My First Year of Diaper Cakes

I can't even remember where I first saw or heard of a diaper cake, but I remember my first thought about them was, "That sounds like such a neat way of wrapping a baby shower gift!" Little did I know it would turn into a wonderful hobby!

I was pretty busy with my three-month-old Gracie, but one year ago, I decided to make my first diaper cake. My childhood friend Aaron and his wife Deanna were excitedly expecting their first baby, a girl named Addison. They had chosen Laura Ashley's Sally the Seahorse theme as Addison's nursery decor, so I thought it would be fun to make a matching diaper cake. Sally the Seahorse had been one of my few finalists when I was choosing Gracie's nursery theme, so I was pretty familiar with the colors. The teal blue and pink gingham fabrics were so beautiful. I bought a box of newborn diapers, a bunch of rubber bands, the matching ribbon I needed, and some extra "sea"-themed accessories I would try to incorporate into the cake. It turned out something like this:

I was really proud of it! I had ribbon in the exact blue and pink to match the theme, and hooked some sea creature teethers into the ribbon at each level. To top it off, I'd found a string of seashells that I swagged across the cake, and made a pink letter "A" with some sea themed buttons that I glued on. They loved it!

My next cake was actually requested by my high school friend Hillary, who was living in California at the time. Her little sister Laura was expecting a little girl named Lexi, and was doing a pink and brown theme.

I really wanted to perfect my layers with this one, but ended up with some sub-layers, creating a very tall cake. This time I did not rubber band each individual diaper. I'd started to, but then had to start over, and realized how much of a pain it was to cut the rubber bands off each diaper. I realized that the recipients of my cakes were going to have to do that themselves, and who wants to work that hard just to get to their gift? So I kept the layers together with big rubber bands and it worked out great! I snipped them after I tied off the ribbons and it resulted in a much cleaner-looking cake. I decided to do all my future cakes this way. That way the recipients can just snip the ribbons and all the diapers will just fall away, revealing the gifts inside!

Next, my biggest cake. Cy and Jaqueline Jones were having a girl, and had chosen a precious purple Mulberry theme. This is a pretty dark picture of the blanket in the bedding set, but I used it to choose my ribbons.

I really wanted to use much wider ribbons this time, as I knew I would be using a LOT of diapers (232 was the final count!). Instead of doing six total tiers (as in, each tier resting directly on top of the one below), I did three sub-tiers, which resulted in a more compact, but very wide (and heavy!) cake.

Since I used wider ribbon on each level, I was able to use coordinating smaller ribbons on top of them. This allowed me to experiment with ribbon charms and really give a tailored look to the cake.

I also accented a few places with a single flower, and used a garland as a cake topper. Overall, they were very pleased with it, and I was just discovering how much I loved this!

Then came Brian and Whitney Goff's shower for their baby girl Ainsley. The Goff's had been given this beautiful Tropical Punch bedding. I was so excited to work with these fun colors!

I found the perfect matching ribbons! This cake I made in four real tiers, and really liked the way it looked. I used flowers as a topper again, and this time I found some fun magnetic letters in a whimsical font that I painted pink with yellow stripes and polka dots and tucked into the ribbons. I usually keep most of the gifts inside the cake, but the yellow and pink washcloths went so great with the overall theme I just had to make a few of them visible on each layer. I still love this theme, as it fits so well with the Goff family's sunny and fun personalities!

My latest cake was for Brandon and Amber Dion's precious Kenadi Nicole, their fourth child and first girl! Amber is just about the very most creative person I know (look at this beautiful scrapbook she made!), so I wanted this cake to be very special, and to match Miss Kenadi's pink, green, and brown birds theme perfectly.

I found ribbon in the colors of the window treatments Amber had used, but I was having a hard time really perfecting the cake in my mind. After much trial and error, I finally just started building and let it come together itself.

Here it is! I did three real layers this time, but I wanted to give the cake an airy feel, so I used cake pillars that I painted brown and covered in brown textured paper to elevate the top tier. The birds were a wooden material and I decoupaged different papers onto them and accented them with ribbons and paper flowers.

I used a wide pink sheer ribbon that I accented with green skinny ribbon to display ribbon charms that say: "Smile", "Adore", "Delight" "Joyful", "Celebrate" and "Happy Day". The Dion's household is so brightened by the addition of their beautiful daughter and sister Kenadi, so I felt these charms very accurately described the occasion.

It took me forever to decide how to top this cake, untiI finally stumbled upon this little wooden birdhouse. I painted it green, and at the last minute covered the roof with the same brown textured paper I'd used on the columns. It gives such a natural feel to the whole look of the cake.

So this was my first year of diaper cake baking! =) I learn something new each and every time, and it is so much fun to use so many different elements in all of the cakes. If you would like me to make one for someone as a gift, please let me know and I will get with you about costs. I only charge for the cost of materials, as I have such a great time putting them together I don't feel right charging someone else for the fun I'm having! I have an etsy shop, http://gracenotedesigns.etsy.com/. I sell these custom-designed diaper cakes, as well as handmade memory boards and magnets and other random things. I will update it frequently so keep checking in!

I'm already looking forward to making my next one, gathering supplies and ideas all the time. Thanks for sharing a look back at my first year of diaper cakes, and look forward to many more to come!