Miniature Patisserie Chef

For my newest workshop ...Coming Soon ~

2012-02-15T04:37:00.000-08:00

Wondering what these are? I stained these linen...but what are they for? They are for my newest workshop.
Coming soon....:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T01:26:00.000-08:00

To all my readers, wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!

I received an unexpected valentine's day card today from a sweet customer of mine. The card was beautiful, but hearing from her warms my heart. I am touched. Thanks Ty!!! Hope all is well with you....I will be cherishing your card. :)

Nursing a cold

2012-02-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

I've been back for a while but fallen ill for a few days. I've caught a cold. Now that I am feeling a bit better, I can sit and write. A break was indeed good for the soul. I took time to see flowers, enjoying the cold wind and walked lots.

I remembered seeing lots of these zakka style baskets in magazines which I truly adore. When I finally made one of them, I knew I wanted a lace trimmed one which resembles one of those that I've always seen in the magazines. I think I want to try making other coloured baskets.

English roses in a basket...life can be simple and beautiful :)

French Bread in Basket Pendant

2012-01-29T01:06:00.000-08:00

Couple of weeks ago, I hosted a Free Giveaway - it has since ended and we have a lucky winner! The winner is Georgia M! Thank you so much to all of you who have participated in it! I hope you guys had fun :)

Meanwhile, I should be cleaning and packing, but I am still sitting here. I had a nice and quiet chinese new year eating lots of home made food. I have been busy with this and that...there are still work lying around. But I managed to finish up a few things that I've always wanted to do.

I had these resin bread baskets lying around for a while and had always wanted to make a french bread in basket pendant. I finally had the time to finish it! I even had my aunt to make them into necklaces.

French Bread Pendant

Wearable French Bread Basket Necklace

Length of necklace can be adjusted to your own liking!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

A sweet gift from friend

2012-01-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you all dear readers, who left me such encouraging and wonderful comments about my life size inedible macarons in my last post! I'm feeling very loved and actually I have some ideas on how to transform them into functional gifts...so do stay tuned!

I've been spoilt by my dear friend Jacqueline ;) I received this fabric macaron keychain in the mail earlier this week :) I also received a lovely sweet lemongrass essential oil. My favourite scent at the moment is lemongrass!

I'm loving it to bits! I am intrigued by how the crafter made it, the shell was hard and just looks wonderful :)

Today's Chinese New Year's Eve, and for those of you who are celebrating it, I wish you a wonderful and prosperous Dragon Year!

Gift for Friend

2012-01-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

I took these photos a while ago, but I couldn't post them earlier as it would spoil the surprise for my sweet friend..so I waited till Jacqueline received them before I decided to post this.

Remember in one of my earlier posts, I mentioned finding a rare treasure while shopping. It made me really excited.

When I got the french container itself, an idea came to my mind. It was just perfect for some macarons. But since I don't bake, I was going to try making some fake life size macarons to display in the container.

Did you think the above photo was an edible macaron? ;)

These are life size macarons - but made of air dry clay

If you have been following my blog, I don't sculpt ~~too many~~ life size items. This was my first attempt. But the thought of beautifying the french container was constantly calling out loudly to me, so I finally gave it a try.

And I have to say that I really loved creating these life size macarons! They are so fun!! I WILL continue to make them as I have some other ideas for them, and want to gift them to another friend :D

I hope you enjoyed them!

Extreme Cash Giveaway!

2012-01-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

2012 is going to be a great year!

It’s time for an EXTREME CASH GIVEAWAY! I have teamed up with my blogger friends to bring you an extreme cash prize. One lucky winner will receive $500 in their Paypal account at the end of this giveaway!

To enter, simply follow each of our blogs via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and any other way you’d like! All the links are provided for you and you can do as many as you choose. This giveaway ends 2/12/12 at 11:59 pm EST and is open worldwide.

You ONLY need to enter this giveaway on one of our blogs.

***If you do not see the Rafflecopter widget, please click "READ MORE"***

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dollhouse Miniatures 1:12 Scale Pain Au Chocolat

2012-01-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

I started making some dollhouse miniatures Pain au chocolat lately. But the truth is, I have not eaten one in a long time even thought it is a favourite food of mine.
I don't pass by the french bakery often and even the Japanese bakery don't make them as well. I guess that's why.

I always like to eat mine hot and warm from the oven, how about you? Even if I leave them overnight, I would toast them the next morning before I eat them.

It was my first time making these 1:12 scale Pain Au Chocolat, but am loving them! It was fun to make and I am seldom hungry while making dollhouse miniatures food, but this one made me yearn for a real one! So when I finished making them, I said that I would get a real one to treat myself.

Pain au chocolat on my finger

I am able to make them in other sizes too, so if you are interested, just contact me! :)

Dollhouse Miniatures 1:12 Scale Cake Pops

2012-01-06T01:00:00.000-08:00

These round little cakes presented on a stick are so much fun to make in dollhouse miniature scale. I made them in many colours and I also made them in different types -some with sugar coated, some with coconut flakes coated on them :) and some sugar glazed.

I don't think I'm done yet - in making them in different colours. So I will continue to churn out in different shades of colours, just because I'm enjoying making them so much.

These dollhouse miniatures are lovingly handmade by me. Hope it brings a smile to your face!

Fake sugar granules are also available in my store here.

Seeing the rainbow colours of pink makes me happy :)

Cake pops in 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale lovingly handmade by me

A Visit to Hort Park Singapore - Part 1

2012-01-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

Hort Park is not a new place in Singapore. I think it's been around for at least a couple of years - maybe 3 I guess. I remembered because I was then working in my ex company which was nearby. Back then, I don't really feel like hanging out near my work area after work or on weekends, hence I did not visit it...until recently.

I remembered I was on a bus that passed by it a while ago and it struck me that I DO really want to go and visit. Text-ed my high school/secondary school mate Maggie whom I knew had visited before and I asked if she would like to go with me.

Hort Park is relatively unknown to tourists. When a tourist thinks of Singapore, they would think of the Zoo, Botanical Gardens, Chinatown, Little India and possibly other touristy places. Unless you are really a nature lover, and really want to go to all the nature places in Singapore, then Hort Park might pop up in your research. With that said, I would definitely recommend and bring my overseas friends here for a visit IF they are into flowers, nice gardens, beautiful landscapes and quiet nature.

The Christmas decorations were still up near their main signs leading to the entrance of the park

As described in their website, Hort Park is a one-stop gardening hub that brings together gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities under one big canopy in a park setting.

You can even pay to learn to farm. I saw a few people doing that! It takes a little walk to get into this Hort Park, but it was nice. The air was fresh and invigorating that morning. The wind was cool, it was a beautiful day. It must be the negative ions. Maggie told me about negative ions and the good things about it :) That's why I love walks, gardens and flowers.

Near the entrance, I was immediately attracted to this cute seat!

This path is calling out to me....actually it leads to the washrooms ;)

Can't resist taking this photo! A christmas flower arrangement! Love the wood planter.

The main building has a customer service office. In there, you find products for sale. Plants, bags, some souvenirs can be bought there. Another really interesting thing to me was a "showroom". The showroom was segmented into a living area, kitchen, dining, bedroom, study, bathroom area. What it aims was to show the public how you can make your living surroundings more nature friendly. It was really interesting to see how they decorate the area with plants, fish tanks and with some other innovative, stylish ways.

Like this...

Stylish decor

This is so pretty!

I think the park had something special for Christmas. I saw they have kept most of their christmas decorations in the warehouse/store area. I MUST remember to visit this again next year near Christmas time to see what they have specially put up for Christmas. Over in the dining area, the Christmas dinnerware and decorations were still on the table.

We left the showroom and started wandering around the area. I saw these plants that lined the wall as we made our way to the basement area.

I was upset though, when Maggie said there used to be a flower shop in the basement, I would so love to visit it! But I think business had been bad and so the flower shop is gone. All that is left are just some function rooms, where people can hold weddings or function/events there.

We passed by and saw a few very pretty walls like this.

We then continued our walk into the park. It was nice to see how they segment it into different themes-Chinese, Balinese, Peranakan etc.

I remembered the Balinese one most because this thing stood out most to me. Put a massage bed under the shelter, alongside with some frangipani flowers and it would look like an expensive outdoor day spa. :)

We passed by this place where it looks like a greenhouse. Maggie told me beforehand that nobody can enter it, but you can look through it and see all the beautiful flowers in there.

We saw a staff outside and asked if we could enter and he said yes. We found out it was a butterfly garden!

There were just many flowers and butterflies inside! Many people came here too. This is the most busiest place actually.

Another shot!

We spent quite some time inside here. Don't know why, but I think there is something calming to see butterflies flying all around.

Pink flowers make my day!

We then walked to the greenhouse. Along the way, Maggie told me the plants in the greenhouse were going to be transported to Gardens by the Bay which would be opened soon in June 2012. I read from the internet that it was as big as 101 hectares or 177 football fields. Would you believe that? I'm really excited now and I would want to visit there when it's opened.

We saw a few green houses and even though we can't go in there, but we stood outside and marveled at the different species of flowers. Some of the green houses were cold (air conditioned) which was necessarily for some of the plants that can only survive in cool climate.

I tried taking a photo of this pink flower from the outside of the green house.

We made our way back to the entrance, where we rested our feet and then continued with the walk.

We walked up the suspension bridge and was going to embark in another walking trail.

However, part of the bridge was closed due to repair works so we could not continue our walk that way. It would be reopened in late Jan 2012....so we said we will come back for this part of the walk when the bridge is re-opened.

Which explains why this is Part 1...

Would you like me to blog about Part 2 of the nature walk? Please write in the comment to let me know.

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed this nature walk with me.

Free Giveaway - Art Prints by Maximonstertje

2012-01-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! May you all have a fantastic 2012!

I have been thinking this for a little while, and wondered what is a better way to start off the new year? With a FREE giveaway of course!

I've been very lucky to know Danny of Maximonstertje and was very excited to bring this giveaway to all of you.

I love her beautiful, colourful art prints, which made me smile and I'm so sure you guys would be delighted to own them! These would be perfect to decorate your house! Or are you running out of gift ideas? These are also going to be excellent housewarming gifts or birthday gifts!

Here are a few of my personal favourites:

This one is a special special favourite! Looking at it just makes me smile! New in the shop too!

I thought these were fans, but with a closer look, I found out they were coloured incense. But the colours were so bright and colourful that I know this would be such an attractive happy art print to look at!

I've yet to travel to such a beautiful chateau or place where there are so many red flowers all around. I know that looking at it would bring me a sense of calm and happiness.

This giveaway is absolutely FREE. Open to worldwide :)

You will be able to pick your own art prints and win Either (Please pick either one of the choices)

Choice A : 1 big size photo (either 8x8, 8x10 or 8x12)

Choice B: 2 smaller size photos (either 5x5 or 5x7)

________________

When a winner is picked on the 24 Jan, I will contact you to let you know how you can contact Danny to pick and claim your prize. You have 48 hrs to respond. Another winner will be picked if there is no response/ no way that we can contact you.

This giveaway will be closed on 24 Jan 2012. Open worldwide. :)
__________

HOW TO WIN:

Simply follow the below steps to win! (You get additional chances to win too!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy New Year!

2011-12-30T23:30:00.000-08:00

2011 is coming to an end and time flies by this year...

I'm really pleased with how things panned out this year. I think I've been very blessed. Truly, I can't complain. This year, I learnt that I can be contented with very little things - when a friend actually misses you, or just saying hi online, or a friend who would take the time to go exploratory walks with you...these are little things that don't really cost a thing but means so much. I am extremely grateful and thankful for all the friendships, support and love that I've gotten.

I've never been excited over the new year, but I'm quite hopeful and optimistic about the next year. I don't really have new year resolutions, because I don't think I am one who will stick to them. I am actually hoping time can fast forward to March, even though I only know how true it is that the only thing that is constant is change. Before I know it, spring time will be here, so I will start living at this moment right now.

Call me old fashioned, but I do think health is most important, so I wish all of you good health and be happy in 2012. :)

I want to continue to make people smile, to me it's the greatest gift that I can give. To make someone smile through my creations, photos or writing is a pure gift...so I am mindful and will continue to work hard at that.

Thank YOU for accompanying me through this journey. I am happy that you are here.

Wishing you a blessed New Year!

Dollhouse Miniatures Christmas Swap

2011-12-29T21:12:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, I participated in my very first dollhouse miniatures Christmas swap organized by Caterina. I was picked to make items for Caterina and in return I would be receiving items from Ana.

I received Ana's package and am so happy...she makes such romantic sweet items and here are what I received.

Sweet pink pillows and linen towel....Love the tiny blue ribbon

Ana made me this basket of lovely pastel sweets :) I love the white christmas candle stick!

Thank you so much for all the items, Ana. I would always treasure these handmade miniatures....They might be appearing more often in my photos in future too! :)

And thanks to Caterina for organizing this swap. I'm so glad to take part of it - I really felt the Christmas spirit! :)

Air Dry Clay – Grace Clay : Another Discovery

2011-12-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

I’m always discovering something new about air dry clay, in this case, Grace Clay. I bought some grace clay recently, and when it arrived, I pressed on the package to get a sense of whether it’s a fresh pack of clay or not. When it didn’t feel as soft as another batch of clay that I’ve got, I started investigating.

I studied the packaging and pressed on both packets of Grace Clay again (bought at different times). I suddenly thought of how my mom taught me how to tell if a fish is fresh when buying one in the market. One of the ways to tell was by pressing the meat with your finger. It should be resilient enough so your indentation disappears. If your fingerprint remains, move on.

Now, simply reverse this theory for testing Grace Clay. If the indentation remains, or it takes a longer time for the clay to revert back to its original shape, then it is a fresh packet. If it feels hard, move on.

I flipped to the back of the packaging and started to look for signs. Noticing a difference, I seriously wonder if this was the cause of it. I also did a search on the internet to find images of Grace Clay. I specifically wanted to see the back packaging (Not the front). But all I found are images of the front packaging which wasn’t helpful in my research.

Are there even “grades” for Grace Clay? But the packaging seems to indicate so. Even a non-clay user whom I asked thinks that it refers to Grade A and Grade B from the print. What do you think?

I did the finger indentation test just to show you what I meant. Below are the results.

This means details being sculpted on the Grade B clay would show up less obvious than on Grade A clay since it would spring back slightly, compared to Grade A which is softer and likely to hold details better.

I then tested the Grade B Grace Clay texture. I was thinking that maybe the finger indentation test was just psychological on my part. Maybe there would be no difference. I can recall very clearly how Grade A Grace Clay felt like on my fingers. It was very moist and soft. I can definitely say there is some difference. It’s not as soft as Grade A. Grade A also tend to retain its softness very well even after you’ve opened the packaging and keep it in good condition as what I’ve described in my tips here.

Does it mean it’s Doom’s Day?

This might be what you’re most concerned about. What does it mean to you as a user? Unfortunately, there really isn’t a good or bad because everyone sculpts different things in different sizes. How fast they consume the clay, and how well they keep their clay are other factors to consider.

Sure, of course everyone wants the best Grade, considering if my suspicion is true that there really is a Grade differentiation for Grace Clay. Based on my personal experience, the Grade A Clay keeps really well even for over a year. It remains soft. But what if you didn’t know beforehand, and you already have a Grade B clay sitting in your cupboard?

I always think that there are ways to work around it. Although you can’t change the texture of the clay, but you can think of what are the things that you can use it for and how you can use that to your advantage. What about making bigger items, or items that does not need that many fine details but still in good, long lasting durable quality?

This might also be a good experimental opportunity to mix it with other clays to see what results you can achieve.

You should always also consider these questions when buying your clay.

What kind of things are you making them with mostly? (this should give you a rough indication of usage each time)
How often would you be using the clay? (Once a week, everyday, every other week, once in a blue moon?)
Would you be able to store it well until the next time you are using it?

So what is the Grade of your Grace Clay? Start flipping to the back of your packaging and inspect it today. I would love to hear from you, so I can continue to investigate and research. Would we even discover a Grade C or D? Or was it a batch number? Let me know. :)

How was your Christmas?

2011-12-25T08:27:00.000-08:00

How did everyone spend their Christmas day?

Did you.....

Photo source credit here

I hope you did. I had a raisin danish croissant for breakfast and it was yummy!

Did you....

Photo source credit here

I did! But for some reason, I don't know why my family members think presents are to be opened on Boxing Day....

Did you....

Photo source credit here

I did! LOL I blame it on the wind and cool weather. Plus for some reason I was really tired today and took a long nap...

After my nap, I decided to start...

Photo source credit here

As for dinner, I had planned this for a long time...and you'll probably be surprised if I said this is the first time of this year that I ate this.. I decided to order

Photo source credit here

After all that was done....oh yes...I did finally

Photo source credit here

This pretty much sums up my Christmas Day. How did you spend yours?

I hope you liked this and that it brings a smile to your face! :)

Antoinette Patisserie Singapore - Saint Honore Gift Box

2011-12-24T04:08:00.000-08:00

I visited Antoinette Patisserie Singapore for the first time to visit my Christmas gift box. It was actually called Saint Honore Gift Box. I was very excited when I collected it as it was packaged beautifully with gift ribbons and christmas decorations.

Here's what inside the box -
2 pcs of galette bretonne
2 pcs of galette bretonne chocolat
2 pkts of almond cookies
2 pcs of orange hazelnut sable
2 pkts of earl grey tea sable
2 pkts of green tea snowball
2 pkts of raspberry snowball
2 pkts of croquant

If you asked me how the cookies taste, I'm afraid I don't have a full answer, as I gave most of them away to my aunt. But I've tried the galette bretonne chocolat - which was really delicious as it was NOT sweet and tasted of dark chocolate. Heavenly. :) My favourite one, I would say.
I also tasted the green tea snowball and raspberry snowball - I liked the green tea one better :)

The one that I had the strongest impression was defnitely the galette bretonne chocolat. I would definitely get it again if they ever sell them as loose pieces.

Meanwhile, have a wonderful Christmas everyone! Hope you all are enjoying time spent with your families and loved ones :)

First Attempt of St. Honoré

2011-12-21T03:03:00.000-08:00

After my visit to Antoinette patisserie shop, I have been inspired to make the 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale St. Honoré pastry. It must be the pink colour. Their version was a lovely lovely sweetest shade of pink, almost like a lip gloss pink, which just made me smile.

I slowly started off making the bases, and then the tiny profiteroles.

This was my first dollhouse miniatures version. I was pretty pleased with it. I like this pink, but it wasn't the pink I was envisioning so I will save it for another later batch. And I'm actually thinking, how many types of pink do I want? We'll see...

So when I made the next batch, I spent some time mixing the pink colour. I failed in my first colour mix because it was too transparent. I whipped up the next pink colour and finally found the right shade. I might go another 1-2 shades even darker sometime later...

I decided to go with a delicate shade of pink for the whip cream too.

This can be purchased in my dollhouse miniature food section of my shop!

If you require this in other quantities, please let me know.

A visit to Antoinette Singapore

2011-12-18T07:05:00.000-08:00

Before you wonder, no I'm not talking about the movie. ;) Antoinette Singapore is a new patisserie and dining place offering a variety of sweet and savoury French specialties. In their Christmas catalogue, it was mentioned that their shop was named after the last queen of France whose love for meticulously-crafted pastries was well known. And having seen their pastries, I must say they look exquisite! There are actually 4 branches already in Singapore, but fate brought me to visit the one at Penhas Road, where I was there to collect my long awaited Christmas Gift Box!

This branch was tucked in a quiet corner of the street. There aren’t any shops or obvious landmarks beside it, so you have to look out for this.

But once you step inside, you will be greeted by a long wide table filled with scrumptious looking goodies! I went to ask about my gift collection, and while the staff went back to check, I looked around the shop/cafe a bit. It was quite roomy and I can't help but be drawn to the table of goodies.

Not knowing if photography would be allowed, (as there are some shops that doesn't allow photography of their interior), I have since then been very mindful and would always ask first before I snap away. When the staff said yes, I almost felt like I struck lottery!

On the table were all sorts of treats, from christmas specials to butter croissants to meringues!

This is the first time I hear about Chocolate Brioche, but they just look wonderful!

I regretted not getting one of this Pain Au Chocolate home, because they looked so delish!

Though I’ve never ate Christmas stollens before, these are so beautiful!

I love how colourful and cheerful looking these Traditional Christmas fruit cakes look!

They have a few macaron towers which are prominently displayed at their side product shelves.

I’ve not personally dined there yet, but will do so maybe someday. They don’t just serve cakes and pastries but also have mains, salads etc. Although I must say having seen their menu , the prices are a little on the high side, so you may have to be prepared to spend above $50 for a meal per person there. If I ever do dine there, I would blog about my experience too ;)

Hope you enjoyed taking a little walk with me :)

Dollhouse Miniature Accessories - Wall Decor Frame Art

2011-12-17T01:40:00.000-08:00

These dollhouse miniature accessories wall decor frame art came out looking very "wintry looking", which made me smile alot. Initially as I worked on them, I didn't really quite imagined how they would look like. I played around with a few colour options and decided to give it a rustic aged frame. I love those pictures a lot and as I saw them come to life, I can't help but look at them again and again.

Definitely a favourite photo of mine at the moment!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Macarons

2011-12-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

I decided to give this dessert another try. In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that the macaron I tasted was too sweet for my liking so naturally though I love the colours of it, I wasn't inclined to try it.

This is my second time trying macarons. I didn't like the range of flavours that were offered in the first shop I happened to pass by. I am not really experimentative with food and wanted something more mainstream...but this shop (maybe this was their seasonal offerings), had too many sophisticated flavours that I can't really visualize how the flavours would taste like :P The whole range was focused on tea-infused flavoured macarons. So I decided to give that a miss.

In the 2nd shop that I went to, I was happy to see that they had some mainstream flavours and I picked the strawberry macaron with vanilla cream to try.

The shell could be 30-40% less sweet still. But I did like the strawberry taste. It was flavourful and the vanilla cream complimented it so well. LOVE the vanilla cream.

I thought it would be the same like the previous macarons I tasted, until I bit into the middle of the macaron.

OOOhhh....I tasted the slightly tart strawberry jam/puree, whatever you call it. I love how it brings down the sweetness a bit. Heavenly.

I still have a few other flavours to try out, but I am liking this one so far..

Dessert Jewelry - Pink Rose Cupcake Ring

2011-12-15T02:29:00.000-08:00

It has been on my mind for a while to try to attempt making some dessert jewelry - especially cupcake ring.

I finally had some time to attempt this.

For my first ring, I can't help it but make it a pink colour, which is my favourite colour. As I was thinking what kind of decorations I wanted to include on the top, I considered sweets which I would like to attempt later, but first I really wanted something very feminine and elegant, so for this one, I included the pink rose too.

My source of inspiration came from looking at the real cupcakes which has flowers on them.

I hope you enjoy this one! Would so love to try out other colours too! So look out for it. :)

Patisserie Coin De Rue

2011-12-13T02:41:00.000-08:00

How can I not watch any movie which has the word Patisserie in it? I even thought it was a French Film, but it wasn't. In fact it was a Japanese Film.

What I liked about this film was, of course the cakes, pastries and desserts. Everything looks yummy. I also love their quaint antique cake shop, a place whereby you can sit a little while longer, rest your feet and treat yourself to a splendid afternoon with tea and cakes. And the shop is not on the main road, so it's really quiet and has nice surroundings. How lovely!

But what I felt wasn't realistic probably was they would start making the "special order" cake at the point only when it was ordered. It felt like they were making it from scratch, which I think was a little unrealistic perhaps. Or maybe I'm a little dated, I don't know if real patisserie shops do that now?

This cake display makes me drool....OOOhhh.

I love the green cake base. It looks yummy, or maybe I'm really hungry.

Ahhhhh ....Would so love to try this!

What am I doing with them?

2011-12-12T04:55:00.000-08:00

I think these pictures are incredibly beautiful...they were actually a calendar of some sort, but when I saw them, I thought of making them into dollhouse miniatures to capture their beauty. I didn't want to put the calendar up on my wall...well I don't have much of a wall space and besides, I do prefer a desk calendar.

The photos were just in the right size too...

So I had fun during the weekend making these lovelies into wall frame paintings, of course in 1:12 dollhouse miniature scale.

I will be offering them on my shop pretty soon, and so do look out for it. Since they were made to be a calendar, the print and quality is incredibly lovely.

Don't miss out on them as once they're sold, they will be gone forever.

Stay tuned! ;)

Craft Books - Welcome to the Felt Bakery

2011-12-08T23:59:00.001-08:00

It’s been a while since I did any craft books review. I got this book a while ago and am going to review it!

Book title : Welcome to the Felt Bakery

Author: 宮市稔子

Though this book is targeted towards felt crafters, I decided to review this book because I strongly feel that there are really good techniques here that are extremely adaptable and useable for clay crafters. I am actually quite excited about it after looking at the book.
Very interestingly, many years ago, I was into felt craft as well. I made felt swiss rolls, cakes and all the sweet desserts. After looking at this book, I think that felt craft has actually evolved a lot these years, so much so that felt desserts and pastries have reached a new level of sophistication and realism.

This book introduces felt crafters to clay work as well. The main idea is that before they can actually make the felt items, one has to sculpt the "master" item from clay, and then use it to make molds which will later be used for felt work.

Because of that, there are some very interesting sculpting skills (from basic to intermediate) one can learn from, especially if they are interested in making dollhouse miniatures - bread from scratch! There are tons of different breads to learn, and I think this should keep a lot of bread enthusiasts engrossed and occupied for a long time. Although the items made are larger and not in dollhouse miniature scale, I do think that this can be easily adopted appropriately in the scale that you work.

This book has 54 coloured pages and even step by step diagrams are coloured. Even though the instructions are in Japanese, with the clear diagrams it would be easy to understand. I've not come across such an interesting craft book in a while and this is definitely a keeper!

You can now purchase this book directly here for US$38.90 - shipping included and I ship worldwide!

Just click on the Buy Now button below and it will take you to Paypal. Even if you don't have a paypal account, you can still purchase this with your credit card. You don't need to have an account to purchase it.

Lovely Catch up!

2011-12-07T07:38:00.001-08:00

Joanna swung by Singapore for a business trip this week and we managed to meet up for dinner and catch up! I was hoping that she could stay on for another day or 2 so that I can bring her to some quaint and cool places, but she had to go back to work....so we shall do that the next time she swings by here!

We ate, walked around and found some cooool neat stuff. We are thrilled to bits actually. I rarely shop here and the fact that I can actually be excited about it is really something. Hehe. Another day, I can show you what I find. Not related to miniatures though!

Here are just a few photos that I took.

While waiting for our food to arrive, we both sat, relaxed and enjoyed ice lemon teas.

Joanna's lovely green sweater is in the background. :)

Joanna had beef. I don't remember the full name of this dish though...sorry!

I had this crispy chicken cutlet. It was a little hard though, maybe I am old, but I think I like things with gravy better these days....

Dollhouse Miniature Pink Christmas Tree

2011-11-30T05:49:00.000-08:00

I have never imagined a pink christmas tree until a few years ago, when I really like the colour pink and I wanted everything (almost) pink. When I was a kid, christmas trees were always green, and they had colourful lights, so you can imagine that was what my idea of what a christmas tree would be like.

This year, I had new ideas for a new dollhouse miniature christmas tree. Not only will it be pink, but there will be some blue, and more importantly, it will be all glittery and shimmery! I find that cosmetic colours can be a powerful source of inspiration for me too, as their ranges of new colours are often so pretty and it gives me so much room for imagination! From what I've noticed, Christmas colours for cosmetic makeup are often always so glittery and shimmering!

I hope you like my version of pink christmas tree!

Available at my dollhouse miniatures store!

Winner of Giveaway!

2011-11-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all of you who had participated in my Blog Giveaway posted on 3 Nov.

I am so happy that my blog giveaway was hosted in a special month - which coincides with many important dates, one such as Thanksgiving. It's really my way of saying Thank you to my dear readers :)

There was a total of 130 comments, and with the random number generator, number 30 was picked!

And now, I am sure everyone is excited to know who is the winner.

Please, everyone, give your congratulations to :

Fabiola!

Sweet Fabiola I will be contacting you soon to get your mailing details!

As for the rest, (without sounding like a tape recorder), this wouldn't be my last giveaway, so please look out for the next.

And again, Thank You for your companionship along this creative journey. :)

Everything is ready, and all that we need is an east wind

2011-11-27T04:18:00.000-08:00

Today all I could think of was this chinese proverb as I sat and edit my photos. The proverb is "Everything is ready, and all that we need is an east wind". 万事俱备，只欠东风

It pretty much summarizes exactly how I felt.

You know how sometimes, there is just an missing element that makes it "ahhh", but at that moment, you don't know what that is.

I remembered taking some photos of this dollhouse miniature christmas log cake a while ago, but something just wasn't quite right. I felt that I did not manage to capture its beauty back then.

But today I knew why. The answer was lighting.

We had beautiful weather in the morning today. The sun wasn't exactly scorching but I felt it was just nice. I swear it really was the sun that gives a soft glow to it.

So here I am again, presenting this special christmas log cake. I took reference from a real christmas log cake, and love this modern contemporary feel.

Available at my store! Pei Li's Miniatures

Fill In The Blanks Friday - 25 Nov 2011

2011-11-25T04:18:00.000-08:00

I am a bit late in wishing all of you guys who are celebrating Thanksgiving a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Black Friday! For those of you who enjoy shopping on a Friday, I hope you score some great deals!

It's been a while since I did the Fill In The Blanks Friday, but today, I DID remember, so here I am!

{via the little things we do}

1. Waking up at the break of dawn to go shopping is my idea of a US holiday tradition ;). I have never experienced waking up at the break of dawn to go shopping and even if there is a tradition here locally I doubt I would do that. BUT I would wake up at the break of dawn to catch a plane going for a holiday!

2. If I were to go shopping today I would be on the hunt for candles and especially candles with lemongrass scent. That was what I could think of all morning, and which I finally succumb to getting some online ;) It must be the cool weather here, that makes me want to enjoy a nice relaxing room scent .

3. The best thing I ate yesterday was egg mayonnaise and ham sandwiches served on a really soft white bread. It's been a while since I had sandwiches for lunch and they do taste so good .

4. Something I've been learning lately is to live in the present, to feel and enjoy the present moment. It is a waste of energy worrying about what's going to happen in the future because you just never know what's going to happen tomorrow .

5. I cannot start my day without my morning cup of hot strong tea .

6. My nighttime attire consists of a sleeveless top and shorts. I never wear long pants unless I'm travelling and sleeping in a hotel room .

7. I am looking forward to tomorrow. Weekend. Monday! .

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Black Friday Cyber Monday Sale!

2011-11-22T22:54:00.000-08:00

To celebrate Thanksgiving, I am joining in with many other sellers on Etsy holding a sale on my Etsy Store :)

Please look out for the promotion code on my fan page tomorrow!

Meanwhile here are some of my latest work!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Miniature Holiday Gift Tags

2011-11-18T19:01:00.001-08:00

I am in an experimental mood yesterday night and had the urge to create the holiday gift tag.

The christmas card was made by my Aunt Mavis.

Hope you like this!

Dollhouse Miniature Food - Christmas GingerBread House

2011-11-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

I remember looking for some new christmas inspirations for dollhouse miniature food a few weeks ago. On my wishlist was to make a gingerbread house. This year, I am particularly drawn to a white christmas ^^ I just love the pristine white snow, a fascination that I have since we have no snow in Singapore.

This 1/12 scale christmas gingerbread house's special mention is the roof. Though time consuming to make, but I really love the cobblestone effect.

I hope that you can feel a sense of calm and peace when looking at this gingerbread house. :)

After The Rain

2011-11-10T01:29:00.000-08:00

Just last week, I had a chance to take some photos just after the rain.

I love the smell of the air after the rain and how everything is clean and green.

On my way to my favourite jogging track

I was just intrigued by this and wanted to capture this moment..

The dried grass on these little steps is a huge contrast to the green grass right next to it.

I was on my way to try to take a few more photos of the flowers, but then 2 of these creatures caught my attention. They were actually looking in my direction, and to be honest, I was a little taken aback because I have jogged this route many times and had never once saw these squirrels before. They must have came out for food after the rain as well. It was really a rare sight!

Blog Giveaway - Blue Christmas Tree Cupcakes

2011-11-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here is the blog post everyone's been waiting for. As I promised in an earlier post, I want to do a give away in November- which coincides with my bday month. I want to thank you all for reading, staying here and commenting. I really appreciate it and this is my way of saying Thank You :)

I created this 1/12 scale blue christmas tree cupcakes especially for my blog giveaway. Presented on a beautiful white tray with a lovely blue shade tray paper, I hope you like this special set!

To win this blog giveaway (Please do read the rules, thank you!),

1. Be my Blog Follower. ( Simply leave me a comment and let me know what other colours of christmas tree cupcakes you would love to see!)

Here are additional chances you can win.

1. Like my facebook page, and you get an extra chance. Leave me a separate comment to let me know.

2. Follow me on twitter, and you get an extra chance. Leave me a separate comment to let me know.

3. If you have previously bought from Pei Li's Miniatures or my Etsy Store, you get extra chance. Just leave me another separate comment to let me know.

4. Subscribe to my newsletter, and you get another chance! Just leave me another separate comment to let me know.

5. Write a blog post about this giveaway, when you leave me a comment with the blog post url, you get another chance! Sorry, sidebar advertisements are not counted.

If you fulfill all requirements, you should leave 6 separate comments.

I'll be using a random number picker to draw out a number by 29 November 2011.

Thank you and Good Luck!

The Plant - Part 3

2011-11-03T01:18:00.001-07:00

Many months back, I talked about The Plant and also The Plant Part 2.

It has always been my desire to show you the little things of what makes where I stay so special. I was disappointed after the plant was uprooted and taken away by the owner, because that was the special highlight of my day whenever I walk this route.

After the rainy season, came the hot summer. During the hot summer, the purple mums were almost dying. Back then, I really don't know if they would survive the hot summer....

But I've been keeping an eye on them and am so delighted that the plant has been nursed back to health!

I'm so happy to show you these new photos of them.

There are now 2 areas where this plant can be seen. The styrofoam box is still around, and just round the corner, there is another plant.

Right beside it is this plant called Pandan Leaves. I LOVE this plant because it has a sweet aroma to it, especially the root. I can't tell you enough about how wonderful and how many uses this plant has. The most popular dessert/cake made with this key ingredient is the Pandan Cake.

Not just that, but can you believe that it drives away cockroaches? I love sitting in cabs/taxis where I can smell this. You can also put this in your room too. It really has a sweet aroma...

Pandan Leaves!

I will slowly and surely introduce you to a few more beauty around my home. I hope you enjoyed this!

Ryan just told me the purple flowers were called Gomphrena Globosa.

Dollhouse Miniature Food - Christmas Tree Cupcakes

2011-10-31T18:15:00.000-07:00

I started making some christmas dollhouse miniature food a while ago as I know I am a tad slower when it comes to making miniatures. ^^

I love these 1/12 scale christmas tree cupcakes which I made most recently. What I love about them was that they did really quite look like a real christmas tree (I hope)! They were also really fun to make!

After this set, I have also made a pink set for Jackie and working on another set.

I'm really happy because as I experimented more, I had further tweaked and refined the way to make it look better each time.

Meanwhile, these have been SOLD ~~ Thank you Tracey!

Also, I wanted to thank you all for subscribing, reading and commenting on my blog. As my way of saying thank you, I am preparing for my next giveaway, so look out for the details soon. :)

Dollhouse Miniature Food - Green Tea Mont Blanc Desserts

2011-10-27T19:52:00.001-07:00

I really love green tea if you don't know it by now :) I love it so much that I know I HAD to add that into my array of 1/12 scale dollhouse miniature food.

The leaf biscuit on the top of the green tea mont blanc dessert was an idea I had in mind. I like how pretty it sits on the top and hope you love that too.

Speaking of tea, my boss sent me some tea this week from Las Vegas. The tea was grown locally in a herb farm there, and I just had my first cuppa today, it was soothing and nice. Lots of lavender, elderberry and other herbs. The brew and taste was rather strong even though I only put in 1 teaspoon of leaves. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Daiso Soft Clay Review

2011-10-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Sometime ago, I bought a Daiso Soft Clay, wanting to give it a try. I was quite curious to see and feel how it's like. I recently tried it and my first impression was I didn't like it. Unlike Hearty clay, this has a soft, powdery feel. Although it is soft, but no matter how you press or knead it, it crumbles, which means you can't really create or sculpt a proper shape out of this.

With that said, I was not ready to give up and toss it away. Crumbly can be a good thing if you know how to further adapt and find a way to use it. I made a macaron with mostly Daiso Soft Clay, and waited till the next day to see how it feels like after it is dried. When dried, I was actually very pleased that it came out to be rather rock solid hard but still retain its lightweight properties.

And then I tried a few more "concoctions". Try mixing Daiso, Hearty and Grace. Perfecto!

Do give Daiso Soft Clay a chance...if you experiment it enough, you might find the beauty of it! I did!

I just love the natural crumbly texture of it that I had to take a closeup photo!

Ad print design

2011-10-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

Last week was a super busy week. In between the customization work, I also had to prepare for some advertisement print. After looking at the dimensions that was given to me, I felt I would not be confident enough to tackle a rather big advertisement on my own. So I was on the hunt to find someone....someone whom I know that can deliver the style that is close to my heart.

I found WinchesterLambourne and that was it! When I first saw her portfolio, I knew she was the one! I knew that I would be in good hands, and she would be able to present my style effortlessly.

Working with her was such a breeze and she was magical! All I did was provide her a few of my favourite photos, and letting her know what text needed to be added in, and then she came back with this design! I was so pleased :))

P/S If you do need graphic help and love her style, you should go to her :)

Macarons still...

2011-10-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping myself very busy lately with customization, which I'm very blessed and grateful for!

Here are some things I've been working on. These lovely christmas macarons are going to be included in another project that my sweet friend Jacqueline will be working on. To know how exactly she will use them for, please keep a look out ;)

I am loving those vintage trays. :)

Dessert Jewelry - French Macarons On A Tray Ring

2011-10-09T23:04:00.001-07:00

In the midst of making the trays of dollhouse miniature macarons for Jackie, I wondered what if I make them into a wearable dessert jewelry as well?

So when I completed making those trays of macarons, I started to assemble a tray of rainbow macarons :)

It fits all color outfits, and rainbow colors are sure to brighten up your mood. I feel so happy just looking at the colors.

It's on the way to its new owner now ~~ :))

Dollhouse Miniatures French Macarons - For Jackie

2011-10-07T17:36:00.001-07:00

These lovely pink dollhouse miniatures french macarons were a request by Jackie :) I am so happy and honored to be making these special treats. This is the first time I had to make about 9 shades of complimenting pink and creams to fill in the trays - I sometimes wondered, how many more shades can I come up with before I ran out of ideas..

Macarons ready to be slot into the bakery shelves!

Pink makes my day!

If you would like these, please contact me as well. I'll be making some more soon, so look out for them!

Dollhouse Miniature Macaron Display - 1/12 Scale

2011-10-05T01:22:00.000-07:00

My fun experiments with colours lead me to this dollhouse miniature macaron display in 1/12 scale, and I'm pleased to show you this piece which I've recently completed.

Even though it was just only french macarons, and you might think how hard can it be to make more than 200 macaron shells by hand from scratch...well it was still pretty time consuming. But it was really fun to make, and especially when the colours come to life!

After I completed this, I found it extremely therapeutic to feast my eyes on this dollhouse miniature macaron display piece, just because my eyes are moving from my favourite sweet pastels pinks to the earthy soft browns, then to the yellows and then to the calming sea of greens and blue. And because all the shades are soft, it is a soothing piece of art.

I like looking it from the side too, as I like to see the neatly stacked macarons waiting to be savored.

The macaron tong sits on the side of the display pane, ready to be picked up and be used!

I hope you like this unique piece!

Available in my store.

New Craft Class - Scones and Jam!

2011-10-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to add another new offering to my range of craft classes for dollhouse miniatures!

Scones and Jam was something I made last week, and I felt this was going to be pretty rewarding yet simple enough for beginners who would like to try their hand on creating dollhouse miniatures.

This is something that you can complete in 1 session and take it home to treasure and remind you of the wonderful world of realistic dollhouse miniatures :)

With that, I present you Scones and Jam! Please check out my website for more details about this craft class.

The piece in my hand...

Freshly baked 1:12 dollhouse miniature scale scones

Dollhouse Miniature Accessories - Glass Bottle

2011-09-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

My love for the blue mason jars in real life gave me this inspiration to transform these dollhouse miniature accessories - 1/12 scale glass bottle. That beautiful shade of turquoise is irresistible. It's a colour that makes me happy, besides pink :) With the lack of readily made dollhouse miniature accessories in that delicate soft shade of turquoise drove me to make some my own.

White and turquoise is all I need.

Simple things like this makes my day.

It's quite strange, but sometimes miniature making lead me to deeper understanding to life and things. One of the things that I learnt from this experiment was, there was definitely more than one way to do this. I like to use whatever resources that I have around me.

Some people have used the food colouring method to colour their glasswares. Some people use the thinner, glass paints and baking method to achieve theirs. With no food colorings and oven in my home (I don't bake), I had to find my own way. It is definitely possible, and here's my results. I love it when I find more than one way to making things.

Miniature Christmas Scene - Work in Progress

2011-09-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

There are strawberries waiting to be painted, cakes to be put together, rings to complete, and all going to UAE ...

And this half painted display is just work in progress, in between while I'm waiting for things to dry. I wanted to take a photo to see. And putting things near to the sunlight gives me a better perspective when it comes to colour.

Well, I don't know if this would be successful but let's see...

After a few days of raining here, which is really cool and nice, today's bright and sunny!

Dollhouse Miniature Food - Creme Brulee in 1/12 Dollhouse Miniature Scale

2011-09-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I made some dollhouse miniature food, specifically desserts. I've been very wrapped up in making flowers, bouquet, and it's almost like a new quest that I have right now - to make exquisite flower arrangements in dollhouse miniature scale. Yes, that's my new quest. :) That explains the books, images I've scout around for new inspiration and ideas to make realistic dollhouse miniatures flower arrangements. I've some ideas but as always execution does take some time, but hopefully as time permits, I'll be able to show what I've come up with.

Here's a cute creme brulee dessert I made most recently! In reality, I probably won't order this dessert as after a few spoonful of it, I'm ready to stop LOL. And I personally prefer my desserts cold....Although wiki says it's normally served cold, a warm version was actually served when I first tasted this dessert at a french restaurant many years ago. So maybe I would like it much more if I had the cold version :)

My first real fascination with this dessert started from watching my favourite french film "Amelie". Hearing the satisfying crack of the outer crust of caramelized top was simply fascinating....and seeing how the spoon revealed the soft custard beneath the crusty top....Ooh. Ok I need to re-watch this movie again!

I'm drawn to its bright yellow colour. It's actually quite an eye catching dessert. :) And it reminds me of chinese egg tart really...

I hope you enjoyed my version of the dollhouse miniature creme brulee :)

Rose Bible

2011-09-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of a rose bible? Certainly I have not until I saw it, and found it rather amusing to an extent just by the word itself. But I can understand why they name the book that way, because it was a detailed compilation of all the different variety of roses, in all shades that you can ever imagine. They also have very beautiful names, which was inspiring!

A beautiful clean cover

Beautiful pictures and in all shades you can ever imagine.

The other day I bought a rose. The shop keeper said it was orange, but it didn't really come across as orange to me ;) But this rose has been blooming for the past 3-4 days now, and this rose blooms so beautifully, more so than the pink ones which doesn't bloom this way. I am enjoying looking at their petals :)

Dollhouse Miniatures - Peonies Bouquet

2011-09-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

I recently made these dollhouse miniatures peonies bouquet. Although this dollhouse miniature flower arrangement bouquet was time consuming to make, but the end result was worth it, I think :)

This time round, I added quite a lot of leaves to it. I love these leaves, and if you can see them up close, you will be able to see the veins of the leaves. That's how thin I made them.

I like these romantic sweet colors, which I'm sure it will brighten up any corner of your dollhouse miniature home!

I left them unglued, so the flower arrangement can be versatile enough to be placed in the glass vase itself, or be displayed on a chair, or table. :)

If you have a different color version of a bouquet that you would like, please feel free to contact me. I love experimenting with colors, as you know by now!

Available here.

Happy Shopping

2011-09-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I took the chance to do some shopping with my aunt. Although I had no inclination to take on that 40% store wide discount in the beginning, but in the end, the deal was irresistible. It was worth it though :) I bought a lot of this and that, papers, knick knacks. I was very happy with my purchases...

Have a happy weekend!

Retail Shop in Queensland Australia

2011-09-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are living in Queensland Australia, or even if you don't but will be visiting there, I'm excited and happy to let you know that some of my specially made clay jewelry has reached this lovely shop in Queensland.

You can now purchase some of my handmade items directly at The Cupcake Gifts and Homewares Yeppoon. Directions, address and other details to the shop can be found here.

Here are some of the lovely stuff that is in the store!

Pink range - my bet that this will be most popular!

How about green and yellow?

Colours of Macarons

2011-09-02T03:53:00.000-07:00

Before you think these are edible, I must admit they are just the new range of dessert jewelry I've created. As you can see, I'm still indulging in colours. I enjoy creating beautiful colours, analyzing colours and really have fun with them.

I've been busy creating items the past week, and I'm really quite happy with this colour series of macarons.

As soon as I created these macarons, I had to take a picture to capture them in their raw natural state, before I start transforming them into something else.

And then I felt like dressing them up.

I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I do :)

Dollhouse Miniature 1:12 Scale Pink Rainbow Cake

2011-08-30T01:41:00.000-07:00

Even though we are not affected by hurricane in our country here, we have experienced a few days of dark clouds, heavy continuous rains over here. As I am typing this, the sky has darkened and it looks like we will have another cool rainy evening tonight :)

I made another dollhouse miniature pink rainbow cake the other day, and had it made slightly different, if you noticed...

I like this new one too, with the white cream in between the pink layers.

Photo taken during one of the cloudy days...

With the weather a little more wet these days, it requires more patience working with air dry clay. Every little step requires patience.

Hope you enjoy these photos!

Dollhouse Miniature 1:12 Stylish Rainbow Cake

2011-08-28T02:23:00.000-07:00

Over last week, I was experimenting with colours and using the rainbow cake concept, I made this 1:12 scale dollhouse miniature rainbow cake that I truly like.

Layers of the lightest mint green, mauve, blush pink and lemon yellow.

I love how these colours look so good together. I hope you like this colour combination too!

Happy Birthday Lillya!

2011-08-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is my youngest fan Lillya wearing the chocolate french madeleine earrings on her birthday :)

I made her 2 flavors (chocolate and strawberry) and I guess she picked the chocolate ones to wear.

Lillya getting very interested with the french madeleine earrings!

Eating chocolate cake too!

Thanks to Ryan and Shayna for allowing me to post this photos and to blog about it!

Happy Birthday Lillya and hope you had a fantastic birthday!

Take a look at my range of dessert jewelry.

Dollhouse Miniature - English Tea Cart Trolley

2011-08-21T02:24:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful and busy weekend! I finally finished a whole range of macaron clay jewelry which will be making its way to Australia later this week! I will share more photos soon.

But first, I wanted to introduce you this piece of dollhouse miniature which I have completed a while ago. An English Tea Cart Trolley.

The truth was, I had the trolley completed last year, without all the miniature food on it. I was looking for inspiration.

One of the Sundays, after my usual cleaning and dusting, I finally sat down, determined to do something with it :)

And sure enough, once I had the tray paper on it, inspiration came quickly and I managed to have the whole piece ready fairly quickly.

I am thrilled and excited with this piece. It's a working trolley, with real functional wheels.

I had fun hand mixing all the colours of the dollhouse miniature macarons and cakes, so that everything fitted the English Rose theme.

Available at my dollhouse miniatures shop.

I hope you like it! I will also be making another piece and that will be made into a class workshop too. For those who are interested to learn how to make this English Tea Cart Trolley cart, do look out for it!

Love those macaron colours

My hand in the picture

Mauve

2011-08-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Mauve...There are just so many shades and tones of it. Sometimes it can be greyish, sometimes it's purplish.

It seems Mauve is the "in" colour for this Autumn season.

Mauve reminds me of...

This

Source: urbanoutfitters

A nice mauve rose

Source: weheartit

Mauve Dress

Source: ModCloth

A nice beautiful shade of mauve nail polish

Source: Zoya

Then a few days ago, a sweet customer approached me for a dessert jewelry - mauve macaron. She showed me a photo with the most breath-taking mauve colour I've ever seen, and I jumped right into it, making her a mauve macaron ring! Because I'm so inspired, I will make the whole range of macaron rings from that photo.

Can't wait to dive right into it, but first I have to finish some pending work...

Dollhouse Miniatures - Carnations Still

2011-08-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have some more photos to show. Another carnations flower piece which I made last week.

These were small but fun to make.

I had fun this week making a whole range of macaron colours, requested by my customer. Once I have them done, I'll take some photos!

Work in Progress

2011-08-15T01:03:00.001-07:00

It was a fun experience for me last weekend. A big thank you to Cindy who invited Stephanie and myself to be a "Judge" for the Bear Fruit Miniatures Workshop which she was the mentor. I've never been a judge before, so the term itself was a little scary. But all in all, it was fun and not stressful! I was extremely impressed with the quality of the work done by the participants, given that most of them have never touched air dry clay before. I hope whatever I said makes sense and the participants felt it was helpful. I didn't prepare a speech, everything was impromptu. I hope everyone would continue to experiment and more importantly enjoy and have fun playing. It was also nice to catch up with Cindy and Stephanie after the event. :)

Yesterday I continued working on my work in progress which has been sitting around for a while. I made the window shutters and I painted it green. I love this shade of green. It's just kind of different. It's actually a combination of several colours but I'm glad it turned out looking nice. It's a little antique actually.

I'm going to do a little research and do up the exterior a bit.

Front Page of Etsy!

2011-08-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

It's extremely rare (at least for us in Asia Pacific) to be on Etsy Front Page while we are still awake... Maybe this doesn't happen to most, but I was never awake for the few times I was ever on Front Page. :P

My sweet friend Jacqueline alerted me while I was painting my dollhouse miniature window shutters. I quickly took a snap shot.

And thanks to Polina and Sergey of Beauty Spot who has an eye for making beautiful treasuries!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NzA1OTk0OHw1Njc1NTMyMjk/give-me-some-air

Dollhouse Miniatures - Pink Rose Cupcakes and Unique Giveaway!

2011-08-12T06:22:00.001-07:00

While happily making a bunch of flowers, some end up looking like roses and some were more like carnations. I picked the ones which looked like roses and made them into dollhouse miniatures pink rose cupcakes.

I especially love how delicate and thin the flowers look, just like the real thing.

This experiment on dollhouse miniature roses and carnations has been extremely fruitful and in a way, deepened my knowledge on air dry clay.

In fact, I was chatting with my friend today about how I would REALLY love to try my hands on making edible roses decoration for real cakes, maybe using gum paste. Now, what prompted me to want to try it out is because I wanted to see if my own unconventional way of working on roses and carnations could be adapted to the real edible thing. I've not tried handling gum paste, and don't know how the texture is like, but I think I would really like to experiment my rose/carnation making techniques with the real thing someday. Can any real bakers in Singapore who is reading this, and who's interested to get together to play with gum paste leave me a message? All the ones I know who bakes live overseas. This will be on my wish list.

Now, this is open to all the 1:6 scale doll collectors. Simply blog about this new unique giveaway with a clear photo of your empty flower pot, utensil or container that you would like me to fill it in with my newly created flowers. You can blog about why you like it to be filled with my hand created flowers, your preferred color ;) Please provide measurements of your empty container.

Then leave me a comment here on my blog, with your blog URL.

I'll be selecting one unique container and I'll make you a pot of flowers. All you have to do is to ship me your empty pot/utensil/gear. All you have to pay is for the actual shipping of flowers back to you.

Please feel free to let your 1:6 scale doll collector friends know about this. :)

Sounds good, no?

Dollhouse Miniature Flowers - Carnation

2011-08-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who had responded to my blog post yesterday, and letting me know your thoughts about what you think of the flower - I love all the comments and hearing whether you thought it was a carnation or a rose.

Thanks so much!

So I made a whole bunch of them yesterday and when I had enough, I quickly assembled one into a small pot of flowers.

I'm still in the midst of experimenting and tweaking. Some turn out looking more like roses, and some turn out looking like carnations. At least they look like flowers ~~ :D

I'm still having fun with them, so I think I'll be making them for a bit.

Carnation or Rose?

2011-08-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

I like to think it's Carnation.

I'm asking the same question to a few friends including my facebook fans. The first friend whom I showed this photo to told me it looks like Carnation but it also looks like Rose.

And then Cathy said it could be either too.

I was making a batch of flowers yesterday and I had a bit of clay left. I could either finish it off continuing what I did.

But then, I remembered I wanted to try something out. It was always on my mind. So I tried making carnations by hand from scratch.

Difficulty Rating is 3.8 out of 5. Because it's small, you have to have the lightest touch, so as not to squash the flowing petals.

I thought they looked like carnations, maybe I did hope they looked like carnations....

Then again, I wouldn't mind if you said they look like roses too just because there are so many different variety of roses.

I'm going to try making them slightly bigger, just to see how different it would be.

What do you think it looks like? Carnation, Rose or neither? ;D

Dollhouse Accessories - Kitchen Utensils Holder

2011-08-08T03:09:00.000-07:00

I made this dollhouse accessories - a kitchen utensils holder the other day.

I envision this being hung on the wall near the dollhouse kitchen sink. Or against the counter wall.

Part of the inspiration came from the last french chic planter I did, and part of it was looking at some home decor magazine.

Very shabby chic :)

Japanese Craft Book - Sweets Decorina Book Review

2011-08-05T04:52:00.000-07:00

It has been sometime ago since I wrote my first miniature book review.

This time, I wanted to write about another Japanese craft book - Sweets Decorina

Published in 2008, this is a 63 pages full coloured book. Though the book is entirely in Japanese, it is packed with photos, so one will be able to follow easily.

This Japanese craft book is suitable for beginners who wish to explore japanese air dry clay such as hearty, grace, cosmos clay. What I love about this book is that most of the tools used are inexpensive and can be easily purchased at Daiso stores. You can follow the photos provided in the book to scout for tools and materials accordingly. Note again that this book shows techniques to make 1/3 miniature scale or larger scale items. But you can experiment and tweak techniques accordingly to make other scale items.

What I also like is that they show you how to achieve different coloured clay such as orche coloured clay by mixing different types of coloured clay. This is especially useful if you don't have an whole array of acrylic paints lying around. They show you how you can achieve different realistic food tones with the primary colours.

You also get to learn how to make macarons and ice-cream using inexpensive tools.

If you are wondering what is the difference between this and the earlier air dry clay book which comes with a DVD which I have reviewed, I would say this has more different food items, which includes chocolate chip cookies, swiss roll, swan puff/profiteroles, various food toppings. They also have lots of photos to show how you can use these food items to decorate photo frames, clothes hanger etc.

All in all, this is an easy to follow air dry clay book.

You can also find this in my store under Craft Books.

Coloring Books For Adults

2011-08-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

Coloring books were a big part of my childhood memories. In my days when we don't have computers, and when Barbie dolls were considered a luxury toy, you have to find some other hobbies, activities to indulge. I still remember coloring books though. They were my favourite! Give me a coloring book and color pencils anytime. I enjoyed going to the bookstore and flipping through coloring books, and I do get to buy one sometimes.

As I got older as a kid, I still like coloring books, but I was looking out for more "challenging" pictures to color. There were 2 main considerations for me. The theme of the coloring book has to be something I like. I don't enjoy coloring something I don't have an interest in, like robots, or cars...things like that, you know. So I do flip the pages and see if there are things I like to color. If the subject is not to my liking, I won't be buying it most likely. If it is a feminine theme, that's a big plus point for me. :) Secondly, I love details, the more the merrier!

The Japanese coloring books were my all time favorite as they were the most detailed one I've ever come across, and the theme were definitely feminine and elegant! They make the best coloring books.

Even the front covers were so attractive!

In the past, they produced coloring books in the form of drawing blocks. So the picture was even larger, and equally detailed. It was NOT possible to finish coloring 1 picture in an hour due to the level of detail of each picture. The amount of roses and flowers in the picture alone...well you can spend a lot of time just carefully coloring away...Plus these were not designed for crayons. Only color pencils would be able to do the job nicely and properly :)

Come to think of it, there is educational value in coloring books. It instills discipline and a child has to be able to sit still for quite a while to complete a picture. Besides creativity skills, the kid would have to learn to control her motor skills, ensuring her coloring doesn't go "out of line".

This particular one showcases fashion wear from the 1700s to 1900s. As you flip through the pages, you get to see how fashion has evolved over the years.

It is not surprising that even adults love coloring books. I suppose coloring books are a woman's thing. ;) correct me if I'm wrong. Finding suitable coloring books for adults can be a challenge. I think these are just perfect!

My mom bought me similar coloring books when I was young but she didn't let me color on them as I was a little too young. It was not until I was 8 yrs old or more (slow developer... :P) that I get to appreciate such fine details and challenging pictures. Not wanting to "spoil" the original pictures, I tried tracing them. Boy, that was so much hard work that I gave up after a while lol.

During my time, there were no photo copying machines yet!

I know these would be perfect for adults who are still into coloring books. They would also make a nice gift for little girls!

They are now available on my store! Look under Coloring Books. I hope you have fun with them as much as I do!

Dollhouse Miniature - French Chic Gerbera Daisy Plant

2011-08-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

I just had this vision of planting a fuchsia gerbera daisy into this planter because I think the colour would be so bright and pretty. Most people might turn away from fuchsia because it's not easy to match such a bold colour - but if it's used properly, it can create such amazing results. I like this combination. I hope it brings a smile to your face!

I can picture this anywhere in your dollhouse.

Available at my dollhouse miniatures store.

Welcoming my 500th blog follower

2011-07-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for following my blog! This is an amazing journey for me, and being able to share my passion through here is something I still look forward to everytime.

Looking forward to my next free giveaway? I'm going to start working on it soon...

Meanwhile, have a great weekend and here's recent photo!

New purple vintage dollhouse miniature flowers - Hydrangeas.

Vintage Woodwork - French Chic Trays

2011-07-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've been hard at work these few days working on these vintage woodwork french chic trays.

Making another batch of trays for the collaboration project with Jacqueline has been a sweet, fun and inspirational journey!

I had the chance to try new sweet colours and painting styles too.

Here are 2 colours that I'm pretty excited about. Not just because it's another ordinary pink or blue, but there are some special touch ups I did to it. Notice that shimmery sheen? Maybe it's not so obvious in this picture, but tilt it towards the light and it will be pretty obvious :)

Trays are sent off to Jacqueline...

Meanwhile, if you're interested in a colour of your choice, just let me know. :)

Clay Jewelry - French Chic Gerbera Daisy Necklace

2011-07-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

Ever heard of the "wear a plant" necklace concept? I saw this a few weeks ago. It's actually a planter necklace concept, and you can plant your desired herb or plant in the acrylic planter and wear it on your neck. I was fascinated with the concept which prompted me with this original idea. Last week, I finished making the cupcake planter dollhouse miniatures. An idea came to my mind and I wondered what if I made it into a clay jewelry necklace?

I started to do some research and after finding a few simple elements, I made my first wear a french chic gerbera daisy necklace.

Hope you like it!

Dollhouse Miniature - French Chic Ivy Plant

2011-07-19T19:56:00.001-07:00

I saw this real french chic planter in a magazine. I don't really know what's the proper term for it, but it's like a cupcake base wall hanging planter. It was the cupcake base that caught my eye. I found it elegant, original and just so cute. I couldn't resist and thus I had to make it into adollhouse miniature french chic ivy plant.

It was really fun to make. Seeing it come to life is even more exciting.

Making dollhouse miniature plant is still a new area for me. Every plant turns out a little different from the previous.

I hope you like this!

2.4cm tall and 1.6cm wide

Another view

A shot with my hand (took it in my balcony)

I want to win this...

2011-07-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

I gotta be honest with you man...(stealing the first line from Dennis Quaid latest hidden camera prank at Ellen Degeneres Show) I don't really have a thing for clothes that much.

But there is this one - a style that I like very much. Simple and chic. Plus it is in a colour that I absolutely love. Mustard Yellow. A few years ago, I discovered mustard yellow and I fell in love with it.

Isn't this gorgeous?

I would wear it just like that - if I win it. I want to win it so bad.

French Larkspur, together with Jeanne Oliver Designs is giving away this beautiful dress shirt. Hop on over to here to see how you can win this too.

By the way, I hope you do enjoy that prank. It cracks me up everytime I see it.

Dessert Jewelry - New Macaron Earrings

2011-07-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

Last week, I decided to make some more dessert jewelry using macarons with the shades of dusty pink I've earlier discovered while making the miniature pink rainbow cake.

Here are my dusty pink series of macaron earrings. I'm quite sure at some point later, I'll be adding new shades of pink once I discover them. One can't have too many shades of pink.

The 2 lightest shades has specks of pink and purple in it. Like some real macarons do!

Working on a new plant right now...I'm quite excited and hope to show you photos real soon!

Just Because

2011-07-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

I like taking photographs of things, like flowers for example.

I asked the florist if she had any pink roses. She told me it was all sold. I was a little disappointed. She opened her fridge and took out all her roses. There were yellow, bright orange and red roses. I was going to get the yellow one if there was really no pink roses. Out of the whole stack, I spotted 2 bright ones. I asked her what colour are those. She told me fuchsia.

Ok.

I never had a fuchia rose before, so I said I'll take it :)

It's beautiful.

Meanwhile, do drop over to my sweet friend Jacqueline's blog - check out our collaboration project. This has been really fun, and I enjoyed exchanging ideas with Jacqueline. I'm really looking forward to see what Jacqueline comes up with the rustic french tray.

In another week or more to come, I'll show you what another sweet friend does with the rustic french tray.

2 friends, 2 trays, 2 totally different usage. :)

I'm listening to J-French Toast. It's by sheer coincidence that this song I really like is linked to a food name...I don't go searching for songs by food names :P

Her voice reminds me of Aya (Lysa Aya Trenier).

It's a catchy, happy tune.

Have a Happy Weekend!

Cake Chef Competition on TV Champion

2011-07-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

As promised earlier, this is a not to be missed Cake Chef Competition on TV Champion. I found this really exciting and fun to watch, and I'm so glad a few of you who have enjoyed watching the dollhouse miniatures competition video have left me comments to let me know about it. Thank you! I have much confidence to introduce you the REAL cake chef competition and I find this extremely exciting and entertaining. You may understand why after you watched it yourself.

But first, please do not watch this if you're feeling hungry. All I could do after watching 45 minutes of cakes and pastries was thinking of that fluffy strawberry cake in the first segment. Oh, and that white chocolate dessert that won Round 2. I'm not a fan of white chocolate, but the contestant grated some lemon peel into it to bring down the sweetness of white chocolate, so I would like to try how it taste like if given a chance. Here is the photo.

Again, you might want to see if it's worth 45 minutes of your time before watching this. So here is the summary:

Round 1:

6 contestants are to make triangle slices of strawberry cake out of round sponge cakes. At the start of the competition, you see them rushing to get a sponge cake and hurrying back to their tables to start work. Each have to slice the sponge cake into half, apply whip cream, cut strawberries, put it in the middle of the cake, apply more cream, place the other halved spongecake on the top. Apply cream all over, cut it evenly into 8 pieces followed by more decorations. After the cake is done, they need to place these slices neatly on a long table.

This is the interesting part. The goal is to fill up the long table with as many "sell-able" cake slices as possible. The judge will examine each cake slice. Cake slices which are messy looking and badly sliced are considered "not sell able", therefore they will not be counted. Speed is not the main criteria in this competition segment.

One of the chef interviewed revealed that his shop does not sell such triangle cake slices. At one point, you also see the female host shouting to a chef, as he missed out a strawberry on the top of the cake.

Round 2:

4 contestants have to use chocolate as the main ingredient to come up with an original chocolate cake design. 1 of the contestant used pumpkin in his cake. 3 contestants used dark/milk chocolate in their cake, except for 1 who used white chocolate.

A group comprising 30 women who love dessert will be the judges of this segment. They will vote for their favourite cake.

Final Round:

2 contestants have to create an original christmas cake. Cake size must be 30cm wide and 40cm tall.

I was amazed by the techniques and their decoration skills, and I hope you all will enjoy this clip! Let me know!

Note: There will be a 30 seconds commercial before the clip starts. After the commercial ends and you find that the clip loads very slowly, you may want to let the clip run for 1-2 seconds before pausing it. Let the whole clip load before you play it :)

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/DP1Rv4r43tw/

Dollhouse Miniature Cake - Pink Rainbow Cake

2011-07-12T21:07:00.001-07:00

Last week, I was looking around for a new cake inspiration for dollhouse miniatures. I might have been looking at pink cakes when I found the most amazing pink rainbow cake in shades of pink tones. Not just any pink tones, but the most lovely shades of blushing pink. I went kind of crazy and spent some time studying the layers in detail. Did she use food colourings, did she use fruit puree, how did she get those lovely muted pink? Those were the kind of things I was thinking about even though I don't bake.

And of course, I had to come up with a dollhouse miniature version of the pink rainbow cake. Here's mine.

Measuring 2.6cm tall by 2.6cm wide

I use pink cream in between the cake layers.

Dollhouse Miniatures Competition on TV Champion

2011-07-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

I found this video on the internet and thought you all might enjoy it. I'm not sure how many of you have watched this, but it's a Japanese dollhouse miniature competition.

The video clip takes about 45 mins long, but it is interesting and I find this really rare.

I found another one on a real cake competition, which I'm sure my friends who bake in real life would like it. And maybe the rest would find it very enjoyable too. I loved it. So perhaps that will be the next video!

Maybe you don't have 45 minutes to spare, and so here is a summary which you can then decide if you want to spend 45 mins watching this :)

Also it might come in handy for my English speaking friends who want to know what's going on.

Summary:

The famous Japanese show "TV Champion" hosted a competition for dollhouse miniaturists. There were 4 contestants.

Round 1: Each participant was to pick a shop along one of the designated streets and make a dollhouse miniature version out of the shop.

Shops picked include a Japanese Furniture Shop, Flower Shop, Men Apparel Shop and Italian Restaurant.

The top 3 moved into Final Round.

Final Round: Each participant was to create a miniature scene from a Fairy Tale/Animation/Comic book.

Scenes made include Japanese comic "Tomorrow's Joe", Three Little Pigs and Alice in Wonderland.

In case you were wondering what happened in the end, the winner was invited to the TV station, but the person ended up sick so he couldn't make it. He said his face was swollen 3 times the original size that he just could not appear on TV. I thought it was quite funny they made a cardboard version of the winner and put it on the throne.

Note: There is a 11 second commercial in the front before the actual video clip starts.

Japanese Silicone Cream – What resellers and manufacturers don’t tell you about

2011-07-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

This blog article is about the packaging problem with a particular brand of Japanese Silicone Cream.

Let me start off by saying the cream itself is a fine product. However, from my experience, the packaging seems to cause the cream to dry out if you do not transfer it into better air tight containers.

This really baffles me. Apply it in the context of a skin care or food product. When you buy a skin care product, food sauce, jam or peanut butter off the shelf, you believe and trust that the product would be best kept in the same container that you bought it in. Nobody thinks about transferring the product into another container for storage. But this is what actually happens with the Japanese Silicone Cream. When it dries out, you can't use it anymore.

In another occasion, I noticed that even a brand new cream with the lid still sealed had the same issue. The silicone cream in the jar with an unbroken seal has dried out.

In my opinion, there could possibly be something wrong with the design of the lid. I hope the manufacturer is aware of it and improves on the quality of the container.

For those of you who are using this product and do face the same issue, I’d love to hear from you how you store this. Also for some who decides to purchase this cream, it may be best to have back up empty tight lit containers to store it.

Hope that helps!

Bits and pieces of dried Japanese silicone cream that I tear out. Feels elastic and slightly rubbery.

My finger flipping the whole chunk of dried Japanese silicone cream

Photo of the day

2011-07-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

The photo of the day that I'm posting is not related to any dollhouse miniatures today. But I took this photo a couple of days ago, in the late evening. It was the day I came back from my camera "cleansing" session. I found a fungus/mold growing in my beautiful lens, and to be honest, I did not dare to clean it out on my own because I fear scratching the lens. Also, I did not know if the fungus was on the surface or inside the lens. Thankfully it's only on the surface and I had it cleaned free of charge. :) Apparently, it's quite a common issue in where I live, due to high humidity here.

I wanted to test out my cleaned camera again that day and took this shot in the back of my balcony.

A wild plant growing...

Off to get ready for an exciting day :)

Fill In The Blanks Friday - 8 July 2011

2011-07-08T01:39:00.000-07:00

1. My plans this summer include nothing special. I live in a country with summer all year round so it doesn't feel special :P .

2. The best summer I ever had was - I can't recall any best summer unfortunately. June holidays as a kid was fun since we were out of school and had time to relax, play and be kids .

3. Summer is lots of ice water, turning on the fan 24/7, preferably eating in air-conditioned places, popsicles, iced pineapples, jellies, anything cold .

4. My favorite summer food is iced pineapple. it's the latest thing I discovered quite a while ago. I would ice the pineapple during afternoon and eat it as dessert after dinner .

5. The best way to quench a summer thirst is with iced water or iced lemon tea .

6. My summer uniform consists of shorts and t-shirts .

7. The best thing about summer is having a lot of sunshine; laundry dry super quickly and they smell great .

Hope your summer is off to a great start!

Dollhouse Food - Chocolate Dome Desserts

2011-07-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

I made these dollhouse food a while ago, but haven't had the right opportunity to show them until today. I have taken some photos couple of weeks ago, but they were not up to my expectations.

I took these again after I had my camera cleaned out. Now I realized that cleaning makes a difference. I love these new photos and I hope you will like them too!

Chocolate dome desserts - I remember I had a chocolate mousse dessert a little while ago, and it was the most delicious thing I've had, even though generally, I'm just not a chocolate fan. However, chocolate goes really well with raspberry, and the chocolate wasn't very sweet. It was just the right combination!

With the taste of chocolate and raspberry in my mind, I created these in dollhouse miniature scale.

Cross Stitch - I want these...

2011-07-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

Though I have a whole pile of cross stitch charts and kits sitting there waiting for me to complete them, I can't help but drool over these new things I found on the internet. I'm always looking around for new designs, and see what's new and cute out in the market. I'll be dreaming about these ones by Madame La Fee tonight. I want them! They are just too cute!!!

Passion Fraise

Passion Chocolat

Histoire de Pommes

Jour de Marche

All Photos from Casa Cenina

Build Your Own App Using Ovi App Wizard

2011-07-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

Did anyone try building your own App using that Ovi App Wizard thingy that's on the left hand side scroll bar of my blog just below my facebook badge?

I thought it was pretty cool and fun. Basically you can build an App which can be downloaded as a mobile phone application. No programming skills needed. I just made an App based on my own blog. It's so easy. Just enter the url of the site of what you would like to make an App for, pick a background, choice of colours, that's it!

This is what it looks like when you are building it. Nothing complicated!

You can click on one of the entries to see what it looks like!

I'll be interested to see what happens after mine gets through! Currently, it tells me that mine is in the review queue.

Dollhouse Miniature Food - Macaron Pops

2011-07-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

After making dollhouse miniatures cake pops, another idea came into my mind and I envisioned macaron pops. Although this is not a new concept in the real baking world (it's funny how I have to say the "real baking world", which means the real edible ones), but I do have to think about how I want to represent these macaron pops in dollhouse miniatures world. :D

Playing around with dollhouse miniature food colours is another enjoyment for me. For me, finding colours that goes well in the dollhouse miniature world probably feels like a real baking chef who has found a new recipe. :)

Different from pink, but this has a very happy summer feel, what do you think?

Macaron pop display measures about 2.8cm tall and 1.5cm wide

Another view

With my hand in this shot

Can't run away from Pink

2011-07-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

Just a random photo I took a while ago...

Pink Macaron Pops

It didn't occur to me until I took this photo, that what it struck me was how simple it is. I like its simplicity.

I hope it brightens your day! :)

Dollhouse Miniature Food - Cake Pops

2011-06-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

Cake pops - they were made famous by Bakerella. For those who are hearing cake pops for the first time, these are bite sized cakes served on a lollipop stick. Usually round in shapes, but there are many other seasonal shapes and patterns made. The cakes also have a coat of chocolate on them and design ranges from cute and whimsy to elegant.

I saw some very pretty ones made by zalita of cupcake d'lights and I decided to try my hand on making them in dollhouse miniature scale.

Here is my version of cake pops in dollhouse miniature scale ;)

They are about 0.6cm in diameter. Including the stick, it's about 2cm tall.

I'm going to try making other types of cake pops too.

Meanwhile, these are available at my store. http://www.peiliminiatures.com

Updated: SOLD ~~

French Rustic Trays

2011-06-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

I've been busy the last week making french rustic trays. After making them in dollhouse miniature scale, I received a request to have them made in larger scales. I'm thrilled by such requests, because I've not studied woodwork in a traditional way, but I just love making dollhouse miniature woodwork items. To have someone who likes them enough to want them in larger scale is a really big deal for me honestly. I'm really thankful for such opportunities to expand and challenge myself a little :)

This time round, I made them in 2 different larger sizes. As you can see in the photo, I've put the 2 smaller size french rustic trays on the big one!! And yes, that's how big I made it, and it's the first time I made something so big that even my mom exclaimed that it was big. LOL. My mom have been so used to seeing dollhouse miniature scale items that she knows for now, how small things should be! But I'm so happy and proud of my accomplishment.

Can you spot the dollhouse miniature french rustic tray there?

My sweet friend Jacqueline has some interesting ideas with the french rustic tray on the left (in the photo below). The package has just left my home today, and is on its way to her.

If you would like to find out what she's going to create with that, keep a lookout on her blog! More will be revealed when it is ready :)

I now have to create another BIG tray, which is also going to be a custom order for another dear friend. She has some different ideas on how she would like to use it as well, and again more would be revealed as we have photos to show!

I just love all the different ideas people have about my french rustic trays! :) It's so exciting!

Kiwi Tarts Earrings

2011-06-25T19:00:00.001-07:00

This is not the first time I made these kiwi tarts, but I've always different ideas to photograph them. Yesterday I tried with some meringues and strawberry short cake.

It was a fabulous day yesterday, even with the sun, it was windy and the temperature was just right :)

I love it when I get shots that I'm happy with.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Winner of Giveaway!

2011-06-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and participation in my giveaway! I really appreciate you all for participating!! :)

I'm so pleased to announce that Karin F is the winner of the bread box and purple hyacinth!

Congratulations Karin! I'll be contacting you soon to get your mailing address :)

Meanwhile.....

There is another dollhouse miniatures giveaway hosted on http://minitreasures.pbworks.com/w/page/41142538/hearsays

This is what you can win! A pot of pink peonies by me. So do join! There's only a few days more :)

My Dollhouse Miniatures Featured in Frankie Magazine

2011-06-23T02:14:00.000-07:00

I'm soo happy at this moment because my dollhouse miniatures made it into an international magazine! Big thank you to Frankie Magazine!!! I never thought I would make it into a real magazine, so that's a big thing to me. I went to the bookshop today and grabbed a copy. Amazingly, it seems there are quite a lot of people who read this magazine locally, as I understand that the previous issue was all sold out. I came to know of this magazine when my sweet friend Jacqueline was featured in the previous issue. For those who do not know, Frankie Magazine is geared towards women and men, featuring all sort of things like music, crafts, food, fashion, handmade creations, travel etc.

The lovely cover of issue 42.

I like that statement : The making of awesome things :)

My little feature...

Although 3 out of the 4 things featured in the photos were already sold before this was published, but they can be re-created if anyone's interested.

The magazine is chock-full of beautiful photos.

Feeling warm and thankful!

Dollhouse Miniature Rustic French Basket with Breads

2011-06-19T02:03:00.000-07:00

I can't really remember what struck me to make a rustic french basket in dollhouse miniature scale, but it must be after looking through some home decor magazines in that style ;)

I was very intrigued with the idea of something rustic, and so I came up with this neat little basket which I filled it up with french assorted breads.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making it, and after adding a little french touch by having a "Boulangerie" label on it, I'm very pleased! Perhaps this would be my next blog giveaway item? :))

I am thinking of having it in other colours too, like blue, aqua green and pink. I typically don't use blue, but for this rustic tray, I'm really eyeing blue. What do you think?

And oh, I'm having another really neat idea to use this dollhouse miniature rustic french basket too, and I'll show you again once I complete it.

Meanwhile, this is available in my dollhouse miniatures website. :)

Dollhouse Miniature Elegant Cake Display

2011-06-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

My most recent piece of work is a dollhouse miniature elegant cake display. When I started on this piece, all I know was that I wanted it to be pink. With that set, I scouted around for cake inspiration and saw this. A green tea mousse cake, and co-incidentally it was made in Singapore. Found at Orchard Hotel.

This green tea mousse is a unique combination of green tea sponge with mango jelly.

I decided to include this cake inspiration into my latest piece of work. With some adaptation of course ;)

So the Daily Specials for the day are Green Tea Slice Cake, Vanilla Bean Slice Cake and Strawberry Mont Blanc.

I still remember when I did my cake display several years back, someone commented that it would be so nice if the cake labels were in it, so here goes. The deli cake shelf comes complete with cake labels. :)

Cake Shop logo was handmade as well.

Available in my dollhouse miniatures store.

Dollhouse Miniature - Macaron Display Tower

2011-06-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

I first attempted this last year, and both towers are now with their new collectors overseas. I still love it very much and so it was definitely in my to-do list. But I won't deny that it is rather time consuming to make this, as everything is handmade, including the roses. I'm also picky about colours and make sure the tones of roses fit into everything, but I'm so glad this is the final end product. The difference this time round is that I added tiny pink pearls to it.

I would love to attempt other beautiful colour combinations of this, so if you have any colour suggestions, let me know? ;)

Click to see my other dollhouse miniatures creations.

Air Dry Clay – Shelf Life and Storage Tips

2011-06-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

If you all do not know by now, I am a die hard fan of air dry clay and I use them in making all of my dollhouse miniatures. But today, I want to specifically talk about air dry clay. Probably all of you already know this, but yes there is a shelf life for Air Dry Clay – especially if you have opened the packet. There is also a shelf life for it even if you have not opened it. How can you tell? Well I mentioned this in my blog post here. You can tell by pressing onto the packet lightly. If you can press it easily, it is a fresh packet. Although this will take some experience to tell if the air dry clay is fresh or not.

I have been using air dry clay for years now, and perhaps because I use them all the time, I have not been affected by the shelf life issue. With that said, it does not mean I consume it quickly because a packet last me for a LONG time. I’ve been using my packet of Hearty clay (the largest size packet) for more than 1 year, maybe 1.5 years now. I am close to the last bit of clay in the packet, and the quality is still good. This is also why I do not buy different colours of clay and keep them. I rather buy acrylic or oil colours and knead it into the clay. Why? Acrylic and oil colours are so much easier to store and they take so much less space than packets of clay. When you live in tight living spaces like I do, you will probably appreciate this tip more ;) Besides, oil colours (as far as I know) have no expiration dates. And a tube lasts forever.

Here is how I store my air dry clay.

Every time when you take a small amount of air dry clay to work, use cling wrap to wrap the packet tightly, before putting it into a ziplock bag. Then put the whole ziplock bag into an air tight container. I've been using this storage method for years now, which helps to keep my air dry clay in great condition for a long long time.

The cling wrap tends to lose its “stickiness” after a while, so you can change the cling wrap once you find that it doesn’t cling onto your packet of clay after a while.

Practicing good storage methods can help your air dry clay to last longer. This tip should be good for all brands and types of air dry clay.

That’s all for this time! Hope this has been helpful!

I HAVE to share this...

2011-06-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Even though this is not miniatures related...

I really HAVE to share this.

Even though this is not in PINK, I'll take this any time :)

Photo via http://alldressedinargyle.tumblr.com

Dollhouse Miniatures Hyacinth - Free Giveaway for my Blog Followers!

2011-05-30T21:02:00.001-07:00

Here's a dollhouse miniatures free giveaway for my faithful readers and blog followers!

I made this 1:12 scale purple hyacinth flower a little while ago, and today I reached a milestone in having 500 fans in my facebook fan page. I'm ecstatic!! Therefore I decided to host this giveaway!

Thank you so much for following me, reading my blog, leaving me comments, liking my fan page, interacting with me over there. :)

Here's how you can win this beautiful 1:12 scale purple hyacinth flower presented in a shabby bread box.

The 1:12 scale purple hyacinth flower is NOT glued to the bread box, so you can take it out and put it in a vase of your own if you like, and use the bread box as another separate dollhouse accessories. :) I hope you really like it.

To enter the draw, you need to be my blog follower and leave me a comment that you would like to take part in this.

For additional chances in winning this,

-you can like me on facebook

-sign up for my newsletter

-tweet about this giveaway

-blog a post (not side bar tabs) about this giveaway (and provide the url of your blog post in the comments)

-share this giveaway on your facebook page (and provide the url of it in the comments)

Please remember to leave me a new comment for each action you did!

For example, if you have done all 6 of the above, you should leave me 6 comments, each comment stating what you have done. :) So I know you have 6 chances in winning it.

Winner will be drawn on 25 June 2011.

Good luck everyone!

And thank you for keeping me company throughout my blogging experience! You guys are fantastic!!

French Madeleines Food Earrings

2011-05-28T02:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who have left me comments in my last post with regards to my foot injury :) Thanks so much for the concern. Today, my feet was feeling so much better and I can take some decent photos. During the past 2 days, the swell continued in the afternoon and through the evening/night which hindered my productivity. I applied some chinese medicated plaster for 2 nights now, and thankfully I don't feel the swelling that bad today, and so I can move around a little more.

I made these into food earrings yesterday and because I was feeling more better today, I manage to take photos and here it is.

French madeleines earrings

I feel like I'm only getting started, because I still have a few other ideas for french madeleines as well as making them into dollhouse miniatures. As soon as I have created them, I will show them. :) This is exciting!

I was looking around for french madeleines packaging ideas and saw this lovely photo which I wanted to share.

This is so elegant!

Photo source: http://www.onetribegourmet.com

For those of you who do really bake, Sara has her recipe here too http://www.onetribegourmet.com/2010/10/french-madeleinespetits-gateaux-elegante-little-elegant-cakes/

For those of you who are in the States, have a wonderful long weekend holiday :)

Photo of the day - French Madeleines

2011-05-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

I had an accident on Sunday. Was about to hang my laundry in the balcony when I fell. The floor was a little slippery and I landed on my bum. But I felt pain not in my bum but my foot instead. My big toe nail cracked and there was some blood. The nail is still in tact, but it's bruised and painful. Actually I think it's a little loose and it's only time that it will drop off. But right now, there is some pain still. I've just went to the doctor today, and I wouldn't have if not for the walk yesterday. I went for a walk to the market and it bled a little while I was walking. By night, my feett was swollen, which prompted me to go to the doctor today to get some proper antibiotic cream for it. I would be making a trip to the art shop once my toe no longer hurts :) Need some new supplies.

Made these madeleines with air dry clay. These are not 1:12 scale dollhouse miniatures, and definitely bigger than 1:6 scale, but were requested by a customer who wanted large madeleines. I also experimented with some new painting techniques which I'm quite pleased with! The photo doesn't really show so well, but the edges are lightly crisp which I like.

Enjoy!

Miniature desserts, anyone?

2011-05-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

I attempted dollhouse miniatures mousse cups in 2009, and it's been a really long time since I made the last batch (time flies!!). With the hot weather around here lately, I've been craving for desserts a lot more than usual and chocolate flavoured desserts are usually not my thing, but I must say that I just recently finished a tub of chocolate ice cream in a span of 2 weeks. :P

And that must have inspired me to start making some chocolate miniature desserts in 1:12 miniature scale.

If I can have a say in what kind of mousse layers I want in my dessert mousse cups, I would definitely pick this. Chocolate mousse and green tea goes really well. I remembered having tea with my friend once and we had this delicious chocolate cake with green tea filling in it. Heavenly!!

I brought that idea into this range of dessert mousse cups.

I hope you would like them!

Dollhouse miniature mousse cups : 2cm by 0.7cm.

Dollhouse Miniature Flowers - Purple Hyacinth

2011-05-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Dollhouse Miniature Flowers - Purple Hyacinth...I never thought I would make them. But just recently, I blogged about the fabulous hyacinths by Polina here. Hyacinths never struck me so deeply until I saw that photo. The photo called out to me. I noticed about the shades of purple, and the light green. Everything was in balance. I knew I had to attempt making it in dollhouse miniature scale.

For every flower that I attempt, I do study the photos carefully. In this instance, though the fantastic photo by Polina was etched on my mind, I also use Google images to do my research. Particularly, I was looking for close up shots, colour varieties and right down to how the petals fold.

It must be a hundred times I've said it before, but there is an unexplainable sense of calmness when I make miniature flowers and the same happens while making this hyacinth flower. Plus I really do think painting transform and brings life into miniatures.

This time round, I really had fun making these dollhouse miniature hyacinth leaves and shaping them to bend like how leaves bend naturally. That's the beauty of air dry clay - that you can bend and flex them even after they are dried.

So here they are, my version of dollhouse miniature hyacinth flowers.

I hope you like them just as much as I do!

And a big Thank You to Polina for giving me this enormous inspiration!

Updated 15 May 2001: There was a blogspot error that occured on 13 May which resulted in some of the blog comments that has disappeared.. :( Just to know I did not delete your precious comments..