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!

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles

I wanted to bake some cookies for the holidays, but I didn't feel like making the trip to the grocery store to buy more ingredients. I wanted to make something easy and with ingredients I already had, so I decided to make snickerdoodles. The main flavor is cinnamon, so they fit into the holiday cookie category in my book. 

Snickerdoodles adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 C. shortening
• 1 1/2 C. white sugar
• 2 egg
• 2 3/4 C sifted flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 T white sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and 1 1/2 C of sugar until creamy. Stir in the eggs one at time. In another bowl, combine and mix sifted flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until blended,

In a smaller bowl, combine and mix 2 T white sugar and 2 tsp of ground cinnamon.

Roll the dough into balls the size of small walnuts and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place them 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Into the oven and bake for precisely 9 minutes. The cookies should be flat with cracks. Leave them on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes before transferring to the cooling rack. It will look slightly under-baked but don't worry! Once they're cooled they should be soft, chewy, and delicious! 

Happy Baking and Happy Holidays!

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!

My New Mini Project

It's been way too long since the last time I worked on a mini project! I've been itching to start ever since I finished my 1/2 scale Fairfield, but life got in the way and I kept delaying it.

Finally, my wish came true when my boyfriend got me the 1/144 scale Gingerbread Mansion kit for my birthday! This makes happy Amy!

The Birthday Gift!

Initially, I was planning for my next mini project to be another 1/2 scale house, but considering my current circumstances, I can't afford the space and the money to build it the way I want to (sucks to be a student). Hence, I thought 1/144 scale would be perfect, so that's when I bugged my boyfriend for it for my birthday. This will definitely save space on my tiny craft space and I can still relieve my mini-itch! I've never worked with this scale, so I'm looking forward to the challenge. I will be documenting my progress so please follow my blog!  I'm so excited!

1/144 Scale Gingerbread Mansion

The Real Gingerbread Mansion - So beautiful!

My Very First Amigurumi

I'm still a novice in crocheting, but after much practicing, I'm now able to read some beginner's patterns and I'm able to do some stitches without messing up. When I first started learning how to crochet, my goal was to be able to make an amigurumi and I finally did it! I made my first amigurumi.

Meet Daisy!

I used a free pattern from jennyandteddy's blogspot (great blog btw). I'm so happy how my teddy turned out. I love the big ears and the cute little dress! I may have to make another one for myself since this teddy is gonna be a gift for someone.

Don't you just love it when you make something that turned out exactly the way you want it to be? It's very satisfying and you start to feel so proud of yourself, you just want to pat yourself on the back.

I Didn't Forget About You!

This is a crochet project I started well over a month ago and I swear I didn't forget about it! I just got side tracked with other craft ideas, school, life, and...umm...ok fine, I'll be honest! I just lost some motivation, but don't worry, I got it back and I started working on it again by sewing the squares together.

Progress is slow but it's still going!

As I was lining up my granny squares, I notice some of them were slightly bigger than the others.  I guess this is due to  the uneven tension of the stitches since my crochet skills aren't up to par yet, but once I sewed them together it looked ok. I still need to make more squares...which is the most tedious part of this project. Let's hope I can keep my motivation going. Wish me luck!

I hope your projects are going more productively than mine!

Happy Crafting!

Tutorial: Pine Cone Christmas Tree

This time of the year, you start to feel the pressure because you see and hear Christmas everywhere and people are talking about gifts!  You better start getting ready now, because it's just around the corner! Next time you know it, you will be stressing over the last minute gifts and decorations. So, let me make your life a little easier with this tutorial.

Mini xmas tree.

Here is a great craft idea that is easy, simple, and cheap.  Pine Cone Christmas Tree! I vividly remember making this in kindergarden with my teacher. I remember painting it white with multi-colored glitters and giving it to my mom.

You will need:

• Pine cone
• green acrylic paint
• glitter
• hot glue
• regular glue or Modge Podge
• mini terra cotta pot (i got one from Michaels' for 69 cents)
• mini star (optional) I used a wooden star but you can use star shaped buttons or cut out a yellow foam sheet.

Simply, paint the pine cone with green paint and let it dry. Apply some regular glue on the edge of each spine on the pine cone and sprinkle some glitter. Once it's dry, hot glue the pine cone to the terra cotta pot and glue the star on top. Super easy and it's a great craft project to do with your kids!

I painted white on the tips of the "pedals" of the pine cone to give a "snow" effect. Too bad you can't really see the glitter on the snow in the photos. I also applied glitter on the star.

You can get creative with the decorations. Use different paint colors, rhinestones, sequins, beads, fluff balls, ribbons, etc. Go crazy with them and have fun!

Happy Holidays and Happy Crafting!