the toppers I wanted. It provided and economical and attractive addition to the cakes. I printed it out on card stock so it would be sturdy and then built them up for two 3-dimensional towers. I used a longer dowel rod in the center of the cake than I normally would for a 2-tier cake, but it provided the support for the toppers and with the help of some lavender tissue paper, the wooden rod was hidden from view.

As you can see in the sneak peak from my previous post (as well as here to the side) I also included some extra embellishments in the form of plastic decorative pacifiers on the bows. I typically like to use mostly usable items to decorate the diaper cakes, but used in moderation, these types of additions can really add to the "wow factor". Since I'm constantly trying to add more aesthetic value to my cakes, I am likely to continue using some of these types of small additions in the future.

I used so many new decorations and embellishments on these diaper cakes, that I almost feel like I've reached the end of my creative rope, but I'm hoping that is not the case. I like to think I'm just building my skills for newer projects and improving on what I've done in the past. In the end I was very proud of how the whole project turned out and the friend of mine that ordered them seemed to really like what I had done. I asked for some pictures of the cakes at the event so with any luck, I can post some to see how they worked in with all the other party decorations. I hope they were well received by the guests and especially the new mom.

Here is the entire "collection" - the two cakes and the bouquet.

My First Order (Part I)

Not long after I set up my Facebook page and completed my big baby bouquet I received my first ever order. And it wasn't just a simple cake. This was a big order. I was super excited.

A friend of mine was planning a sip 'n' see for mid September and wanted two 2-tier diaper cakes for a large table and a bouquet for the guest book table. She wanted the cakes to be a low enough height that they could be seen over. The theme for the party was a French/Paris theme with the colors lavender, black, and white.

I was so excited and instantly had my ideas for the cakes. All it boiled down to was whether or not I could find the materials. I wanted to use lavender receiving blankets for the layers and decorate the rest of the cakes with lavender and white baby items. Black would be incorporated with the decorative ribbon, as finding baby items that are black is a difficult task.

Little did I know that finding lavender baby items seemed almost as difficult. This confused me a bit, since when I think of baby girl items I automatically think of pink and purple, but to my surprise, it is harder to find a large number of purple items than I originally thought. Most can be found in various shades of pink, even teals and mint green, but rarely purple. After much searching, I was finally able to find items that worked for the cake including receiving blankets, crib sheets, pacifiers, wash cloths, and socks.

Building the cakes came with its own challenges. I'd never worked with crib sheets before. They are thicker and more flexible than receiving blankets so it is a bit more difficult to give that smooth finished appearance that the blankets provide. Also, I needed to make both cakes the same, so balancing decorations and paying close attention to detail was a must.

I'll give more detail and provide many more pictures in the second part of my description of my first order, but for now, here's a bit of a teaser. A glimpse of part of the finished product:

A New Kind of Bouquet

With yet another expectant mom among my friends, I had another project ahead of me. I was asked to make a centerpiece for her shower and I was happy to oblige. This time, however, I decided that rather than make a diaper cake, I'd make a bouquet to go with the theme of the shower which was roses to welcome the baby whose middle name was to be Rosalinda.

I wanted to make a large bouquet as it was to be a centerpiece. I was excited to pick out some girl items (this was my second diaper gift for a girl) selecting purple, pink, and white socks to make roses, as well as purchasing diapers and wash cloths to make additional flowers.

To assist with the size of the bouquet and to add value, I decided the basket would be made of diapers rather than just purchasing a basket. I hand rolled the diapers and wove them together with pink ribbon to form a ring. I used a cake board as the base. I lined the inside of the basket with tissue paper, opting for purple to counter balance the pink ribbon in the basket, and then filled the inside with shredded paper in several shades of purple and pink and white. I then pieced together the bouquet of "flowers". With 6 pairs of socks, 6 wash cloths, and about 9 diapers (not counting the basket) the bouquet was rather large. During the process of building this bouquet, I did have to go through a little bit of trial and error to get the look just right. The diaper "flowers" had curling ribbon to spruce them up a bit and green ribbon was tied to the "stems" of several of the other "flowers" to give the appearance of leaves. The extra embellishments were well worth it, but I think they may have gone unnoticed because of the size of the bouquet and the presence of the tissue paper - basic visibility problems.

In the end, I was happy with the final result. I think if I repeat this concept of the diaper basket, I may make some alterations, but otherwise I was pleased. The expectant mom seemed to like it, so that is what matters in the end.

Diaper Cakes with a Twist

With another friend expecting in August, I was lined up to make another diaper cake. This one however, had a different progression. I learned through a friend, that she and one of the hostesses for baby showers for this expectant mom were planning on making diaper cakes for her for her showers. This presented a little bit of a challenge for me. While diaper cakes are almost always welcome, I was a little worried about the novelty of the gift wearing out if mine was the third to be received. I felt I needed to do something a little different.

I developed a new concept for a diaper cake. This cake would be a sheet cake with a buggy topper. I started my search for supplies using the registry as I usually do. One of the items was actually a set of receiving blankets, two of which were the same pattern. This was vital for the cake as I'd need two  blankets for the surrounding decoration on the cake.

Hand rolled diapers provided the sheet cake. I was surprised at the number of diapers necessary to create the size of cake I was aiming for. Now, the cake didn't have the sharper corners I would have preferred to make it look closer to a real sheet cake, but it looked ok. I used two matching blankets for the edges of the cake and a third coordinating blanket for the top. The buggy was then formed to top the cake, using hand rolled diapers, a blanket, a burp cloth, and some wash cloths. Ribbons were then tied around the edges of both the buggy and the cake for embellishment. A pair of socks was added to the front of the buggy for an additional touch.  I used extra ribbon and tulle for the cake and kept it simple on the buggy topper.

I was really proud of how this cake turned out. It may not appear that way, but this cake took more supplies (at least 1 extra blanket and more diapers) than most of the others that I've made. This is a little unfortunate because for future purposes, it may carry a higher cost than more ornate diaper cakes. Aside from that, I was happy to be able to present a unique style of diaper cake as well as give items that were part of the registry. This made a fantastic eighth cake to add to my repertoire.

New Gift Ideas

After successfully making several diaper cakes, I decided to see if there were other things that I could make using the same concept. Many people may not need that large of a centerpiece or they may need a gift that isn't as costly as a large diaper cake. Using inspiration from Internet searches and gifts that others had made (I firmly believe imitation is the highest form of flattery), I created a few new gift ideas that I could make.

The first was a baby buggy. Now, the buggy that I developed is a little bit different than other's I've seen. I think it is a larger structure and maybe I'll look into a mini buggy, but for now, I'll make them as I have them. The core of the buggy is formed of hand rolled diapers. The internal structure is secured before adding the decorations so that it will stay intact. A decorative receiving blanket surrounds the outside of the buggy. A burp cloth or pre-fold cloth diaper creates a blank surface so the diapers are covered on the inside of the buggy. Wash cloths act as the baby blanket and cover the hood of the buggy. Ribbon is then tied for decoration. This pink girl buggy became my first inventory item for my baby boutique.

The second idea was bouquets. I've seen many variations and these gifts have a lot of options. In my bouquets I've incorporated hand rolled diapers to keep with the idea of diaper gifts. Many baby items can be used to create the "flowers." In this first small basket I put together, I used hand rolled diapers, wash cloths, and bath products. Curling ribbon adds a little bit of extra visual appeal. The basket is then embellished with ribbon and a bow. Inside the basket I used gift basket paper to help hold everything together. While not intentional, this bouquet ended up with a kind of bath theme with the wash cloths and bath products. This basket was primarily for practice. It was disassembled after the pictures were taken. I felt I needed the exercise my skill and wanted to have a visual of how it could look.

A third new concept is a candy dish. For this, various baby items are rolled or formed to create a piece of "candy" and wrapped in cellophane. The items are then placed in a shallow bowl, decorative tin, or large candy jar. I'm still working on developing this project and have only been moderately happy with the outcome of my first attempt at this gift. It does have great potential, so I am hopeful when I try it again.

I'm still pondering new creative ideas for diaper gifts and other baby gifts that I can incorporate into my boutique. I'll probably never stop looking for new ideas, it's just part of my nature.

In New Territory

My seventh diaper cake, similar to the one before, was assembled long before it was actually presented to the expectant mom. It did, however, make it to the mom before the sixth cake was given to the mom and unlike the previous cake, was given before the baby was born. Again, with this cake I entered into new territory.

The expectant mom for this cake was again for a mom that I'd never met. I had spoken with her once on the phone. My husband knew her husband and I had met him and talked to him on several occasions. They are a very nice couple. I started my search for items for the cake like I start most of my searches, with the baby registry. The registry helps me to identify items the expectant parents like; and, if I'm lucky, I can incorporate registry items into the cake as well rather than simply using their influence. This registry provided the perfect addition to the cake - two multipurpose waterproof pads. The pads, which I had never seen before were reusable, and roughly the size of a receiving blanket. These would be just the thing I'd need for my layers. I selected a rattle topper that matched the safari theme and with a few other items I was set.

Hand rolled diapers provided the base for the tiers of the cake. The multi-use pads were a bit harder to work with than receiving blankets or towels as they were much more structured and thicker. I did manage to make them work. Another new thing I did with this cake was use tulle and ribbon for the bow. The tulle provided its own  difficulties, but it fluffed up nicely. I had to add extra ribbon to balance out the extra fluff of the tulle. I attached teethers to this cake in the same manner as the previous one adding curling ribbon for an extra touch. The giraffe rattle topper worked perfectly with the safari pads and was easy to secure among the diapers of the top layer.

This cake had the most punch when it came to decorations by far. The decorative aspect is one I'm still working on. This cake could theoretically be a gender neutral cake, but with the blue ribbons and teether, the scale is slightly tipped towards a boy cake. I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to a shower for the expectant mom which allowed me to not only meet her, but bring the cake to her in person. Another diaper cake was at the shower, but it was set on a side table and unfortunately did not get the exposure it deserved. I suppose that allowed my cake to get a bit more attention when presented as the gift, so I'm not really complaining.