My fauteuil, Hydrangeas and gifts

In Juin, I attended a workshop of SIMP for understanding more wooden works.
My instructor, Michelle of Petits Bonheurs Miniature, is a very kind and patient teacher and she explains her ways making mini furniture step by step.

In the past I did not know it took so much time for sanding and repainting these wooden pieces before assembling. She recommends us some material and medium to run.

In our group, 99% people chose white as their furniture color. I brought only one tube of green acrylic paint there and when I doubted if I made the same decision as everybody, Michelle took her magic box and showed me this floral pattern cloth. It went well with my green color! I think I’m the only one who used odd color for mini furniture but the result seems great. :) A huge thank-you to Michelle!


For these Hydeangeas, they are made of cold porcelain. I don’t know if I will continue making flowers and sell some in the future cause I felt helpless when making the petals. It took really long time and difficult to control. But at least, I have experienced flower-making since it’s been an item on my wish list for a long time.




Another interesting thing is my purchases---two butterflies from Julia of GodsFlyingFlower and two mini books from Danielle of marottesud






When I received these small items, I could not believe my eyes. They are absolutely pretty, tiny and amazing. I am satisfied with my choices.

Last Sat. I went to MyFrenchCuisine’s place for BBQ. Her garden is southern France style or I might say it’s more Mediterranean taste. Her husband installed a huge pot beside the swimming pool, that maks it very Greece. Of course we have spent a very good time on the table and in the pool. I hope some day my garden will as pertty as theirs.




The latest thing which makes me very happy is I received a SWAP gift from Eve of AfterDark. Her work is unexceptionable! I was dazed when looking at these peaches she sent me. Thank you too, Eve!! Happy Blog Anniversary! :P

Hope this post is not too long.
Have a HAPPY weekend!

Vivre la France! The winner is....

Today is the National Day of France; we started to have fireworks since last night. This week I made some berries to go with “Bonne Maman Tartelettes framboises” in celebration of this day.


The products of Bonne Maman, like biscuits, fruit jam and Madeleine, are very common but popular in the daily life. We always keep some ‘storage’ in the drawer. Normally we have afternoon tea at 4pm (à quatre heure) but when children are back from school, it’s already 5pm. So we often enjoy the teatime between 5 and 6pm then have dinner between 8 and 9pm in France.

Now we go back to my blog’s anniversary giveaway.

This morning I asked my husband to draw… before showing the winner, I would like to say thank you to all the participants for this event. I am pleased that you would like to win my minis and I am sure we will have more gifts in the coming months.

So… let’s start!
I printed all the ballot paper this morning

putting into my tea bowl...

This mister has his own opinion to draw the paper out of the bowl...

Obviously the winner is…..

Chani of Blanc et Caramel Congraulations, my friend!
I will dispatch your minis soon and don't forget to let me know your address! :)
Bonne fête!

One year anniversary giveaway

It’s getting hot in France these two weeks. After coming back from Paris, I hide myself at home. One reason is avoid the sunlight and high temperature and the other reason is fight with my new toy---a sewing machine.


When my in-laws were here with us in May, they tried to teach me the basic function because I knew nothing about this but would like to make some curtains for our new house. In fact this is an excuse! The main purpose is I want to make some mini tissue and also imagine that I will be capable to make beautiful clothes for my dolls someday. ^o^



I tried hard to manage this stubborn machine last week. I felt shame to present any working result and hided incomplete pieces in the drawer. I need more advises or an instructor to train me. XD

So, this week I am back to my FIMO stock and the pasta machine. My Etsy shop looks dull for a long time. I want to try some more different things after SIMP inspiration but I make eventually some French candies and biscuits as a souvenir of my one-year-anniversary on Blogspot. Yeah! I started my blog on 4th July 2009 and I am really pleased to know so many friends from here. I do appreciate all my followers who support and keep company with me.



As you can see, I prepare “French Calissons Set” as a giveaway. Calisson is a specialty of Aix-en-Provance in France. It consists of a smooth, pale yellow, homogeneous paste of ground almonds topped with a thin layer of white icing. It’s very sweet! This set contains 12 mini calissons, 4 nut chocolates, 3 biscuits roses de Reims and 5 waffle biscuits.



What you have to do is leave a sweet message here, my dear followers! You will definitely have the opportunity to win this sweetie! The lucky fellow will appear on 14th July, French time.


Have fun and Happy Independence Day!

Paris Trip

I was back from Paris last evening. It was a wonderful trip for me even I just spent two and half days there.

I arrived in Paris by noon on Friday. Since I went alone, it was quite efficient to visit in the city.


I left my luggage in the hotel and started my shopping time near Centre Pompidu and Hotel de Ville. Near the Metro “Arts et Métier”(Line 3), there is a lovely market named “Le marché des Enfants-Rouges” which is one of my favorite markets in Paris.







I spent somet ime walking there and enjoyed the atmospheres of local life.



In the evening I took a walk around Eiffel Tower and came back to the hotel at 22h30.




The next day, Saturday, it was raining and very cold in Paris. Fortunately I joined two workshops in “île de la Jatte”. All participates concentrated on the workshops, discussed and shared with each other.



It was stunning and fun to know several French ladies who are soooo talented and fabricate the dollhouses. They are the specialists in different specific domains. To my surprise, these ladies were so kind and open to me even I don’t speak well French. We spent a great time together all day long. We exchanged the emails and contact info before leaving.


Sunday morning I went for SIMP. My hotel is just 3 minutes far from there by walking.
This was the first time I attended miniature fair and I did not have good sense of direction even I held the SIMP booklet in my hand. I crossed Emma (Paris Miniatures) and Rosanna (La Stanza di Giuggiola) and did not notice that till I saw Stéphanie (PetitPlat). I went back to Emma and chatted for a while beside her stand. ^_^



After I chatted and said goodbye to Stéphanie, I noticed “Minicaretti” on the right side banner…I felt familiar with it. Yep, it’s Marcella! We knew each other and shared some techniques in CDHM Forum two or three moinths ago. She was so warm and enthusiastic in greetings. Since my friends Luce “MyFrenchCuisine” and Fleur (a nice friend from the workshop) both were with me, we chatted all together.



The most interesting part was I met Léa, the author of “Grand livre de la maison miniature”. In the beginning I did not notice it was her stand, after her assistant packed my stuffs and I turned to leave, I saw her just beside me. I said “Oh c’est Léa” and asked her if she knew me when I kissed her cheeks. She said no. She did not remembered my name but she remembered I was the girl who made mini food and went to her shop near Montmartre during Christmas in 2008. She was really a star in my mind! She told me she made a new version of web at http://www.atelier-de-lea.com/



I stayed in the salon from 10 to 16h00 and did not have enough time to visit all the stands and took pictures. Before leaving for the train station, I wanted to say hello to Christel (Little Treasure). Unluckily she was not there. There was a mister taking care of the stand but I still looked carefully all the mini creations that Christel made. Super excellent!

I was so pleased to see many excellent artisans and artists in the show. Their works were unexceptionable. Even my purse was seriously bleeding, I was happy with the trip.

Before starting this post, I tried to recall if Rosanna was the elegant lady who smiled at me when I passed the stand in the morning. Dear Rosanna, if it were you, and if you also rememebred an asian girl passing by, I would apology for my BIG mistake!!! :-)

Peeled tangerines

More fruits, more obsession!

The size of each tangerine is between 7-10mm (dia) but I made 2 extra-large size for Marie's reference; it's around 15mm diameter.

I think I made right colors but did form well the shapes. I will try again NEXT TIME.

Playing with fruits is also so much fun. Maybe neet to look for some sweet baskets for them soon!