Fried rice and fried eggs with no fimo.

 I am totally hopeless when it comes to 

doing anything with   clay. So I like to make my mini foods without those. This means I have to experiment with lots of ingredients  before I get a nice result, but that is part of the fun. Some of my ingredients may sound unusual but  I have tried and tested them for you and they work.

I promised to do a tutorial on  how to make my fried eggs and fried rice. So here we are.

Let' s start with the eggs.

You will need :  Aleene's tacky glue or Mod Podge dimensional magic.

Yellow glass paint. I like  window colors by Plaid

White paint and a brush

Piece of wax paper. 

Put the wax paper on your work surface.
Make blobs of tacky glue or Mod Podge. They will shrink quite a bit  when thy dry. A tail of glue is no problem for it  can be cut off later.

Also make nice rounded blobs with the yellow glass paint. They will become the egg yolks.

 This is what the egg whites and yolks look like when they are dry. The ones you do with Tacky glue will be thinner than the ones you do with the Mod Podge.

The Mod Podge ones will be easier to peel away from the wax paper.

Glue a yolk on top of each egg white.  Tacky glue works fine for this.

You  have now  created raw eggs without any clay !

For fried eggs paint the bottom of the egg with white paint .

 Here are your finished fried eggs.

Here are  some raw eggs . I am sure they will come in handy too for when someone drops an egg or when you want a raw egg in a bowl for the kitchen.


Ok on with the next recipe :  fried rice.

You will need : 
A white eraser 
A fine  grater. I use  the kind that is normally used for nutmeg or lemon zest.
Tacky glue.

For the meat and veggies :
Craft foam in orange for carrots
Craft foam in brown  for the meat
Tiny slivers of green plastic for leeks. You can use a plastic grocery bag or something similar

Use  the fine grater to  make a pile of grated eraser. It is easier to do it over a small container but I wanted to show it on the table for contrast.

Add a blob of Tacky to the container with your " rice" and mix very well. Some of the rice will stick together which is just what we want. 

For a nice clean looking result move the mixture to the plate you want to use for serving , instead of  using  the plate on which you put   the stick you used for stirring first ........ LOL 

This is what the rice looks when it is nearly dry. If you want to add meat and veggies you can do it now. Just cut up the ingredients and push little pieces of them into your rice.  

TiP : You can also serve this rice as plain white rice in a bowl and serve several dishes to go with it. 

Leave to dry and set completely. 

Serve with a friend egg .

There you are fried nice and fried eggs without any clay.

Let me know what you think. your comments make me happy.

Mini Crochet.

Today I am showing some of the mini crochet projects I have done over the  years.

All have been done with a 0.60 crochet hook and either DMC nr. 80 fil dentelles or punch embroidery thread.

They are all my own designs and most of them have been published in American Miniaturist, DollshouseWorld or Dollhouse Miniatures.

Hope they will inspire you to pick up a crochet hook !

crochet cake and lemon merengue pie.

Christmas doll variations.

Winter outfit for Eric.

 Baby sleeping in a seed pod.

Mini pin cusion doll. Next to her is the real of DMC 80 I used for the dress.

Spring outfit for Eric

A wonderful project created by a friend.

I just have to share this wonderful project with you all. You do not very often see a real male project in 12 th scale and this one I think is just great.

Art   is the husband of a dear friend but  I did not even know he did anything in miniatures till his wife shared some photos of a brilliant garage scene he created . 

He  worked  on this project the  last   5  years   after having  several  surgeries  it gave him something to  do and it cheered him up.

He  made the desk  from  scratch, also  the workbenches and he  put on the tin tops and  dirtied  everything  to make it look even more realistic .

 To  make  the  fan  belts he painted elastics black. He also   made  the labels himself.

The  white  car  was  a kit  built  for him  by  a  good  friend .

Your comments would mean a lot to him !!

Marianne's hat .

This mini hat is a copy of a straw hat I have in full size.

To get the effect of the very fine straw that was used for the real hat , I had to use very thin thread and a fine crochet hook

The pattern of the hat is pretty simple it is the shaping which  really makes this hat into the  cloche hat I wanted to create.

What you will need to create Marianne's cloche hat.

*DMC tatting thread no 80 ( fil dentelles) in a straw color

*Crochet hook 0,60 mm 

*Fine needle to weave in lose ends

*Scissors

*Fabric Stiffener. You can use ready made Stiffy, a mix of 2 parts water and 1 part white glue or even Fray check. 

* A former. I used the top of my nail polish bottle 

*cling film to wrap round the hat former

Optional trimmings:

Ribbon , DMC tatting thread for your flower, no hole pearls.

                                                                                                                        

Stitches uses 

sc = single crochet

dc= double crochet

st= stitch

sl st= slip stitch

hdc= half  double crochet.

To start : Chain3, work 14 dc in the first chain and close into a circle.

Round 1 : Chain3, 2 dc in every st using only the back loop ( the one farthest away from you of the two loops on top of every stitch) and close round with a slip st.

Round 2: Mark beginning of round with a different colored thread. Do not close rounds from now on but work in spirals. * 1sc in next back loop, 2 sc in next back loop* , repeat from * to*

Round 3: 1 sc in every back loop

Round 4 -8 : repeat row 3.

Row 9: *  1 sc in 10 back loops, crochet  next 2 sc together.* Repeat from * to *

Round 10 : 1 sc in every back loop

Round 11: 1 sc in every back loop.

Round 12: * 1 sc in 12 back loops, 2 sc in next back loop* repeat from * to *

Round 13 -14 : 1 sc in every back loop.

Round 15 : Work 1 sc in every back loop and try to work them a bit loose. This will give a little stretch to the  rim of the brim of the hat. 

Weave in all lose ends. Dampen your hat with water and pull over the former, making sure the crown of the hat is rounded and the brim hangs slightly downwards. This is called a cloche shape.

Leave to dry overnight and when dry paint with your choice of fabric stiffener, making sure  you keep the hat in shape . Leave to dry again on the former.

Trimming the hat. 
My full scale hat has a large paper ribbon flower  that I love so I tried to imitate it in crochet. 


Round1: Chain 2, work 6 sc into the first chain, join with a sl. stitch in front loop only.. Work in rounds.

Round 2: Use only the front loops ( the ones closest to you on top of your crochet. * chain 4, sc in 2nd chain from hook, 1 hdc in next chain, 1sc in the next chain, sl. st. in next front loop * repeat from * to *.

Row 3:  Work in the 6 back loops you did not use in the last round. In each back loop work : chain 6, 1 sc in second chain from hook, 3  hdc in each of the next 3 chains, 1 sc into the next chain, sl st. in the next back loop. Join round with a slip stitch and finish off.


Stiffen the flower into a nice shape using fabric stiffener making sure you leave a center to fill with pearls later.  Wrap the ribbon around the hat and create two loops to the right hand side at the front. First a small loop and then top it with a big one pointing slightly upwards.  Attach to hat using glue.

Glue the flower on top of the ribbon loops and fill the center with no hole pearls. Also add some pearls to the ribbon loops.

All done Marianne's hat is finished.

Make over for baby .

This poor nekkid baby had been laying in a box for a very long time.  I did not know how to dress him because on of his arms is one part with his body.

I read an article about swaddling babies becoming popular again. That inspired me to swaddle that poor baby up.

Step 1 : Find a plastic or fabric leaf that is big enough to wrap the baby in. Mine is plastic.

Wrap the leave around the baby till you are happy with the look. Glue in place with a suitable glue.

Wrap a few rubber bands around the leaf and leave to dry.

Remove the rubber bands and replace with some thin wire for a more decorative way to keep it all in place.

I used dried lichen ( dried it in the oven to get rid of any critters etc) for hair and some moss and and dried flowers for decoration.

I just happened to have a chestnut in its shell on my table. I felt it made a really nice bed for my little baby.


Since I made this, the chestnut  has totally dried and the bed  looks different but still lovely I think. And anway who would harm a baby in a bed like this ?




An article about this project with more details was published in American Miniaturist Magazine.

A visit to my Brocante shop ( part 2)

Let 's have a look at the inside of the Brocante .

The inside is actually just a few centimeters deep. Creating the illusion that there are things inside the shop was a lot of fun.

To the back wall of the shop I decoupaged pictures of painting and and pieces of furniture. Some pictures were used twice with double sided sticky foam between them to get a 3 D effect.

To make things a bit more realistic I added two bits  of real furniture : a small table and a chair. I made sure that the items on the table could be seen from the outside as well.

On the chair are some mini hats.  

But the best items are the big frame standing behind the chair and the cat for they add depth. 

In the big frame is a piece of mini embroidery. I started on a whole painting and when I was about half done I spilled coffee allover it. The stains could not be removed  and I put it away in a box. But with the stains I think is the perfect brocante item and I am really glad it has a good home now.

I love having cats in my  dollhouses 

My first try making a geranium  ...........needs a bit more sunshine I think.

A visit to my Brocante shop. ( part 1)

In France they have a kind of shop that I totally love :

The brocante .

A brocante sells vintage and sometimes even antique items that are not perfect enough for a real antique store.

Sometimes they  are real treasure troves  but the next one you visit can be just a pile of junk. It is always a surprise.

Not having room for a real shop I decided I would use a box frame to create a shallow shop with a nice French courtyard in front.

The idea was to leave the door open so there would be a view of the inside of the shop .

I 

I added a division wall with a door and a window first. I had the door but I had to make the window frame myself. Used myca for the glass. 

Of course my best friend was ready to help and  check  if it all was sturdy enough.

The furniture for the outside got the seal of approval too.

He loved opening and closing the door.  He is on the side that will become the inside of the shop while I am working on the outside.

I did do the walls with a sponge and different colors of paint. The sign I found on the net and I just printed it and decoupaged it to the wall.
For the pavement I used wallpaper samples and acrylic paints.

I wanted the outside to look old and a bit shabby and also like it was a painting rather than a mini scene.  I like the result but I will need to add some more brocante  to sell  I think.

I found it pretty hard to take a photo without me showing in the window. Yes the pink thing is me. I tried hard to stay out of the photo , really.

Next time we will take a look inside.