New arrivals April: Juice boxes, packed veggies, dinner sides and more!

Hello Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

I have to admit that I haven't been doing all the things that I said I was going to do. I took a week of this month and another week just spending time with my miniature collection and toys. Sometimes it feels like I have spent so much time making miniatures that everything else got left behind. It was nice to just relax and curate my collection for other toy collectors and dress up my dolls in new clothes.

I know a lot of miniaturists and artists who burn out after a few years and I really don't want that to happen to myself which is why I took some time off. There were too many projects pending and I didn't feel enthusiastic about finishing them since I always seem to get new ideas all the time. 

These new arrivals were uploaded on the website since last month so it's a bit like an Easter Egg if you managed to spot them before this post. First item is Juiceboxes which you can find in the Groceries menu. Perfect for kids and lunchboxes and straws are optional! The white miniature straw is actually wrapped in fine plastic packaging so you have the choice to have it glued on the back of the juicebox or loose. 

Juice-box comes in 3 different flavours

Perfect for lunch-boxes

Straws are optional. Can come loose or glued to the back of the box

Made for cute 1:6 scale younger dolls

Our next new item is from the Fruits and Vegetables menu. We needed potatoes to make the Tornado Potato so I made extra and 1:12 scale versions.

Littlest Sweet Shop potatoes. Each potato hand-moulded so they look unique and real!

1:12 scale potatoes

The other new option you have with our Fruits and Vegetables is to have them packaged in clear plastic bags and sealed with green tape. We can do it with any fruit or vegetable but limited to the size of the bag. You can now create your own little market stall with our miniatures!

Packaged potatoes and oranges from Littlest Sweet Shop

There is now a selection of 2 different sides to go with your miniature dinner food. They are available now in the Dinner menu so I should probably make more dishes to go with them! (my to-do list never ends).

Littlest Sweet Shop dinner sides. Perfect complement to a complete meal

Our macaroni and cheese comes in our own hand-made bowls so you can request the bowl in any colour. 1-2 servings of macaroni and cheese per bowl.

Littlest Sweet Shop hand-made macaroni and bowl.

The Hasselback Potato is plain roasted with butter and seasoning but you can also request one with more herbs or cheese. Each layer of potato is so delicious and will go with any dish. That's not all! If you like our silverware in this photo, we are now selling them as well in the Tableware and Packaging menu. They are vintage Sindy cutlery and there are 7 different options from dessert spoon to butter knives (subject to availability).

Hasselback Potato

I wanted to stock up the online Etsy store with more items so I updated the brownie à la mode, available now in the dessert menu. Each one comes with generous amounts of thick caramel sauce on top of vanilla ice cream.

Littlest Sweet Shop's brownie à la mode

Brownie à la mode. Brownie with vanilla ice cream topped with rich caramel sauce

Last but not least, I made boxes for our best-selling Lego blocks. It is listed in the Dollhouse Mini menu and would be the perfect miniature for a toy room or nursery. You can also order just the box without the bricks if it was going to sit on a dollhouse shelf.

Matchbox style Lego boxes to go with our Lego bricks

You can customise the selection of colours of your bricks to make it your very own miniature

That's all for today. I am still planning to upload that new YouTube tutorial by this weekend and currently I've stopped making miniatures since I'm making 1:3 scale fake food instead! My collection of air-dry clay was piling up and they have to be used ASAP since it can dry out really quickly. I decided to dedicate my time this month making some new and some updated items from the 1:3 scale menu so I can finish up the air-dry clay. The weather is starting to feel warm and sunny again so there will be more new items to debut next month. 

See ya!

CMW Workshops

Greetings Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

I'm pleased to announce that I will be conducting 2 workshops on October 19th and 20th this year at the 2019 CMW (Cotswold Miniatures Workshops) in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England.

Places are limited so please visit https://www.cmwminiaturesworkshops.co.uk to view the available courses and book online. On Saturday you will learn how to make 9 jars of lollipops for your miniature sweet shop and on Sunday you can learn how to make signature Littlest Sweet Shop Gingerbread House just in time for Christmas! Both courses are in traditional 1:12 miniature scale.

On Sunday you will learn how to make 1:12 scale Gingerbread Houses which is the perfect centrepiece for your Christmas miniature scene. The cookie base measures 3cm in diameter and everything is included for you to decorate your own magical piece. I will be supplying lots of miniature candy, chocolate, cookies and biscuits for you to create your dream house. I will even make pole candy in your choice of colours on Saturday. Just let me know what is your colour theme when you book the class.

Traditional Gingerbread House and Rainbow Gingerbread House

Lace edging and other details. Green and red Christmas colours

Chocolate window at the back

Colourful rainbow candy and detail. All houses come with chimneys

Snowflake and chocolate window at the back.

On Saturday you will learn how to make our famous lollipops in 9 different colour combinations! I will even demonstrate how to make simple sweets to fill up the jars so you can also open your own miniature sweet shop at home. There will be demonstrations on making pole candy, bonbons, gumballs, chocolate balls, and marshmallow. 

1:12 scale lollipops

1:12 scale lollipops in jars

1:12 scale lollipops with bonbons in jars

1:12 scale lollipops with pole candy in jars

This annual event will be a great retreat for dollshouse and miniatures enthusiasts from all over the country. There is no other event like it in the UK so if you always wanted to try to make your own miniatures - this is your chance! You will also meet other miniature fans and making new friends. I hope to see you there.

Bye!

Commission update - Tête de Moine cheese and Girolle machine

Hello Littlest Sweet Shoppers!

Here is a unique commission I did in February for a Littlest Sweet Shopper in Australia. She's one of our favourite customers and requested something totally new. I can be a bit nervous about creating something which isn't on our website since clients (and myself) do not know what to expect. Luckily for me, this client gave feedback along the way when constructing this tiny little device! This is Swiss cheese so I only had picture references and I was so happy when I managed to get it as close as possible to the real product!

February 2019 commission

Tête de Moine is a semi-hard cheese which is shaved to make delicate rosettes. The machine is called a girolle and the handle spins around while shaving a very thin layer. The layers form into the rosettes which look way better than regular sliced cheese! 

After many brain-storming sessions with the client, I managed to get a wooden base in the required diameter and built the machine using nails, wires, wooden bits and PTEG plastic (for the blade). The parts which aren't metal had to be painted using silver paint.  

Littlest Sweet Shop girolle machine with cheese wheel and rosettes

The cheese is a specific brand from Switzerland called Tête de Moine. I made the cheese wheel and attached the label for realism. According to the client, the cheese wheel had to be maybe 1mm extra wide to be exactly like the one in real life. I'm still amazed that my calculations weren't that far off!

Tête de Moine cheese by Littlest Sweet Shop

You can order the machine with the cheese wheel and fresh Tête de Moine cheese wheels too!

Naru is trying out the machine. She's getting the hang of making those cheese rosettes

This new cheese is available in the Deli menu along with the machine. Another popular adaptation of the Girolle machine is turning it into a shaver for chocolate wheels! This will create fancy chocolate rosettes which people use in cake decorating. I also made marble and tri-chocolate wheels and some rosettes for each wheel. The marble wheel was the trickiest to make since the real process would be swirling molten chocolate into a mold. Clay isn't molten/liquid so it took me 6-7 tries until I was happy with the design! Even the rosettes were hand-crafted to look like they were shaven from the wheels I made. 

Marble chocolate wheel and Marble chocolate in girolle cutter

I can make the rosettes to match your chocolate wheel

Tri-chocolate wheel. Milk, dark and white chocolate all in one!

Chocolate girolle cutters and chocolate wheels are now available in the Chocolatier menu. It's a very high-end type of chocolate and would be a great addition to a miniature bakery scene.

Currently I am working on another video tutorial and trying to list as many new items as I can on the website. Some new items will also be listed on the Etsy store so make sure that is is one of your favourite shops so you will be notified when they go live. 

See you next week for some new arrivals!

Bye!