nappy cakes

I had stumbbled accross the nappy cake consept a few years ago, i think i started in America.
I thought it was a fab idea for a new mum/baby but it was only recently that i have finally had the chance to do it.

This year saw the arrivel of Paul (my other half) first granddaughter. Perfect opertunity to test out making the nappy cake.

Nappy Cake Recipie
1 cake board
1 bottel of talc
1 pack of assorted elastic bands
4 plastic cake dowels

1 pack of nappys
1 baby blanket

1 baby towel
selection of baby grows, bibs and sock (what ever you fancy)
1 roll of cellophane
2meters of ribbon for each layer
curling ribbon

1 cuddly toy

You have to first decided what age you want to make it for, no real point in useing nappies for a newborn but cloths for 3 months if you make it all to the same age it can all be used when it is taken appart.

My first nappy cake, i went totally over the top as you will see, 3 layers, filled with lovely little baby grows and sleepsuits, i think i worked out i came to around £70 by the time i was finished, a little extream really.

As you can see looks pretty much at bursting point and huge!!!

Nappy cake number 2, 2 layers more pink, topper with a hat instead of a toy, looks just as lovely if not lovelier and it was less than half the price.

Finished of with cellophane wrapping and some lovely currly ribbons.

Finally i now have the chance to do a boys one, dont get me wrong i loved the girls but its just nice to be able to use a different colour sceeme, hopfully going for some green and maybe red in this one, not just the usual pink for girls blue for boys,

As you can see its not finished yet, the baby isnt due till novermber so i have plenty of time to finish it, but when its done i will put some pics up. Thats it for now,

katie

xx

cakes mmmmm!!

Cake decorating stems from my dad again,

I cant remember what age i was but one year he decided we would decorate a Christmas cake. We bought the fruit cake and covered it in marzipan and icing then the decoration was a chimney with Santa's legs sticking out the top. It was the most amazing cake i had ever seen and he made it look so easy. So for the past few years i have been decoration cakes at Christmas.

This cake had like a scroll on top with the music notes to "We wish you a merry Christmas"

Last year for my little girls birthday i decided to give it a go making her a special cake. I decided on a Fairy castle, this would be a challenge as i was so used to working with the firm fruit cakes and now was having to change to sponge its completely different when icing.The icing came out all crushed and wrinkled when i finally got it on the cake so to disguise it i covered the castle in vines and flowers, the towers were made from iced Swiss rolls, and the fairy's my mum found at a craft fair.

After doing a cake for my daughter i felt obliged to do one for my son when his birthday came. Pirates was his theme, this needed a bit more time and research so i joined a cake forum and was given some pictures for reference and a few recipes for the cake mix.

Playmobil pirates for decoration and chop sticks to hold the paper sales up, but everything else was edible, well almost (as one of the sponges was quite cooked)

Zoe's birthday is next week and i though long and hard about making her one this year but with an oven the takes 2weeks just to get to the right temperature it would probably be a total disaster. so i have a new plan and hopefully next week i will have an update on it.

so far iv been through collars, wrapping and cakes, still have a few more things to add before going on to what I'm working on now but hopefully by the end of the week the blog will be up to date with whats going on.

katie

x

Where to begin??

My first post, what to write?

Well i guess i will start at the beginning.

Last year we brought 2 little bundles home, they take the form of whippets most of the time,but also have been known to be contortionists, seals and kangaroos.

meet the gorgeous Ruby...

and the beautiful Star..

After a couple of months i got thinking about a collar for them to wear in the house which could have a tag on it. I did a bit of research and found one i liked, beautiful braided leather collar, the only problem was it was in Australia and the wanted three times the cost just to post it here. That's when i started looking at trying to make my own. I found the company to order the materials and taught myself how to leather braid by watching you tube videos, http://www.starrcollars.co.uk/ was born.

Everything was good for the first few months, but then the recession hit and the exchange rate plummeted and well it became to costly to make the collars anymore. I was completely gutted, having put so much time and effort not to mention money into it and it all just had to stop like that.

So now i have had a rethink and StarR collars has become StarR crafts. I never really thought about it before but i love making things and well it seems silly to let the website for the collars go to waste so to keep it going by doing something a bit different in the hopes that one day it can go back to its original form.

Where to begin? Well i guess it tarted with my wrapping fetish. Yes i have a wrapping fetish. There is no excuse for messy wrapping, even the most difficult of shapes can be wrapped nicely with a bit of patience and know how.

Year one Christmas wrapping Black paper black ribbon with green baubles for decoration.

Year two Pink for the girls blue for the boys with spotty cellophane and a snowflake tag thing.

Year three this is where my fetish takes a new level, fed up of having to try wrap odd shapes and make them look just as good as the boxes, i invested in flat pack boxes 9"x6"x6" so everybody's presents that year had to fit in these boxes other wise they were not getting them.

White paper as the base layer, a white background paper with colourful snowflakes as a feature strip, 2" silver ribbon, topped with 1.5" white ribbon, topped with 3/4" sliver ribbon (which read Merry Christmas) and to finish it of red and shimmery white curling ribbon with 2 baubles.

Thinking back now it was a bit extreme but it looked so good, I'm so pleased the way it came out, look out for 2009 Xmas wrapping (I'm open to any ideas) :)

So i think that enough for just now, i have some other crafty ideas which i will add another time but this is basically where it all spiralled from.

Katie
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