Magazine Sets

I am back from another long hiatus! Although, I am still not sure how often I'll be able to work on the miniatures. My husband and I moved in his Grandma's 70 year old house just last Christmas. So, other than my graphic design projects I've also been preoccupied with arranging and fixing up an "antique" house. Not the easiest of things to do if I may say. (Specially when you're on a budget.) ;)

So anyway, back to miniatures.

To get me in the crafting groove again. I decided to start with making the small accessories. I usually start with those as they are easier and more relaxing to do than the furniture. Last year I created some miniature Dwell and Martha Stewart magazines with matching magazine organizers. This year I thought why not make my own magazine designs?

So that's what I did.

All the pictures used on the magazine designs were taken by me. As many of you may not know I specialize in packaging / label design and have always loved taking pictures of foods to sometimes use in my projects. I am not the best of photographers nor am I a food stylist, but I have developed a passion for it and have been self studying whenever I can. The food pictures you see in the mini YumYum magazines are the most recent and favorite shots I've taken so far. I have gotten these magazines printed on gloss paper which the pics don't really show that much.

This picture gives a peek of what the back of the magazines look like.

Of course the magazine set will not be complete without the miniature organizers. I managed to find a supplier for the mini metal label frames. It took me more than a month to get them, but it was all worth waiting for.

I was planning to list a few sets in Etsy but the first 8 sets I allotted to sell sold out before I had a chance to list them. Which was good since I got to sell them a few dollars cheaper since I didn't have to pay for Etsy fees. ^_^

My sets include 2 organizers and the 12 magazines.

If you're interested let me know. I may have a few more sets left. ;)

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Another Craft Tutorial for the Re-ment Meeting!

The Re-ment meeting was a blast yesterday at Robin Gee's house in LA. There were again tons of prices and giveaways and non-stop fun and laughter the whole day. Robin has outdone herself again! Also during the meeting, my good friend Caroline Swing made an excellent demonstration on how to repaint Re-ments and I had another miniature craft presentation. :)

The theme for the event was 'Kawaii' - the Japanese for 'Cute'. ^^ I realized from the last meeting that not all participants are crafters, so I opted for a no glue and no scissor cutting kind of craft. Which led me to making an origami project with a twist.

I decided to make use of Lucky Stars. Lucky stars are folded strips of paper shaped into a star that you can put in jars and make a wish when you've made 100 or 1000 pcs. It is said to bring you goodluck. Although some people think the 'quality' of your wish varies from the quantity you make. ;P

Anyhow, back to our tutorial, I turned the lucky stars into a kawaii mini decor. I guess it's something you don't really see in real life, but it is kawaii nonetheless. ^^ It kinda reminds me of those bouquet or balloon gift arrangements. Here is a sample picture of the craft I had the Re-ment addicts make yesterday.

For the First Step of course, you need to prepare your materials. I created kits again for the presentation and the picture below shows what's inside a kit. It is composed of fairly simple materials that you can find anywhere.

A. The paper strips are pre-cut and can be bought in Japanese stationary stores or online. You can buy them for like 99cents for a 100pcs or something, or you can just make your own by cutting scrapbook paper, gift wrappers, etc.

B. The candy looking thing is actually just a piece of clay that I wrapped so it wouldn't damage the paper strips incase it bleeds oil in the kit.

C. The small plastic cup is actually tattoo ink cups that I just got from Ebay for really cheap. I found the #16 size to be the perfect size for this project. You can also use other miniature containers you can find or even bottle caps.

D. The small sticks are just toothpicks. The blue string is a plastic ribbon.

Here is the video of the tutorial.

Here are pics of this craft project used in dioramas. You can see it at the end of the video, but I thought I should post the actual pics too. ^_^

Enjoy!

*By the end of the event. I was convinced that the Lucky Stars do work! I won 2 raffle prizes at the meeting! ^_^

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How to Make a Miniature Notebook

I just thought of finally posting this tutorial online. I originally created it on power point as a short craft workshop/presentation for the Re-ment Fan Club Meeting last March. I made small craft kits for everyone, so they can make their own mini notebooks as I walk them through the tutorial during my presentation.

Here is my staff creating the kits. ^_^

I turned the presentation into a movie clip, but sorry it doesn't have words. I thought it would at least give an idea on how this little notebook is made. I guess I should call it a demonstration rather than a tutorial huh? Is there really a difference?
 

Here is a picture of the materials. You can make it any size you wish. The DISTANCE GUIDE is any material that's around 2mm thick. I included it just so people would have an idea on how far away the card stocks should be from each other. You can just eyeball the distance if you like.

For the card stock I actually used a bristol board, but you can always recycle cereal boxes or other 0.5-1mm thick cardboard you can find.

I use wood glue most of the time as it dries a little faster than ordinary glue. Since it dries faster, the less the paper absorbs it, the less wrinkle it creates.

I chose to use Washi paper since you can never go wrong with washi, but you can use any pretty paper you want. Just try to use less glue if you're using ordinary paper as the glue will wrinkle the paper (which is rarely a problem with washi paper).

HERE IS THE VIDEO TUTORIAL

And for the last step....use them in your dioramas!

Enjoy! :)

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message or leave a comment.

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My Green Guy Series Blog

I created another blog for my Green Guy Series. Please drop by and say hi! Green Guy will be happy to see you! ^_^

Click here to see Green Guy and his friends

FACEBOOK LIKE PAGE

By the way,  I post more often and more pics in my Facebook Like Page. If you're also an FB addict please Like me!!! ^_^ Thanks!

You'll also see my "Kawaii Stuff" / "Green Guy Series" there. Here is a sample.

Introducing GREEN GUY and his Gang...

After hours of Green Guy's continuous begging and pestering, Totoro finally decides to bring them to his secret magic place - the convenience store.

You can also see them in My Flickr 

The Little Penthouse

This is the set for trade that I mentioned on my past post. I promised a friend awhile ago that I'll trade with her but it has been put on hold as I haven't been making miniatures regularly. So finally, I just decided to trade this 3rd set that I finished.

As you probably have noticed, I am a fan of white furniture. Even my work station at home is all white. There's just something about it that makes your mind feel fresh and serene. I believe white also makes clutter look minimal and I love small knick-knacks in real life and in miniature. :)

See more pictures in My Flickr



This might be the last set I make for now and will resume again by mid October. So I'll probably post again around that time. Cya then! ^^ 

The Quirky Room

I saw the 'Patch Sofa' by Creative Affairs and completely fell in love with it. I knew it was going to be tedious work to make it in miniature, but I just had to make one. It was modern but kinda "Etsy-ish". Which is the style I'm fascinated with at the moment. I ended up making 2 sections on the sofa instead of 3. Later on I'll probably make a 3 section for my own personal collection.

Here is a picture of the original Patch Work Sofa (not my picture)

However, making the look of the room was not easy. The different patterns on the sofa was quite a challenge to pair with walls and other accessories and make it look eye pleasing for the pictorial. No matter what I did, it felt like there was something missing. Luckily, I remembered Yoshitomo Nara's artworks and thought it would be perfect to complete the look! ^_^

more pictures in my Flickr