Cupcakes, and coffee for 10!

I tried 2 more projects from The Dolls House Magazine: the cupcakes and the coffee (April 2016).

I really liked the DHM suggestion of using paper to make the cupcake wrapper; I used origami paper.

A little cupcake party in the Malibu nursery:

However, I did think that the cupcakes needed more of an umbrella top and that they did not come out that well.  Then I bought a cupcake-making kit from The Mouse Kitchen and made the cupcakes with the green and purple bottoms. I might try that kit using the origami paper as a wrapper.

I also wanted to try a different frosting, so for 3 of the cupcakes, I used the decoden cream (which I had bought to make the coffee below).  This also helped to give them more of a muffin top shape.  The green one just has white sculpey clay with a gloss paint on it. 

Here are some of the original cupcakes before I put the decoden frosting on them.  I also made the flowers on the cake based on the instructions in the Dolls House Magazine (April 2016).  The flowers were supposed to go on the cupcakes, but mine were too big, so onto a cake they went!

I made the bundt cake using a mold from the Mouse Kitchen.  

And I made the black & white cookie (a popular NYC cookie) all by myself!

And here we are with coffee for 10!  Maybe some workmen are coming in for the mid-morning coffee at the Fat Cat Pub?   Actually, I had to make 10 for a NAME swap (theme: coffee/tea shop).

As per the article, I used brown deco sauce (I bought it from the MiniatureSweet Etsy store and it arrived quickly).  It seems to change color and then maybe change back again.  I also bought the decoden cream or fake whipped cream from them. So I piped that on top of the brown, once the brown deco sauce dried (which took about a week), and then I shaved some brown flakes (from chalk) as directed.

The doll is by Paola Ragonesi (she sells on Etsy).  Here she is with her fabulous boots. 

 I made her coffee shop apron (no sewing, just gluing with fabric glue).

 

Hope you enjoy some cupcakes or cake this week!

Relax, Soak,Unwind - Bathroom at 48

Here's the bathroom in 48.  I made the glass window by using plexiglass from HBS/miniatures.com and using channel wood.  I used a 1/4 inch channel wood (from HBS) as the track on the top and the botoom, and I glue narrower channels around the plexiglass to make the sliding window. The glass window slides out so they can access it.

I also made a colorful curtain to give them some privacy from the others in the house -  as opposed to all the strangers that can just look in through the glass wall - I guess they face an ocean. :)

I used a bamboo skewer stick as the curtain rod.  

Have a great weekend!

"Crafting a Roombox" birthday party for my 8 year old

For my daughter's 8th birthday party, we decided to have a "Crafting a Roombox" event.  I will say that I was VERY nervous about it.

I was still a bit traumatized from her last birthday party where there were twice tears and also some arguments.  One girl had cried because we didn't have enough sparkly dots (I had just put out what we had) when decorating frames, and then there was also tears and arguments during the treasure hunt (whose turn was it read the clue etc.).  When the party ended, my husband said, "well, that went well," as I collapsed into a chair.

But this party went well, and I really enjoyed it.   We invited all the girls of her class (unfortunately, our living room cannot fit the boys as well) and told everyone to bring a shoe box (although we had extras) and their favorite doll/animal.

One of the other mothers also offered to stay to help, which was great.

We bought lots of supplies at Michael's:  3 pads of scrapbook paper; construction paper; plastic plants; green plants; wood; green felt for grass and some other pretty felt colors.

 I also brought out my fabric collection.   And I saved food cartons and egg cartons for 2 months.  Before the party, I cut out couch shapes from the various food cartons that could be used as the base. (I also had FIMO clay in reserve in case.)  And I made little round tables by gluing thread to the round wood tops in advance.

I showed them a prototype cupcake shop:

Nobody wanted to do that.

They all wanted to make a house for their animal.


So  I showed them how to make a couch and pillows with fabric and fabric glue.  And how to cut the plastic flowers and make a pathway out of egg cartons.

Here was my other prototype:

And they all set to work - I really love the scrapbook paper as wallpaper.

Here are some of the finished projects:

This animal looks quite comfy. 

The pillow is still being clamped together here with binder clips.

Bed, couch, table and a garden!

Top view of a beautiful garden.

I love the egg carton chairs. 

A slide down from the top floor

(This one has a pool, a slide and a tunnel in the garden.)

My daughter kept working on hers, so it is now 3 stories high: 

I quite like her deck chairs out of cardboard and felt:

She drew some pictures as art for her bedroom:

And I particularly like her garden:

And one girl thanked me for teaching her how to make all this stuff.  

A dress form

Continuing the sewing theme -- here is a dress form with a partially-completed dress.  (The sewing theme is a bit unintentional as I had been meaning to make the pajamas for over a year (see my New Year's resolutions for 2015), and then the shift dress project looked very easy.)

We just made this project in my mini club, and I actually completed it the same day (which doesn't happen often).

At the previous session, we each glued together the dress form from a Chrysnbon kit. Then we took the dress forms home.  With modge podge, I applied the very thin origami paper.  I had not tried modge podge before, so I thought it would be fun to try.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it when it was finished (before I added the dress).

Then in class, I made the dress from the provided pattern, sewing first the top and then sewing the top to the skirt and then gluing it onto the mannequin.  And then I added the lace trim. 

Here is the dress form in the beginnings of a little sewing room (although I plan to replace the hutch).  

The very colorful thread holder on the wall is from Dragonfly International.  

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Relaxing on the unfinished Malibu Dolls House balcony (new furniture and a new shift dress)

Clearly, the builders are not coming any time soon to finish this balcony!

Another Dolls House Magazine project: the Shift Dress.  

This is from the March 2016 issue. 

  

And furniture from Anatolian Miniature - so beautifully made!  I am so happy with the 2 pieces. 

(with paper flooring quickly added - it does not look too bad)

(before the paper flooring was added for the picture)

I am going to try to make another shift dress that is a little smaller.  I have only online access to the magazine and I can't seem to print out the pages, so I guessed at the size of the pattern.  And it turned out a little too big. 

The grey cat is by Reve. 

The coffee and the cupcake are also projects from the Dolls House Magazine (but for another post). 

Hope you have a great weekend! 

Breakfast in Bed

It looks like he had a bit of a rough night, so breakfast in bed it is!

I finally made the pajamas from the pattern provided by Janet Harmsworth in the Dolls House Magazine Issue 188 (January 2014).  I made it from an old shirt.  The pattern is very good.  The buttons are from www.alphastamps.com.

The Heidi Ott doll with the wild hair is from the seller Manieril on eBay. 

Have a great week!

A Visit to TYA Kitchen in Tokyo!!

I was able to stay for Saturday during a work trip to Japan and visit TYA Kitchen in Tokyo!  (Thank you to my husband and kids for understanding!)

Here is their website: http://minityuan.ocnk.net or TYA Kitchen.

Getting There

I got up early Saturday (so excited!) and took the subway and then the tram - that part was fairly straightforward. Then when I got out of the tram, I went to the police station as directed and the policeman showed me the way on the map, but I think he was not holding the map in alignment with the right direction.  From what he showed me, I thought I should leave the police station and continue walking straight.  And so I did walking along this nice path with the cherry blossoms and paper lanterns.

Eventually I asked a family if this was the right way, and they said I was to go in the other direction.

 So I went back to the police station, and the policeman then escorted me, although I think he got lost as well.  But eventually he found it.  So happy!  And such an amazing country where a policeman will escort you to a miniatures shop - I found that many people were very gracious about escorting you to the right place or at least getting you to a spot where they could then point you to the right place.

There was an Asako local news TV station interviewing Yukio Kawai and they asked to interview me as well (I think their question was: what is this American doing here?!)  So we said that we had met at the Chicago International fair, and I said that miniaturists just loved his work.  And I think that he is the only person doing this type of miniature work in stainless steel.   I said he was quite famous in the modern miniature world.

And I showed them this post from another blog:  The Best Miniature Shop in the World (which I also recommend looking at for additional pictures of his work).

His daughter, Asami Kawai, makes amazing miniature food, and their shop sells kits and other supplies for making food.

The Miniature Art!

Here are some ranges he is preparing for Chicago (you can also see them in a line on the floor in the bottom of the photo):

I love this range.  I love the colors.  I am very tempted by it.   But I think it might be too big for my Dutch Canal House hotel kitchen (which is still being planned in my head - so there may be enough room).  I am sure he will sell out in Chicago. 

Yukio-san showed me how he stamps out the handles - those little cutouts in the metal below are the remains from the stamped-out handles:

And he let me take pictures of his kitchens - how amazing are these!  I am so glad I have the pictures so I can really take in all the details.

I told him I loved the dishes in the sink and I asked him if he used to work in a kitchen.  He said yes and gestured towards the dishes in the sink, so I think he did dish washing at that time.

Kitchens by Yukio Kawai:

I love the food frying and food preparation details.  And there are even paper orders up on the refrigerator.

This is the last view of this restaurant kitchen, and then you can see the restaurant interior through the archway, but I didn't take a picture of that section.

Here is another kitchen by Yukio-san:

Here is a view of the shop - all those room boxes have fabulous little miniature scenes in them! (I think some are by different artists though).  And there are some more ranges lined up for Chicago.

And here is one last unbelievably amazing kitchen by Kawai Yukio-san!

The whole family was so kind (his wife was also there working in the shop), and I sincerely hope I wasn't interrupting their TV show filming.   And his daughter Asami  (who makes amazing miniature food - those are some of her tools above) walked me back to the station, and it was much quicker and easier than my trip there!

Here is a picture of my purchases -  I love this refrigerator with the glass doors and mirrored back, but I need to take a better photograph.  And of course, I love the pots and bowls and the bread.  I also love the new colorful spatulas - I wanted those as soon as I saw them on the shop website:

And if you plan to go to Tokyo, definitely plan a visit!  

Ask for a map from your hotel or ask the policeman for an escort.  (Maybe ask your hotel to mark the police station hut on the map.) If you have the map, this will help start you off:  I took the KEIHIN - TOHOKU line.

and got off at OUJI station 王子駅.  Then take the street car - you can see it from the subway platform, so it is very easy to find.  

When you get off the Toei Streetcar (Toden) Arakawa Line 

at Arakawa Yuenchimae, cross over to the other side (opposite from the police hut) and then  follow your map.    

Have a great weekend!