Biscuit's House

Sweeties

The cutest little doll ever has come to live with us. Puni has decided to call her Millie.

 

She's made of felt so incredibly soft you just want to be a baby and bury your face in it. It's just scrumptious. I definitely need to order some of this felt and one day, make little Pocket Pixies, though I know mine will never be as cute as Shelly's.

Millie is the latest in a long line of cute little dolls (most of which have since left us) allowed to play with the unimaginably miniature pink bear I got from a friend a long time ago in Japan. She wants to learn to sew and make more soft toys.

 

The little DandelionFair girls have decided to help her.

 

I got these girls last year, and should have taken photos of them much earlier than this. Christine is such a talented doll and toy maker, I'm looking forward to seeing more of her new hybrid wood/crochet little doll.

 

Here they are accompanied by a cute clothespin doll I got from Renata ...almost 2 years ago.

 

Everybody needs a little doll in their life...

Not dead yet - and new shoes

Guess what, I've decided to start blogging again (there may still be one or 2 people worldwide still interested?). There won't be much of interest; since moving to my new job 2 years ago (more responsibilities, more stressful), and living now in Paris suburbs with all that entails in terms of time spent commuting, I've done next to nothing as regards crafting. I still have projects, but they never come to fruition. When I retire, normally in 20 years, maybe sooner if I win the Euromillion, I'll have lots of things to finish...

So maybe now this blog will be mostly talk. It used to be mostly photos, as I used to prefer showing what I made and not write pages about it, but now...

As posted on Flickr and in the Enchanted forum, I got new shoes from Marina, as part of a trade. Back in November last year, I sent her something, and got the shoes in exchange. Needless to say, I'm the one who got the better part of the trade! I can't tell what I sent her because it's something she will use in her work, let me just say it was something perishable.

The pink shoes are my favorite of all my ED shoes so far, they do remind one of pastel-colored macarons and cupcakes and Sofia Coppola's vision of Marie-Antoinette's world. They almost deserve having a miniature Versailles built around them. Maybe one day, I should take an ED to Versailles and take photos there. Now I really have to get on with that new ED outfit I was supposed to make - starting from the underpinnings - I have a few days off towards the end of April so maybe...?

However I kind of regret getting the hopscotch shoes in silver, as I have 3 other silver pairs of shoes already. If someone has them in another color (bronze or enameled) and would like to trade, please let me know. I would pay the difference for enameled shoes. I may even throw in a crocheted corset or handmade hat...If I can't trade maybe I will sell them and order a new pair from Marina. sold

Amaranthe (middle doll) is a bit left out, she's made of resin unlike the other 2 who are porcelain dolls, so she can't wear silver shoes without stockings, and I never finished the pair I started making for her. I tried silver shoes on her only once, and didn't succeed in completely wiping out the little grey mark left by the silver. Also I'm afraid that the silver could scratch the resin. Leather or fabric shoes would be better for her.

I do hope that Marina succeeds in marketing the resin doll line soon...more ED owners will mean more people offering wigs, clothes, shoes and accessories for sale.

In her latest blog post Marina mentioned a new assistant...that would be a big step. Ever since I discovered her, I've been following her career with much interest. I knew from the start that she was headed to big things, which is why I didn't hesitate to buy 2 dolls from her in a short time, I knew that soon they would be out of my reach. I keep hoping that she'll release a line of clothes, wigs and accessories that other people would make to her specifications. Her first employee apart from Chad, that's a new page being turned, I know she will keep surprising and wowing us again and again.

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More photos on Flickr.

A crown is dolled

This pretty crown came in the mail yesterday from the generous Paige who only asked for photos in return.

I'm a bit disgusted because I spent an hour taking photos today and the photos I took of Nayana when I finally found good lighting disappeared from the compact flash card. Grrrrr.

 

I hadn't had time to check the photos before leaving the house, the mouse wasn't working anymore, hubby changed it to another mouse, then the card reader wasn't working anymore, and when it worked again the 2nd mouse stopped moving as well...just one of those days. I was running late already, going to Paris with Puni for tea at the temporary Alice tearoom in the Printemps, and for some shopping.

The fun part of the day was meeting Carol of Paris Breakfast at the Alice tearoom - I recognized her immediately from her photo on Flickr and when I saw her taking out her camera I had no doubt anymore. I guess that both of use moving tearooms and macarons and sweet things in general, I was bound to run into her one day or the other.

Boxes

Last Friday, I had a meeting near Paris. There was enough time for a stroll on the Champs-Elysées and lunch at Ladurée. I bought a Bayadère box of macarons, which was missing from my collection.

I have quite a few boxes now. The new collection, with black backgrounds, doesn't charm me but there is still potential for new acquisition, around the chocolate boxes for example.   

In the beginning I thought I would use the boxes to package things I sell - but I never did.

Next visit in October, for dinner most probably, I'm looking forward to it!

Tea things

This evening I cleaned my small colllection of tea tins. Being displayed on a shelf in the kitchen they need a wipe now and then.

I have a couple of other tins but my favorite are the Mariage ones. I first became obsessed with tea after coming back from my first stay in Japan, um, 15 years ago. Before, to me, tea was an overbrewed Lipton Yellow teabag with a lump of sugar, quite a detestable beverage. While there, I drank sencha, bitter maccha with overly sugary sweets (not exactly my cup of tea, but I was in my try-to-do-everything-like-the-natives phase) and enjoyed houjicha, genmaicha and oolong tea, hot in winter and cold in summer. I discovered to my surprise that in hot weather cold tea was more quenching than water. A few months after coming back I found myself in a training session for work with a tea-loving Parisian, and asked him where to go to buy tea. He mentioned Mariage Frères, and on my next visit to the capital I went there and have kept going back over the years. I have had countless teas, lunches and brunches in Mariage branches in Paris, Shibuya and Ginza, and even visited the Kyoto and Kobe shops. I love the colonial atmosphere, the strictly-no-smoking policy, the decoration, of course the food and the tea, and most of all the wonderful mingled smell of hundreds of different kinds of teas that greets you when you enter.

Naturally being such a container nut, I love their tins and boxes. A couple of times I sent doll clothes packaged in empty tea tins, not only did they look pretty, they also smelled wonderful. If I had a big kitchen, I'd surely not resist the giant tea canisters in spite of their hefty price tag.

I also love my golden "draped" teapot and golden cups - a "coming home" present. Once when my parents and I were waiting our turn for tea in Ginza, I pointed out this teapot and mentioned how much I liked it. My father said he'd buy it for me when I came back to France, and it didn't fall on deaf ears.

Nowadays I'm lazy and drink mostly tea made from teabags, so when I ordered 2 tea jelly jars (to glue to the bottom of my small Ikea shelf), I added tea mousselines to my basket. At the beginning I was a purist and didn't drink flavored teas ; I favored Keemun, Yunnan and Kenya teas. Now I drink mostly flavored tea and spicy, peppery Chandernagor is one of my favorite.

To conclude, an oldie but goodie :