New Nappy Cake

sarahbear1

Thankyou everyone!

The bears were from the card factory and they are even more gorgeous in real life

I have an order from my sister for a friend of hers, and someone in the pipeline later in the year and that it is so far!

I really need to get some orders in not sure what i am doing wrong

zangels

I went today to the place where a lady has asked if I can come and make some things with a group of ladies. Im not really sure how much to charge, its a charity type group and I am hoping they will be able to supply the craft materials. It is not far for me to travel and is somthing I would enjoy doing. has anyone done anything like that befor?

Monk.Tulish

so took the plunge and bought sme pieces today to start nappy cakes im very excited and a little impatient at having to wait for its arrival lol. 1stone is for my mil friend so really hoping she likes it

cupcake-queen

I'm even more puzzled about soft toys now. I was looking on the tag of the £1 ASDA animals that someone suggested (can't remember who it was but thanks!) and they are marked suitable from birth, machine washable and those marks. Could it be that toys manufactured from that date have to meet that legislation and there maybe a lot of ones previous still knocking about?! I am truely baffled!

Love the stork bundle Sarah - it look lovely, there bears on the cakes are also gorgeous. With your FB page, I'm finding it hard to and can't seem to shift from 550 likes (my page has been running for a year and a half) it used to be easier because there used to be a way that friends could suggest your page but it's not as easy as that. There are the 'hike the like' pages and 'send in the troops' but I wonder whether these really work as you're just getting likes and not customers. I'll quite happily like your page if you want me to though!

Going to do a towel cake for a wedding present for my friend next month. Taking the towels to be personalised at the weekend. I wasn't going to bother but someone said I should really be promoting them with wedding season coming up. I've only ever done one for a friends wedding present last year and have never sold one. Where does everyone get their flowers?

Sweetpea32

Monk.Tulish wrote: »

Ive been reading all the old posts to try and get to grips with my new found obsession lol and see most people use size 3 nappies is this right?? My little boy has just gone into size 5 and is 2yrs next month so isnt it a little large for a nappy cake?

I use size 3s. I think my little girl was in size 3s at around 3 months and the size range on them is around 9 - 20lbs, so I don't think there are too big for nappy cakes.

I find that most new Mums like to keep the nappy cakes made up for a while and if you used smaller nappies then that wouldn't be possible or the nappies would go to waste. Also, if they have a large baby then they may go straight into size 2s. That's the reason I use 3-6 months clothes in them too.

Sweetpea32

amurphy wrote: »

Love the cakes Sarah, never seen a stork bundle before, its lovely.

Reagrding 3 tier cakes, I can never seem to get the bottom tier big enough to fit two more on top. How many nappies/items do you put on each layer? I made one yesterday with 31 nappies and I still managed to only get a 2 tier cake! Maybe I am packing them too tightly.

I normally do 21 on the bottom layer, 13 middle and 6 on the top, but it can vary slightly depending on how big the blanket is. I always use 40 nappies on a 3 tier though.

Janey21

Hi Girls
I keep seeing posts regarding soft toys, it is obviously still a concern to most of you and the solution really is a simple one girls 'if in doubt leave it out' trading standards are quite keen that the toys used in these nappy cakes must be safe from birth after all the only thing that would be given to a baby off a nappy cake is the toy, I am appalled to still see cheap toys used on the handmade cakes when most toy manufacturers today all have a nursery range, just use reputable manufacturers like Keel, Aurora, Jelly Kitten, Gund etc, and expect to pay around £3.50-£6 for a decent soft toy and remember the supermarket ones can often look cheap and tacky, if you want to sell quality nappy cakes then use quality soft toys as it is often the toy that attracts the customers.
With regards to Facebook you are not going to be able to just sit back and get 'Likes' by doing nothing, make your facebook page attractive by adding new products and handmade goodies, join in the 'hike the likes' 'send in the troups' 'like2likes' silent tagging page' supermums craft fair' handmade fairy godmother' etc etc, it's called Networking and everyone who likes your page is a potential customer, it's not just about upping the 'likes' on your pages, I have had customers who remembered liking my page and came to find me from a few months ago, if you are a nappy cake business with 24 likes and a nappy cake business with 1200 likes customers are more likely to buy from someone with more feedback than someone who does nothing with their page, my advice ... get those 'likes' hiked!!!
Post regularly on your nappy cake facebook page, tell your customers what you are making that day, add new photos, offer little prizes when you reach a certain number of likes..... promote promote!!! Janey

Bestyearsknittedtoys

Hi, for those with queries on whether soft toys are suitable from birth. All soft toys now have to be designed and manufactured to be suitable from birth and to be machine washable. the new rules came in to effect July 2011 so if you are buying from a supermarket they will definitely comply. You need to check that the toy has a CE mark on thesew-in label. Other things to look out for are bead eyes (should really be embroidered for babies), very short hair and no add ons such as ribbons etc.
I have a blog about toy safety on my website but as i am new to the forum I am not allowed to post it up. If you go to the Best Years website and scroll down the blogs on the right hand side you will see it. If someone else wants to post it up for others thats fine

Sweetpea32

Janey21 wrote: »

With regards to Facebook you are not going to be able to just sit back and get 'Likes' by doing nothing, make your facebook page attractive by adding new products and handmade goodies, join in the 'hike the likes' 'send in the troups' 'like2likes' silent tagging page' supermums craft fair' handmade fairy godmother' etc etc, it's called Networking and everyone who likes your page is a potential customer, it's not just about upping the 'likes' on your pages, I have had customers who remembered liking my page and came to find me from a few months ago, if you are a nappy cake business with 24 likes and a nappy cake business with 1200 likes customers are more likely to buy from someone with more feedback than someone who does nothing with their page, my advice ... get those 'likes' hiked!!!
Post regularly on your nappy cake facebook page, tell your customers what you are making that day, add new photos, offer little prizes when you reach a certain number of likes..... promote promote!!! Janey

I agree, I am on Facebook every night now, adding a new picture (as I've got loads of stock made up now), and posting it on all the networking pages mentioned by Janey, plus loads more. It is definitely helping, but I agree it won't happen overnight. It is a lot of hard work and takes a lot of time, but if you don't put in the work then you can't expect to get the rewards!

amurphy

Can you actually make a living from nappy cakes or is it more of a sideline job?

Also this is the link Best Years Knitted Toys told us about: http://www.bestyears.co.uk/blog/toy-safety-and-hand-made-toys and http://www.bestyears.co.uk/blog/new-toy-safety-regs-july-2011 and http://www.bestyears.co.uk/blog/major-changes-to-toy-legislation-2011