Miniature Clay Bear Figurine

My very first polymer clay miniature figurine of this Japanese bear named "Rilakkuma". This took me around 1 hour to make, and it was quite challenging because of the tiny size! Especially when It came to painting all the details! My hands would not stop shaking and I felt like I was holding my breath the whole time. I still had a lot of fun making this and I'm very proud of it!

I hope you guys like it

Welcome to my Dollhouse!

A virtual tour to my proud piece! 1/2 scale Fairfield dollhouse! Enjoy!

Miniature Cupcakes

Don't worry I'm still here! Sorry for not posting for a while! It's just that I've been so busy with school! AAh!

Anyway, recently, I got a buddy package from another crafter I met through Youtube which she included so many goodies! I should've taken a photo of it before I opened everything. Anywho, in the package she included a set of polymer clay! Yay! I always wanted to try working with clay, so I was so excited.

So the first thing I decided to make were these mini cupcakes. Not 1 inch scale yet, sorry! haha. I think they turned out pretty good for my first pieces though! I also made a charm for her; her name is also Amy!

Red velvet cupcakes! Looks good to eat!

For Amy!

I want to be able to make 1/12 scale miniature foods eventually! Wish me luck!

Also, before I end this post, I want to say WELCOME to all of my new followers and thank you to everyone who continues to follow and comment on my posts! Love you all!

Thank you for reading and have a great weekend!

1/144 Scale Gingerbread Mansion Virtual Tour

Hey guys! I made a video tour of my Gingerbread Mansion, so you guys have a better idea of how it looks like! I hope you like it!

So This is What Cheap Labor Feels Like

I bought a miniature kit from a miniature manufacturing company beginning of this year to try to make some money since I didn't have a job at that time. I guess you could say I was pretty desperate. Basically, I have to make and package 100 sets of these little stationary sets to get paid $75, which I have 60 days to complete. You don't actually purchase the kit, you actually put a deposit on it, which you will be refunded once you complete the kit.  When I first ordered it, it sounded very appealing and I thought it was going to be a piece of cake.

The set includes 3 stationary papers and 3 envelopes.

I didn't start until this week because ironically, I got a job around the time I received the kit, so it wasn't urgent for me to start. However, now that I'm on my break from school, I decided it is time to start on it before the deadline or before I lose my money.

The kit comes with detailed instructions and I have to make everything neat and perfect. I made 8 sets and realized how tedious and miserable this process is going to be. There's a lot of cutting and gluing involved which means a lot of time spent on my desk bent over. Much back and neck pain; which also gave me a headache. I spent about 7 hours total to make ONLY 25 sets. I can't believe I have 75 more to go!! Ahhhh! So this is what cheap labor feels like!

I apologize for all the complaining, but this is the main reason why I haven't been doing my own crafting. Plus this is a good lesson; don't bite off more than you can chew. I need a lot of luck to finish this!

1/144 Scale Gingerbread Mansion is Complete!

After much studying this weekend for my school exam, and with no work, I had the rest of the Monday afternoon and evening to work on my Gingerbread Mansion and I finally finished it!

1/144 Scale Gingerbread Mansion!

The porch and the balcony was no problem, but the roof was tricky. I had to make sure the glue was invisible, however it was impossible for this one part of the roof which had an issue with the fitting. I struggled with it, so I got glue everywhere and now it looks messy and ugly. But the good thing is that you can't see it from the front.

Close up.

Back of the house, next to a quarter.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out!

The primary green platform is not very appealing, so I definitely will do something with it. I want to do some landscaping on it, but I have no idea what to do. Do you guys have any suggestions? Also, where would be a great place to look for landscaping stuff in this scale? Any info will be greatly appreciated! :-)

Thanks for reading everyone! Also I want to welcome all of my new followers! Have a great week!

Gingerbread Mansion Update

Woohoo! An update on my 1/144 scale gingerbread mansion!

This is what I've done: I've put all the walls and the floors, the railing added to the second floor, and the stairs installed. It's looking more like a house now.

Here is a bird view before I placed the attic floor, so you can see the staircase:

When I was putting up the second floor, some how the kit was not fitting in place, which caused the floor to bend. I was puzzled, because everything else was fitting nicely. I had to cut the slot wider to make the floor flat, which worked (thank goodness!). However, the wall papers were no longer lined up to the floor. It was too late to redo the wall papers, so I was thinking how to fix the problem. Then, *light bulb!* I cut thin strips of white paper and glued them along the bottom edges of the walls to resemble skirt moulding. They perfectly covered the imperfection and I love the look! I wish I had thought of this earlier so I could've done the first floor walls.

Now I have the roof, porch, and the balcony left to do.

Also, I started a Facebook page for Crafter's Delights! Please visit and like the page! I would feel so loved! Thanks!

Click on the logo!

Thanks for reading everyone! Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Evolution of Miniature Teddy Bears

Adding two new friends to the miniature teddy bear family. Meet Cookie and Mocha.

Hello everyone! Meet Cookie and Mocha!

Cookie is 38 mm tall when standing and 30 mm when sitting. On the other hand, Mocha is 34 mm tall when standing and 22mm when sitting.  Only 4 mm height difference because of Mocha's long legs, but Mocha is about 25 % smaller than Cookie.

Cookie

Mocha

Below is a photo of all of my bears lined up in the order that I made, and they're getting smaller and smaller. Also, I'm getting better at making them too, so I thought  it would be fun to call it "the evolution of miniature teddy bears"!

Evolution!

I'm glad to say that I'm getting a hang of crocheting in such small scale using only 0.6 mm crochet needle, but I still find it to be challenging and I still get frustrated at times. I've recently purchased some smaller hooks with 0.4 mm being the smallest. You have to literally put it right in front of your eyes to actually see the hook; it's that small and it looks so daunting! But I'm determined to make a smaller teddy bear using this sized crochet needle some day. I'm still working my way up there, so wish me luck!

0.4 mm crochet needle!

Before ending this post, I want to bring a warm welcome to my new followers! I'm so grateful that people find my blog interesting enough to follow! We are also getting close to my 100 follower giveaway!! Have a great week everyone!

Update on the Gingerbread Mansion

I apologize for such a late update on my gingerbread mansion. I got  a little side tracked from all the holiday shenanigans and other craft projects.

Since the last post where I hit a few bumps, this time, things are going smoothly.

First, I finished the wallpapers which turned out quite nicely. I also sprayed the wood floors with super glossy finish so they're nice and shiny. However, it ruined my tile floor so I had to change it to this. I actually like it better because it has a better contrast, so I'm glad it happened.

Shiny floor and a new tile floor.

I glued all the corner moulding and started gluing the walls together. I tried my best to fix the warping here and it worked!! Instead of wood glue, I used tacky glue, since it's stickier and thought it will hold the walls better.

Walls are up!

I finished painting the balcony, patio floors, and the patio steps. I also glued the railings to the second flight of stairs.

Stairs with railings added.

As I was working on my house, my sister made a comment about the color scheme that destroyed me with thoughts! She said the colors remind her of a Barbie's dream house! Ever since she said that, the house started to look more and more like a Barbie's dream house to me.......oh dear...

Barbie's dream house???

New Furniture, Mini Afghan Blanket, and 2012

My new 1/24 scale furniture for my Fairfield I got from my mom and my sister for Christmas! They're perfect and I love them so very much!

 The Dining set.

I want to reupholster the chairs since I don't like the fabric. I'm going to take a bold step forward and reupholster them with some needlepoint fabric, which means I gotta learn how to do it first! It will be #3 on my new years resolution list for 2012: learn how to needlepoint. This is going to be interesting ;-)

 The white bed set.

The bed set goes very well with this room. This room may be my favorite; very shabby chic! I even crochet a 1/2 scale afghan blanket to go with the bed!

Used a continuous granny square pattern. Super easy!

Since 2012 has approached, I want to take a moment to look back at 2011. It was a great and a fast year for me. It was the year when my obsession with miniatures started, the year when I finished building my first dollhouse, and the year when I learned how to crochet.  It's also the year I started this blog, so it's definitely a special year to me. I know there is going to be many challenges ahead, but I'm looking forward to the year 2012!

Wishing everyone's year 2012 to be filled with good health and success! Thank you for following and reading my blog!

More Miniature Crochet Teddy Bears

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Now, it is time to share my experience with these mini crochet bears with you guys!

Best friends!

Let me tell you how I almost pulled my hair out with frustration trying to work with such small needle and thread, failing many times trying to make a smaller teddy bear. I felt so defeated and was on the verge of giving up. Luckily, with some helpful tips from my very talented friend, Christine from Dandelion Fair, I was able to do it!  Thank you Christine!

I learned that you have to use patterns that are specially made for miniature scale or else it won't work. They were quite challenging, but well worth it!

I used a pattern that I modified a little for both teddy bears and they turned out absolutely adorable. Best of all, they have movable joints!

For the first bear, which I named Abby, I used a size 10 crochet thread and a crochet needle size 1 mm.

Abby is about 2 3/4 inches tall when standing.

This one is special, her name is Rosie.  She is special because I struggled a lot with her. Rosie is made with a size 20 thread, using a 0.6 mm crochet needle. I had such a difficult time making her with such a tiny needle. Rosie didn't turn out as small as I wanted but still a perfect size for 1/12 scale dollhouse.

Rosie is 45 mm tall when standing.

Rosie next to my new 1/24 scale bed set I got for Xmas!

I'm still trying to make a smaller teddy bear and experimenting with different patterns. Please wish me luck!

Also, I'm thinking of including a mini crochet bear as one of the prize items for my 100 follower giveaway. What do you think? Yes, no, maybe?? ;-) If I get a lot of YES, there is something to look forward to for that 100th follower! :-)

My First Visit to a Mini Store!

Yesterday, my mom and my sister took me to a miniature store in San Carlos, California to have me pick out my Christmas gifts! It was supposed to be a surprise, but they had to tell me because they were afraid of getting the wrong items since they don't know much about miniatures. I was still surprised though because I didn't know there were still miniature stores around!  I can't believe there's one near where I live. I was so ecstatic when they told me about Shellie's Miniature Mania located in old town San Carlos.

Hard to see, but there it is: Shellie's Miniature Mania

I felt like a kid in a candy store, running around, trying to look and touch everything. I had so much to see since they had so many wonderful displays. I felt like I could spend hours in there!

Wow!

They also had building supplies like lighting, flooring, windows and doors, moulding, wallpapers and more! (wow...that rhymed...totally unintentional!)

Ooohlala!

I've actually never seen a 1 inch scale house in person, so I was surprised how big it was! Perhaps too big for me, so I'll stick to my 1/2 inch scale.

My mom and my sister bought me some furniture for my Fairfield which I will show them to you after Christmas since I can't open them until then. I had so much fun in this store! I will have to come back again real soon!

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Shellie's Miniature Mania
732 Laurel St.
San Carlos, Ca 94070 (map)

Much Frustration!

Ever since I finished the staircase, the mansion building process  has been a nightmare!  First of all, as I feared, the walls and the floors started to warp.  I tried many known methods to un-warp them, which worked, but only lasted temporarily. I gave up after many attempts.

Ugh.

I believe one of the reasons why the wood is so stubborn is the paint. As the paint dries,  it shrinks slightly, causing the wood to pull and bend in this shape. I think this goes the same with glue.  All I can do now is to hope that I can fix the issue when I start gluing the pieces together. Fingers crossed!

I started the wall papering process using the free images from www.microjivvy.com. It's a tedious job, but it's going rather smoothly.  I also glued all the windows and doors.

However, once I got to gluing the walls together, that's when everything went down hill.  First of all, I glued the walls together on the wrong edge! However, by the time I realized it, the glue has already set. I gently tried to take them apart...until I heard a sound any miniaturist would cringe to: "SNAP!".  I froze for a moment  until I realized I broke part of the wall and the window! Noooooohohoooo!!!  In a panic and on the verge of crying, I managed to glue the broken pieces together. It was quite dramatic!

The piece I broke. Can you tell?

The directions for this kit are very unclear and hard to understand, which cost me this mistake!!  grrrr....

I hope this is the first and last downfall for this project.  I hope everything will go smoothly from here on. Aaaah...1/144 scale definitely challenges my patience, haha. Now I know why there isn't much people who work with this scale.

The base foundation

More Painting Plus Staircase Construction

Can't get over how tiny it is!

I got most of the painting done and removed all the window and door pieces from their sheets. I used a craft knife to carefully remove them because they're too fragile to be punched out. I also started on the staircase and I'm very happy with how it turned out. There's actually going to be another flight of stairs, but that will come later during the assembly of the house.

Paint palette is perfect to contain these small parts!

I stained and varnished everything that needed staining. Here's  one of the floors that I stained using Minwax brand staining pen, color: Golden Oak. I also added a tile floor to one of the rooms, which will be the kitchen. I'm actually proud of how I came up with the idea. After no luck with finding 1/144 scale floors and tiles online, I used an image from a miniature wallpaper catalog! I sprayed the paper with matte sealer for extra protection before gluing it on the floor. Then, I finished it with high gloss coating and it turned out perfect! I love it when improvisation works!

First floor stained and tiled.

I have more painting to do. After I'm done with that, I will start wallpapering!

Getting Started on My Gingerbread Mansion

I got a 1/144 scale gingerbread mansion kit from my boyfriend for my birthday and I'm excited to be able to finally start on it after a week of studying for my exams!

As I laid all of my pieces out to make sure I have everything, I came to realization of how tiny 1/144 scale is. All the pieces are so tiny and fragile, it makes me very nervous to even hold them. I'm also surprised of how clean and detailed the pieces are. Laser-cut is amazing. Check out these stairs! Aren't they cute?

Teeny stairs!

I decided to go with this color scheme: Pink, white, teal, and light sea green. My house is going to be girly and pretty in pink : )

I started painting the gingerbread pieces and some of the windows while they were still in the sheets. It doesn't look like I've got much done, but painting this much took me couple of hours! The process is very tedious because they're so many small nooks and crannies to be painted. Plus, I was being extra careful not to mess up. I should probably invest in a magnifying visor to help me see better because hours of me hunched over my desk and staring at the small pieces gave me a sore back and strained eyes. Ouch ouch.

By my next post, I'm hoping to finish the painting and start assembling the staircase! Woohoo! 

Next to a quarter just to give you an idea of how small it is!

AND totally changing the subject: we got our tree. Smaller this year, but it's perfect. Our whole house smells like christmas tree, which I LOVE!

We also got our xmas tree this weekend!

My First Mini Teddy Bear

Combining my love for miniatures and crochet, I made a miniature version of the amigurumi teddy bear I've made before. I followed the same pattern but modified just a little to fit the size of this teddy. I used a crochet thread and a crochet needle, size 8 (1.4mm). My first time working with such tiny needle!

Meet Evey

Evey is about 3.5 inches tall.

In comparison to Daisy

This was quite a challenge because everything was so small! The stitches were tiny and it was hard for me to see what I was doing. Definitely required a lot of time, patience, and focus to make this.

The process of making its leg.

I bet my eyes were crossed the whole time. I can't imagine making anything smaller than this! But you know there's a lot of people out there who does.

For example, here is a talented miniature knitter, Athena Crome. Watch the video, and be amazed!

And also this micro crochet amigurumi by Su-Ami. It's jaw-dropping!!

My goal is to work my way up to crochet a 1/12 scale teddy bear. Wish me luck!