DIY Butterfly Kiss Miniature Living room set

Yes, I have another DIY miniature kit!

This one I received as a birthday gift but can be purchased off Amazon.  

I'm not completely finished yet but I was excited to show what I have so far.  

It's very cute, but quality is not the same as the previous miniature I did.  It's much cheaper in price and quality but still fun nevertheless.  It was definitely a challenge and quite a bit more difficult compared to the previous kit.  Instructions come in both Chinese and poorly written English.  The poor translation made it a bit more difficult but there were also a lot of very small intricate parts and pieces that took much more patience and persistence. 

This kit kept me occupied for many more hours than my Japanese thatched tea house kit. I would estimate it took me around 20 hours of slowly working on this over many months.

Box and packaging:

Pen for scale:


Near complete project.  It's still missing few small pieces, plastic enclosure and lighting:  (click to enlarge)

As you can see, lots of tiny details.  Pillows are hand sewn.  Each book is made by cutting out a printout and folding it into a book form.  Some of the flowers are hand made or hand cut.

Furniture is assembled by glueing boards together.  The sofa is put together out of multiple boards, felt cushions, cloth and little attachable furniture feet.

It actually comes with electric lights that come with wiring and battery pack so it can actually light up!

There is also an enclosure behind the tall bookcase that can house a musical box.  There are holes in the back wall to allow for the wind-up mechanism.

Back:  Showing the music box wind-up mechanism and battery pack.

The finished project:
BTW, you can see that I did a TERRIBLE job with the plastic enclosure.  This was my first go around with something like this and now I know to avoid touching the plastic at all costs! I left sticky glue fingerprints everywhere! It looks worse now than before the plastic enclosing was placed.  But alas, it is now a completed project and I can say I have conquered this miniature kit! :P

Simple Rhinestones & Nail Art

I recently came across some really cheap nail art rhinestones so I thought I'd give them a try.

This turned out to be surprisingly easy and didn't require much technical expertise at all.  

I don't have much in terms of nail art tools and found that for a simple design you really don't need anything other than your fingers.  I had a pair of tweezers but didn't feel they were necessary. 

I purchased the rhinestones online at AliExpress.  I don't actually recommend this web site as there is a very long delivery time (weeks to months) and there have been some very shady sellers that I've already crossed paths with.

Necessary materials:
- Rhinestones
- Top coat
Optional materials:
- Colored nail polish
- Base coat

I've also seen rhinestones available for purchase at my local Daiso (Japanese $1.50 store) or Dollar Tree.  This gorgeous Maybelline NY Color Show polish in the color Alluring Rose was found at my local Dollar Tree.  Goes to show that at home manicures don't need to be expensive! 

Directions:

Apply as many coats of the colored nail polish as you desire (or just a clear coat if you don't want color).  Immediately after painting the last coat, carefully place the rhinestone.  I simply placed the rhinestone right side up, then used my finger pad to pick it up and place it on my nail.  You have a few seconds to adjust the rhinestone to your liking.  Then apply 2 thick layers of top coat over the rhinestones. 

Note: I initially tried with just 1 layer of top coat but found that they quickly fell off with my daily activities.  Two layers of top coat have kept my rhinestones on through days of normal use.

Japanese DIY Thatched Tea House Miniature Kit

Remember my last post about the DIY miniature house kits from Japan?

Well, I can now say I have successfully and quite triumphantly completed one! What do you think?

Full View:

Close up view -- look at the details!!

Overhead view -- yes, even the inside of the house is decorated.

How did I do?

I wish I had taken a before shot of how this package came.  It's in a big bag full of particles of wood, paper, rocks, etc.  You literally put all the pieces together to assemble the roof, house, wheel, etc.  I thought this was a lot of fun.  Instructions are in Japanese only but they have photos which helps.  Most items are given a letter name and dimension (ie: A is 12cm x 1cm x 1cm) so you can deduce what is what from that.  I did watch a few youtube tutorials of similar projects which helped me out a lot.  If you're having trouble I definitely recommend watching a few videos.

Now even if you don't live in Japan, thanks to the wonders of the internet this product is available for purchase on Amazon.  There are many other models too, some of my favorites are...

Happy Crafting everyone! 

Miniature craft kits from Japan

I came across these miniature diy craft kits in Japan and was just floored at the detail.   They had all kinds of different sceneries, traditional and modern store fronts, etc. 

Here is a close up photo of one of the kits.

I definitely had to grab a kit. Instructions are all in Japanese and I hope that won't pose too much of a problem because I cannot wait to get working on this!

Adorable Minnie and Mickey purses

Came across these *adorable* Minnie and Mickey purses.  They were so darling!  Unfortunately, they are too small to be practical so I did not buy them, but now I can't stop thinking about how I could maybe DIY something to this effect.  Or is there something like this already out there?  They were just so cute I had to share!

DIY bath bombs

Tired of paying for overpriced bath bombs from retailers?

Try out these nifty DIY bath bombs!

Chubby hearts with rose petals:

Halloween inspired spider bombs:

Recipe is as below:

2 Parts Baking Soda
1 Part Powdered Citric Acid
1 Part Corn Starch
1 Part Epsom Salt

Note: If you can't find citric acid you can substitute with Cream of tatar but the bath bomb won't be fizzy as a result.  I happened to find my citric acid at a local Indian grocery store but you can find it on many sites online.

In addition you will need some sort of mold to form a shape (ice cube tray would work too), a spray bottle, mixing bowl, etc.

Mix all your dry ingredients together.  

Then the liquid portion is a bit more flexible.  You can use water, food coloring, witch hazel, melted coconut oil with some essential oils etc and using a spray bottle.  You won't need much at all.  Spray ONLY enough to get the mixture damp enough to hold a form.  As in when you pinch it, it holds the pinched shape.  If you spray too much you will prematurely activate the fizzling and then your bath bomb won't fizz when you use it.   This is especially important and I didn't notice this emphasized enough on the majority of the bath bomb recipes out there.  If you notice your mixture fizzing then you've sprayed too much water.  You can still put it in the molds (though they might continue to fizz and bubble out) and they will still work otherwise just without the fizzing.

Happy bath time everyone!

DIY eos deodorant.... flop

Have you all seen all those new DIY eos hacks lately? Pretty nifty huh?

One that recently caught my eye was the DIY eos deodorant.  I thought it'd be great to travel with since it would be in such a small container and the best part is that I found a recipe that only needs 3 ingredients that I already had. 

So the recipe I used calls for coconut oil, corn starch and baking soda.  Mix it up (2 parts coconut oil to 1 part corn starch and 1 part baking soda), pour it into your disassembled eos container, and pop it in the fridge and done!  It looked great when I took it out, however.... Don't ever take this out of the fridge!!!

Ok, now let me explain why I do NOT recommend this DIY.  Unless you live in a cold enough climate that the coconut oil is ALWAYS a solid I would NOT recommend having this item stored anywhere outside the refrigerator.  Given that it's a balmy 70 degrees Fahrenheit where I am, it didn't take long for the coconut oil to melt and leak out of my eos container creating a mess.  Good thing I hadn't packed this for my vacation just yet!  I popped it back in the fridge and this is what I have remaining, covered in a messy residue:  

No photos of the actual melted mess were taken due to the messy messy nature of it.

Really great concept, however, the coconut oil recipe just won't fly for a travel friendly product as temperatures are always in flux.  If you just want it to have around the house then it'd be great.  

I'm thinking it would have probably been an awesome DIY if beeswax was used instead of the coconut oil.  Maybe next time.....