Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Patisserie Delights Part 2

Just a few days more to Christmas! I'm getting excited!

Well last week, I made another piece of Patisserie Delights for a customer. I wanted each piece of work to be a little different for every customer. ;) So I changed one of the pastries...

Can you tell which one was that?? It was the star shape flaky pastry.

Well, I will be closing my etsy shop during the christmas break. Time to relax a little, do some more research, shopping and learning again! I will be back in Jan, hopefully feeling re-charged and with more new items and ideas for the new year!

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and wonderful blessed new year!

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Patisserie Delights

I can't believe Christmas is just going to be a week away...I don't have a habit of gift exchange, but I will be getting 2 presents for close friends. It will be quite easy as I already decided what to get for them.

I got this idea when I received a request to have a customized order for a "sampling plate" - meaning one of each of all the patisseries I made in my previous piece. I initially was thinking of the usual display tray, but knowing it was going to be one each, I thought this would be a better way to display it.

Here's my interpretation of a patisserie sampling plate. I call it the Patisserie Delights....

First, I wanted a vintage, elegant wood display to bring out all the pretty patisserie. To soften the look, I added some more faux grass and white pretty flowers.

The patisseries are not glued to the piece, so it can be arranged in any way.

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Double Layer Cake Display Shelf

This week was a good week for me, I finished 2 projects and also sold 2 christmas profiteroles tower! I was overjoyed. The 1:12 dollhouse miniature profiteroles tower was something I enjoyed making, though a bit time consuming. But it was fun seeing the whole tower forming.

I wanted to show photos of the 1:12 dollhouse miniature double layer cake display shelf I created and finished this week. The entire piece was made with the idea to be a window shop display shelf. Hence, the patisseries had to be eye catching, colorful and vibrant.

Imagine passerbys walking along and can't help but stop and look at the mouth watering dollhouse miniatures cakes and patisseries. This piece is all about the details.

With that, I present you the 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Double Layer Cake Display Shelf.

Left to Right : Chocolate profiteroles, chocolate & peanuts profiteroles, strawberry slice mousse cake, chestnut mont blanc, green tea with chestnut slice cake, blackberry delight, framboise slice cake and mixed fruit tarts.

I took this picture through the window pane of the shop. Looks like someone is peering in looking at it. :)

Front view of the entire double layer cake display shelf. Bottom shelf are some of my signature cupcakes : Madam Butterfly, Raspberry, Juicy Mango.


This piece is now available on sale at here : http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18321548

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Christmas Profiteroles Tower

Last week, I was just debating whether I should treat myself to lunch in town. Well I'm glad I did that, because a lunch means much more! After my lunch, I popped by into an upscale patisserie shop and am dazzled by the christmas bakery goodies. I asked if I could take one of their product catalogue, and the lady said I could. I also spent some time looking at their real life bakery display. Made a mental note that I need to come back here to get some christmas gift for a friend.

On my way back, I just could not stop thinking about the goodies...and I started thinking of how I should make them, in 1:12 dollhouse miniature scale.

I spent the rest of the week creating this 1:12 scale dollhouse miniature christmas profiteroles tower.

This took some time, as I had to make different "flavoured" ones - chocolate, pistachio, vanilla, strawberry, sugar coated and chocolate with peanuts.

I counted and this tower is made up of over 40 profiteroles...

Strawberries are also randomly inserted in between the profiteroles.

This has been sold! Thank you! :)

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Double Tier Cake Display Shelf

This has been quite a fruitful week for me. I worked on many little projects, accomplished some new desserts, and will be listing them on my etsy store slowly. I also worked on some new 1:12 miniature scale cupcake creations!


I love to look at real cupcake creations and think of ways to create them in 1:12 scale miniatures. A few weeks ago, I came across the butterfly cupcakes. Actually it's 2 sugar cookies planted sideways on top of some cream. In the middle, they added strawberries on it. I was quite attracted by it, and so I attempted to make them earlier this week.


Also, I made an antique/vintage double tier cake display shelf... ;)


I've not decided what I will put on the top tier, but I think the cupcakes look good on the bottom tier.

On an another note, I have some wild ideas in my head...and I am opening up this offer to brick and mortar shop owners. Would you like to have my cake/bakery display shelf in your physical shop? I am looking for exposure opportunities, and some of the places you can place this is at your cashier's counter. These unique items by itself give character to a room/shop, draws attention only to the observant, and inspire conversation when displayed. We can work out the details. Leave me a comment if you would like to explore this idea! I'll get back to you!

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniatures Video Clip

I spent the weekend making a YouTube video on my 1:12 scale dollhouse miniatures. I can't think of a better way to put my favourite music with photos of my work together. I like the overall effect. I like something light hearted, and this song is just perfect. I also have many other music on my favourite playlist, but we will have to wait till I have enough snapshots of my work to make another video. It wasn't too hard making the video, but I was quite picky with editing and making sure things sync, so I ended up spending almost 2 whole days on it.

Enjoy!

Show and Tell Monday : 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Soap Shop

Besides cakes and patisserie, I've always been fascinated with soaps, bath products. It is a quest to constantly find that new product, new scent. I saw many yummy soaps on the internet recently and hence decided to make a 1:12 miniature soap shop. It started with the display shelf, and then the soaps. And then I wondered if I can expand it to a miniature shop, so I'm going to give it a try. ;)


I haven't finish labelling the purple soaps, but wanted to take a photo of this work in progress. Each soap is individually wrapped, as you can see. I like that effect of how new and clean the soaps look. Labels add an elegant touch.

A soap in between my fingers give perspective of the 1:12 miniature scale.

Show and Tell Monday ~ Winners of Free Giveaway 1:12 Miniature Biscuit Boxes

Thanks to all of you who have participated in my last week's giveaway contest. During the week, I continued to scout for more biscuit/cookie covers and made some more.

And I manage to make another set, so I have 2 sets to give away!

I have all your names written down on slips of papers....

Drum Roll please.......

The winners are:

1. Lilli Blue of Lilli Blue's Vintage Rescues

2. Lori of Katies Rose Cottage

Congratulations to both of you!! I will be contacting you shortly to get your mailing addresses to send it out. :)

If you could take a photo to show me how the 1:12 miniature biscuit boxes were being used, it would be so wonderful! I love to see my creations in your dollhouse, etc.

As you can see, the 2nd set is slightly different from the first set. I managed to find a Ritz Roasted Vegetable crackers photo and made it into a 1:12 miniature box too.

For the rest, please do not worry! I'm in the midst of finding and making some more wonderful goodies and will include another giveaway in the near future.

In fact, please leave me a comment if you can recall a brand of cookie/shortbread/biscuits which comes in elegant box branding/packaging. I can only remember walkers brand, LU as well, but am certain there are some more other beautiful packaging. I'll try to look it up to see what I can do with it. Thanks in advance!

Free Giveaway - 1:12 Miniature Biscuit Boxes

Now, I wonder if many of you out there, has the same sentiments as me. It is really hard to find high quality, pretty, elegant 1:12 Miniature Biscuit Boxes. I've looked at online shops, but the boxes they sell are not to my liking. They are mostly vintage boxes, but sometimes we just need something more contemporary for our kitchen or grocery cupboard. I've also looked at websites that offer free printies, and have tried their print outs but I felt something is lacking. So, during the holiday weekend, I decided to make some of my own.

By the way, it's NOT ok to take an original product box, make them into miniatures and sell it. It's actually infringement of copyright.

I truly enjoyed making them....and I decided to share them with you.

Drop me a comment with your email address and I'll randomly draw a name on Sunday, 2 Nov. I will send these 4 biscuit boxes to you!

You know, I would love to see what you do with my biscuit boxes too. If you can take a photo to show me how they are being used, it will be so awesome!

If you like them, I shall periodically make some more (and other new ones too, if time permits) and offer them as free giveaways.

This is my small way of saying thank you to all of you, dear readers :)

Show and Tell Monday ~ Hand made ipod cover

I have been looking around for a pretty ipod cover for quite some time. But unfortunately, I just could not find anything to my liking. Hence, I decided to make one myself. I spent Saturday night putting my collection of quilting fabrics into good use (finally!). I have been collecting pretty fabrics for the longest time, but just haven't found a good chance to use them.

After setting up my sewing machine which I haven't been using the longest time, I decided that making one wasn't going to be justifiable for all the work in setting the machine up, so I decided to 2 more! I'm going to have a special ipod cover for christmas too :)


I made one for my mobile phone too!

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Miniature Cupcake Display Shelf

I bought some new materials over the week, and wanted to try them on the display shelf. See the heart shape lace? I painted it and pasted it on the shelf. I was pleased with the result.

I'm also in the process of making a 2 tier shelf. I was thinking of putting a mixture of stick cakes and cupcakes for those who like both :)

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Stick Cake Miniature Display

Black is a colour I often refrain from using in my work. It's just not a color I automatically think of to paint anything. But this time round, I wanted to try something different from the usual pastels. So my cake display shelf is painted in black. I like the different effect it gives.

Stick cakes are still unknown locally, but in Japan and Hong Kong, this is pretty popular. I've not eaten them personally, but I've heard that they don't taste different from other cakes. I think it must have been originated from Japan. If I recall correctly, I read that they made it thin, so that people could just buy and eat while walking, unlike for regular cake slices, you need to sit down to eat it.

When it comes to 1:12 miniatures, stick cakes are pretty time consuming to make. They are small in width, but attention and detail has to be given nevertheless. They needed to be added on layer by layer, and more work is especially done for blueberry, framboise & mango cake. This time, gold flakes were also used on them. Each piece of stick cake is approximately 3mm in width, and 1.2cm in length.

It's a bit hard to put into perspective how big the cakes are in reality, so I shall remember to do a coin comparison with the stick cakes next time.

I had some leftover materials from making the black display shelf, and so I decided to make another beige one. The beige shelf has been given to my friend.

This piece measures 5.5cm (height) x 9cm (width).

Cupcakes Galore!

Thanks to all for voting in my poll! Keep the votes going! I appreciate it much!


I have been very busy still, and have been making another alternative design for christmas. It's coming along nicely.


I want to share with you all a really nice picture. It's madeup of all the interesting vendors who make cupcakes related handicrafts at Lollishops. I'm one of them! Can you spot my miniature cupcakes?!

Image by: Sadie Lou of Lollishops

New Poll

Hi All,

I have added a new poll to better understand all my readers of this blog. I invite all of you to take the poll. :) Even if you have just been reading my blog and not leaving a comment, please take a moment to join in the poll.

Thank you very much in advance!

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Miniature Flower Arrangement

On this trip, I experimented using a lot of colours that I usually wouldn't use - Purple for example is one. You will also witness in another piece of work later. In this piece, I tried dark purple for the rose, and a brighter purple for sunflower.



I like the overall effect of the colour choice. Purple gives a grand, elegant feel. :)

To all my dear readers, I won't be updating for a week.

The chef goes off to learn new skills...

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Miniature Blue Cheese & Crackers

During last week's Show and Tell Monday, I mentioned about unconventional christmas items...Blue Cheese and Crackers. Yes, I was making those the previous week. I have been busy finalizing some of the logos that I will be using, plus I was experimenting making personalized miniature cheese labels for christmas orders :)

There aren't readily 1:12 Miniature cheese labels available in the market, so I had to creative about sourcing and making them to the scale that I wanted.

These sets are not for sale as it contains copyrighted logo graphics that aren't produced by myself. But I can't help but be inspired by vintage logos. They are just so beautiful.

Here are a few sets:

After that, I decided to make some cheese logos for myself. It is such a great fun to produce my own cheese label. I hereby introduce you to :

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Miniature Christmas 2008

I have some ideas on what to make for this year's christmas. Something easier, as I wanted to mass produce some of it, but at the same time, cute!

I love how the colourful macarons light up a scene. They will be one of the key highlights.

Also a picture of a work in progress. The undecorated tree, and I plan to make some unconventional christmas things. How does blue cheese and crackers sounds? ;)

I don't eat cheese, but lately I have an obsession with cheese labels. They are so attractive, eye-catching, and I want to incorporate that into miniature.

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Miniature Wedding Gift Present

A few weeks ago while shopping during lunch time, I found a perfect gift box for my miniature table piece. The width and length was just nice. It was only $2.00. I bought it happily as I knew it would be the best way to display the 1:12 scale miniature gift.

I decided to use the flower arrangement for this piece. I like how it looks on the table.

Desserts inside the table. I love the white chocolate swirl on top of the raspberry mousse dessert. :) Which is your favourite?

Quick Update

Hi there, I didn't make it to my weekly post this week. The truth was, we must have caught the tail of the typhoon blowing in from north asia, and had 3 days of consecutive rains last Friday throughout the weekend. No strong winds, but it rained pretty much continuously. Hence, there was no sunlight for good photo opportunity. I skipped taking photos on Sunday...

I have been busy making some mini boxes to put in the mini macarons. I think they are cute. I also want to make some cake boxes to put in slice cakes. Besides the plates and doilies, they are a perfect way to display cakes.

Oh! I have also dosed the 1:12 Miniature Red Door with snow. But for some reason, I felt it wasn't enough. I'm going to put more snow on it. A part of me likes the clean look, so I must admit I was hesitant putting on that first layer of snow!

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Flower Arrangement

This week, I concentrated on 2 projects. The Red Door and the Dessert Table. I was striving to make something a little different. I made a tiny pot of flower arrangement, which I am very pleased with. It was meant to be used for the Dessert Table project, but I tried putting it into this scene and it looks great in this Red Door scene as well! I like how the flower arrangement makes the scene look so intricate.

Hmm I might consider making another pot for this even though it does take considerable amount of time.

The flower pot measures 1.4cm x 2.5cm(height).

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Miniature Red Door

Another week has passed by! This week, I am feeling a bit more well rested, hence I have been busy starting another new project, and also slowly working on another work in progress ~~

After some of the comments I received last week, I am tempted to try out a red door. And you know what, I might possibly attempt to do a whole loads of other colour doors too! Now, I love red, but red is a very bold colour. To attempt to try it takes a little bit of courage! What shade of red should I even choose?

I went to the craft store on Saturday, and after browsing through a whole row of red paint, I finally chose a Cardinal red. My initial choice was Holiday Red (from looking at the internet screen), but you can never buy a colour based on what you see on the computer screen. My gut feel told me to go for Cardinal red, and so I did.

Now, the project is still a way to go. I'm going to dose the door and frame with snow, so this red would work just fine. It will still stand out, but having the white snow on it would bring down the reddness. : )

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Pink Door Scene

I know this project has been cast aside for way too long, but I have finally completed it!!! I like that this piece is easy on the eye and not too complicated.

I like how the pretty red vase of flowers brighten up the white chair.

Now, I'm wondering what colour door do I want to do next? I want to attempt something a little different in the next piece.

Show and Tell Monday ~ Victorian Christmas Eve Cross Stitch

It's been a while back since I last showed the first piece of my cross stitching work in progress - Victorian Christmas Eve. As you can see, I managed to complete quite a bit of this now and then whenever I am taking breaks in the evenings. Stitching continues to help me relax, hence I still do it regularly. I still have 2.5 pages to go, but am very much enjoying this piece.

Show and Tell Monday ~ Unfinished 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Dessert Table

As I make another new table, with the last set of cabriole legs I have got, I realized I never really quite show the process of making it. That's because it's usually very messy when I am cutting the wood, bits and pieces everywhere. But if you ever wondered, well, here is the unfinished version of the table.


I'm making another present for a friend who's getting married in Sept. Now, I've asked her what's her favourite colour, and her answer was pink! So, it's not just me who loves pink.


Now I think of doing something slightly different this time round, but I'm not sure where this leads me to when I finally do this...that's really part of the fun!

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Dessert Table (Continued)

Last week, I showed a "work in progress" piece. I completed it earlier this week, and am pleased with the results. It's fairly simple, and I didn't want to make it too complicated. But I like how pleasant it looked. I hope the recipient likes it.

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Dessert Table

Mondays always keep me motivated, no matter how busy I am. It is a day which I put something together to show on my blog. As some of you may know, I have been busy making a present for someone important to me this week. This is still work in progress... I haven't put the hinges together, and the top upper table shelf is not up yet. I will complete it by this week!

It didn't occur to me that I was actually smiling after the photography was done.

The desserts inside the table:

The desserts on the table top:

Show and Tell Monday ~ More 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Cakes

Wow wee ~ I know this takes way too long, but I have done all I could to complete this large order as soon as I could. Finally I can say that I'm done! This will go out in the mail this week to Toronto!

Show and Tell Monday ~ 1:12 Dollhouse Miniature Christmas Cakes

I had a very busy week at work last week, and was too tired to do much miniatures. However, I was determined to make some Christmas Cakes, as I wanted to make some mini scenes.

Here are 3 that I made. I love the mini snowman on them...

I love the new stuff I gotten this week. Some materials, and 2 books. I haven't had much time to look through them as I just got them in the mail today. But maybe I should do a post on them next week!

Arte y Pico Award

I'm so delighted today, that I have the honor of receiving the Arte y Pico award from Marie of Savon Marie. A big thanks to Marie, I feel so privileged to join the rest of the talented women.

Here are the rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity,design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3.Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award (I know it says this is a rule , but I know not everyone likes to do this, so I won't be upset if you don't.)

4. The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.Now for the fun yet very hard part... to choose 5 other people for this award...drum roll please....

1. Cindy of Angel Hearts Design

2. Cathy of Treasured Heirlooms
3. Michelle of Rose Petals and Blooms

4. Marilyn of Casual Cottage

5. Kimberly of My Pink Boutique

I am proud to present you this award! You ladies have inspired me a lot!