Friday 24 April 2015

PuppenHaus updates

Hi Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

It's time to take a peak into the dollhouse again. The dollhouse is like a never-ending collage that I work on almost every week especially when I'm always on the hunt for new miniatures and furniture.

This is the current home of Maya, Yuffie, Naru and Akiko and the miniatures or 'things' around the house has to reflect their personalities. Maybe that is why you get a mish mash of almost everything!

All photos are taken inside the dollhouse where the miniatures and furniture are permanently placed. The OCD in me makes sure that I use up as many miniatures as I can instead of keeping them away in storage. Taking photos inside the dollhouse is tricky since it is on the floor of my room and there is no sunlight, except for the top floor. Hope you can bear with me ^_^'

Let's take a look at the bedroom first.

Bedroom, top floor
I changed the bedroom layout and moved the bed. I got the Little Twin Stars re-Ment room set and used the bedside table, lamp, picture frame and cushion for this section. The Little Twin Stars table was actually too short (it must have been 1/10 scale) for the dollhouse but I don't think it looks too bad. It definitely makes the room look more girly.

Little Twin Stars bedside table with lamp and photo frame
This chair was built and assembled by me. It was a DIY kit that came with a Dollybird magazine. I painted it with Laura Ashley matte colour to match the interior decoration. The unicorn plush is also from the Little Twin Stars set and you can see a Hello Kitty digital weighing scale at the corner.

Chair DIY from Dollybird
I love the idea of an open wardrobe. I keep all the azone clothes in a seperate box and these are all re-Ment costume clothes. There are also various bags from re-Ment and azone and their shoes are arranged neatly on the floor of the wardrobe.

Open wardrobe
In the far right corner of the room, I moved the Ikea HUSET shelf from the living room to the bedroom. I think it is perfect for their shoes, especially boots. There is a little vanity table and also a red wheelie suitcase tucked neatly against the shelf.

Shelf from Ikea HUSET. Perfect for displaying boots

I was tempted to get the complete set of re-Ment's cosmetic miniatures but since the table looks so cluttered now from existing bits and bobs, I decided not to waste the money (and buy other miniatures instead!). New additions include a Hello Kitty vanity box, Little Twin Stars perfume and powder puff and other Hello Kitty cosmetics items.

Vanity table is Sindy vintage 70s furniture
Now let us take a look at the second floor - the study and the living room.

There are 2 new Ikea furniture on this floor including the chair, bookcase and bureau (Sindy).

1st floor. Study and living room
I got rid of the desk that I made and got this Sindy vintage 70s bureau to replace it. It has so many compartments, drawer pull-outs and even the chest has 2 compartments to stash more miniatures. Currently I keep the girl's musical instruments in the chest.

Sindy vintage 70s bureau
The bureau opens up to more space for the girls to do their homework. Here are just some of the miniatures stashed in there, all re-Ment. I also attached a Hello Kitty phone on the wall which probably looks very retro since nobody does that anymore (probably). Please visit my flickr account to see what other things are hidden within this bureau unit.
All re-Ment miniatures.
Another new addition to the study is this Ikea BILLY bookcase. I wish I had more miniature books to place here but I don't XD

It's quite a big shelf so maybe in the next update there will be more items placed on it. For now there are figurines from re-Ment, vintage Polly Pocket dolls and other bits and bobs from re-Ment. I also moved the Sindy vintage 70s rocking chair here. The girls can sit by the window on a comfy chair and read their manga.

Ikea BILLY bookcase and vintage Sindy rocking chair.
The living room has a new Ikea POANG chair (replace the rocking chair). Everything else is the same.
Comfy living room. The girls sometimes have tea in here. 
I re-arranged some items in the Sindy vintage 70s dresser. The middle shelf holds all of my precious teapots and teacups as well as other valuable china. 

My prized red dotty tea set from re-Ment Natalie French
Finally, the ground floor of Puppen Haus which is the kitchen and dining area.

Ground floor. Kitchen and dining area
Some new re-Ment miniatures around the sink. The pink mug on the left is actually for the bathroom (there is a toothbrush and toothpaste inside it) but there isn't any bathroom in this house (not that dolls need to bathe or go number 2). I just decided to place it near the sink where they might brush their teeth :p
Various re-Ment miniatures
I also manage to get a second spice shelf for the kitchen and decided to place salt and pepper shakers in them (they didn't come with the original spice jars). The pumpkin casserole looks like a vintage Le Creuset so I decided to place it on the hob.

And our last new furniture update - the Ikea IVAR shelf that Akiko and Maya built. This is my second IVAR unit and I tried to place as many grocery miniatures as I can! This kitchen is more stocked up than my own pantry! The kitchen looks small with this pantry placed between the kitchen and living room but it makes a nice divider and the girls still have room to move around in the kitchen.

Ikea IVAR shelf with mostly re-Ment miniatures
OK, that's all for this week. I hope you enjoyed this brief tour inside my 1/6 scale dollhouse. Next week there will be new sweets and chocolate in the Littlest Sweet Shop and you do not want to miss that!

Have a lovely weekend - BYE!

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Celebrate Miniature Wedding

Hello Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Please visit our new Wedding menu dedicated to wedding-themed sweets and cakes. Wedding is a popular theme in miniature and the doll hobby. Every year, doll companies would launch new dolls in a white wedding dress and there are plenty of miniature items to set up a grand wedding in a miniature setting. 



My mother is a pâtissier and she has been making wedding cakes since I was a little girl. I used to help her make these epic cakes since I like moulding sugar paste (because it is like clay!). 

3 tier pink nude cake (chocolate cake inside) with ruffles. Dusted in gold powder
I also made some wedding cookies that work great as wedding favours or as decoration. They are sugar cookies that have been iced meticulously. 

Bow, bell, dove, pink wedding cake, engagement ring, rose bouquet, bride dress and groom tuxedo and
champagne flute with bubbles
 Everything is customisable so you can also have the cookies iced in any colours that you wish

Pink flower bouquet, bow, dove, bell, champagne flute, engagement ring, stiletto, lilac wedding cake

Our next new arrival is a take on the popular Italian dessert - the tiramisu. Our tiramisu consists of 3 layers of sponge cake soaked in coffee liquor that is layered with cream and mascarpone cheese. Dusted with cocoa powder and topped with a chocolate topper. This exclusive cake is listed on the Cakes menu. 

Detailing on coffee soaked sponge. Cream looks light and fluffy
The tiramisu is only 10mm wide and 7mm tall so you could easily apply it to a 1:12 scale setting.

The lavish tiramisu and elegant french pastries will complete your wedding dessert table.




Elegant pâtisserie

That's all for today. Come back again next week for some dollhouse updates. There are plenty of new additions such as furniture and more miniatures so make sure you visit us again. 

Bye!

Thursday 9 April 2015

Taste Japan Review

Advertorial

Konnichiwa Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Today we will be doing a review for a monthly subscription service called 'Taste Japan'. For just £15 you will receive a variety of Japanese snacks at your doorstep! They ship from Japan to anywhere in the world and I am pleased to report that it arrived my home in England in just 10 days!

The food featured in Littlest Sweet Shop are usually models so just keep in mind that these are REAL edible food for us humans (1:1 scale).

We had 10 different snacks and sweets to try from the February - March box. They are Anpanman Senbei, Anpanman Senbei (blue packaging), Milk Caramel Biscuit Balls, Choco Ball Caramel, OSushiya San, Ume Mints, Jyaga Choco, Uranaigo, Sour Paper and Vessel in the Fog. A leaflet with a list that describes each item is included in English so you don't need to know how to read Japanese to eat Japanese sweets! This leaflet also includes a cool fact about Japanese traditions and Japan. You can also access a special blog page with an even more detailed description on each item! (for Taste Japan clients only)

Maya is so happy to see so many Japanese sweets from Taste Japan. We are trying it out in my own kitchen

Japanese food isn't new to me as I was introduced to Japanese cuisine, snack, sweets at a very young age. We had a Japanese neighbour opposite our house and the husband worked as a head chef at the restaurant at the Japan Centre, KL. Japanese people are known to be generous and my neighbour was no exception! He would bring back boxes of leftover sushi and tempura battered veggies from the restaurant.

They often went back to Japan and brought us plenty of Japanese snacks including my favourite Caplico. The neighbour kids had an array of Japanese toys and all of their Disney films were dubbed in Japanese! I can still remember watching Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp in Japanese (even the song 'Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo' was sung in Japanese). I fell in love with Japanese culture at a very young age through their pre-teen magazines with advertisements of kimonos with Disney characters on them. I was convinced that Japan was the most awesome country on the planet.

Fast forward a few decades ahead, I'm still obsessed with Japanese culture. I don't have time to watch as many animes as I used to but I still read a few mangas and I do cook certain Japanese food like teriyaki chicken, okonomiyaki and Japanese curry. I drink green tea instead of normal tea since I believe that it's a healthier beverage and snack on dry seaweed. My husband who is English/European doesn't really like to drink hot green tea and doesn't like the smell of seaweed so I'm not sure how he would react to uniquely Japanese tasting food. My brother was here during the Easter break so I had the opportunity to review Taste Japan with him.

Like me, he is also obsessed with Japan culture.

1. Anpanman Senbei (Red – Age Senbei)

First me and my brother tried the Anpanman Senbei. My husband didn't have any of the savoury snacks so more for us! These are basically crispy rice crackers with a delicious savoury flavour. The colour is a deep caramel and it is sweet and salty and taste a bit like a delicious soy sauce. The only drawback was that it only had a few pieces in a pack and it was really delicious so it just made us crave for more. I knew that we would like any rice crackers since my favourite is the small and flat ones with cheese and almond! Rice crackers can never go wrong.

2. Anpanman Senbei (Blue – Sofuto Sen)
Baked not fried
The Anpanman Senbei (blue packaging) reminded me of the plain and tasteless rice crackers that Japanese mothers gave their babies. However this was coated in a sweet and savoury flavouring and had a similar feel/look/taste to Bin-Bin crackers that we had growing up in South East Asia. The flavours worked really well together forming a pleasant sweet and salty snack. Let it dissolve on your tongue for maximum flavour impact!

3. Milk Caramel Biscuit Balls

Milk Caramel Biscuit Balls were surprisingly moreish. My husband loved it and it was not too sweet which lets you enjoy the true flavour of the caramel. The coating was a milky flavour and even though the temperature at home was around 10 degree Celcius, the filling stayed smooth and creamy. The biscuit was very crispy and flaky but my husband did comment that there should be more in a pack. I guess this was a serving for one.

It was impossible to do a clean cut through this biscuit since it was so crispy!

4. Choco Ball Caramel
Kyoro-chan giving us some treats
Choco Ball Caramel is probably my favourite item from the box. It was like chocolate coated peanuts but 10 times better! There is a layer of crispy coating around the peanut that gave it an extra crunch. The chocolate coating was thin so the ratio between chocolate to peanut was a winning combination. I wasn't sure which part of it was caramel so I assumed it was the crispy wafer-like shell that cocooned the peanut.

5. OSushiya San
Maya made sushi and they were sweet and gummy! XD
OSushiya San is a pack of gummy candy that you can assemble into sushi sweets! They look quite attractive but the fruit flavours (plum, lemon and banana) were very mild. The texture is like Haribo and it was fun to make. Who says you can't play with your food? My brother says the plum flavour was the best!

6. Ume mints
Perfect size for dolls!
Ume mints is an old-school Japanese breath freshers. They look like mini plums and taste like it too. They are not minty but I'm not sure how it works as a breath-fresher since they are just sweet and slightly sour. I had Japanese plum wine before (with plums in the bottle) so the flavour was very similar. It's packaged in a handy size so you can stash it in your pocket.


7. Jyaga Choco

Jyaga Choco is literally crisps (potato chips) coated in chocolate. It is a deliciously sweet and salty snack that makes you crave more! I've had these before when I was still working in Asia and even told my husband about it. He didn't believe me when I told him that the crisp and chocolate combo worked until he had some for himself. The crisp was ridged and thick (my husband describes it as two Pringles stuck together). The chocolate coating was generous and it tasted more sweet than salty.

8. Uranaikko
Inau bubblegum with fortune
Uranaigo is quite interesting since even the box had mini games on it. It is a gum from popular Japanese brand Glico and the gum was shaped like an 'Inau'(prayer) stick and even had a traditional fortune on it (in Japanese). The gum itself tasted like Cola. It would have been better to receive a gum with a different flavour since we already have another Cola flavoured sweet in the box.

9. Sour Paper


Sour Paper is a long piece of gummy sweet in Cola flavour. I don't think it was particularly sour and it was coated in sugar crystals. I had to finish it in one go since it wasn't easy to tear off but it went down quickly!

10. Vessel in the Fog

I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of plain chocolate. I like my chocolate balanced with nuts or a filling of some sort. Otherwise it feels like I'm eating pure sugar and I am not a fan of brands like Cadbury or Hershey's. Vessel in the Fog is different to western chocolate. It is extremely smooth but goes a long way. I surprised myself by eating the whole pack! The chocolate has a bubbly, light and airy texture (sort of like Aero). The flavour isn't too sweet so you can savour the deep cocoa flavour and velvety texture as it melts in your mouth
Bubbly texture
This is a great subscription if you are interested in exploring Japanese snacks and sweets from home. Each box seems to have a good mix of variety of sweets, savoury snacks and chocolate. I always find their packaging attractive and interesting with the colours that they use and how they use characters to brand their food. The price is also a bargain since my brother lives in London and we know that if we bought the same items here (if we can find it, some items are limited edition and exclusive to Japan) it would cost around £30. You can also purchase a Taste Japan box for someone who has a sweet-tooth, a foodie or even an otaku.

I do miss Isetan (Japanese supermarket) and Kinokuniya (Japanese bookstore) before I moved to the UK but Taste Japan gives me a taste of Japan every month.

Is your mouth watering yet? Click here to find out more about Taste Japan.




Be back next week for more new Littlest Sweet Shop new arrivals. BYE!

Friday 3 April 2015

Littlest Sweet Shop X Komikku - new items!

Happy Good Friday Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Just letting you know that we have some new arrivals at Komikku, Norwich.

Macaron Earrings

Our new line up also features some cute miniature erasers that will brighten up any pencil case. I hope a variety of different items will be able to attract more new customers.

Littlest Sweet Shop erasers

More cake necklaces. This time on a different style silver necklace
Cake slice necklaces

Taco and Fortune Cookie necklaces

Triple macaron necklace

Some photos of the display at the shop





Buy cute jewellery that comes with their own tiny cute boxes (excluding erasers). While stocks last.


If you are in Norwich during the Easter Bank Holiday, make sure you check it out!
Komikku
15 Westlegate, Norwich NR1 3LT, United Kingdom
01603 764683


Bye!