Paris Miniatures

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T15:43:00.000+01:00

Just a quick message in between last minute gift-wrapping to wish all followers of our blog a wonderful, magical Christmas!

We'll be back with some brand new minis soon...

Save 15% in our Etsy Store NOW!

2011-12-11T13:11:00.001+01:00

Christmas shopping - you either love it or hate it.

But Christmas shopping for yourself is much more fun! Especially when you can save a little too :)

So we're delighted to announce that you can now save 15% on everything in our Etsy store with immediate effect.

You will need to enter the coupon code CHRISTMAS15 at the checkout to claim your discount.

You can find our store here: www.etsy.com/shop/ParisMiniatures

Note that the discount can not be applied to orders that have already gone through the checkout.

"Yule" Love These Christmas Miniatures!

2011-12-04T17:33:00.001+01:00

Yes, it's taken a little longer than we hoped but our new miniatures should be in our Etsy store before the end of the day! Hooray! And Yippee!!

And as you may have guessed from the cringeworthy post title, there will be some super classy brand new French Yule logs! We hadn't planned on making any this year, but then what kind of world would we be living in if Paris Miniatures didn't make any French Yule logs for Christmas...?! Hmmm?

Anyway, here's a glimpse at some of the new Christmas stuff. Hope you like it! Be sure to let us know in the comments which are your favourites.

And if you're interested in adding any of these to your collection, check our Etsy store a little later on Sunday evening (or early/mid afternoon if you're in the US)

Bisous :)

Update: The listings are done! You can find them here

Busy Christmas Preparation Table

2011-11-24T03:00:00.000+01:00

Long time visitors to the blog might remember this from a couple of years ago when it was nearly finished. Well it's finally really, really finished!

So here is a glimpse of our Christmas preparation table...

Christmas Hutch

2011-11-23T21:00:00.000+01:00

Among our new Christmas miniatures is a one-off Christmas hutch packed full of hand crafted festive miniatures.

It seems to have attracted the attention of this old white-bearded chap...

If you want to see more pics of the Christmas minis - let us know!

Christmas Miniatures - Coming Soon!

2011-11-23T10:09:00.000+01:00

Details on where and when they will be available soon :)

Armistice Day / Remembrance Day

2011-11-11T11:39:00.001+01:00

On the very edge of our tiny French village (pop 185) there is a quiet cemetery looking out over what were battlefields during the Great War. Today is Armistice Day here in France, when those who fought and died in the First World War are remembered (World War Two has its own Remembrance Day in May).

Most of the soldiers here are Scottish (with some American) and a long way from home, but each November, a lone piper leads a tiny parade from the church at one end of the village to the cemetery. It's very emotional and touching that almost 100 years after their deaths, these brave young men are still remembered. Long may it continue.

An inscription in the cemetery reads:

"Here the noble thistle of Scotland will flourish forever amongst the roses of France"

Former battlefield

Piper

Halloween Miniatures - Save 15% NOW!

2011-10-24T11:34:00.000+02:00

You can now save a rather juicy 15% in our Etsy store!

Enter the coupon code HALLOWEEN2011 in the coupon code box at the checkout and the discount will be applied. Simple! You can find our Etsy store at:

www.etsy.com/shop/parisminiatures

As usual the discount only applies to items currently in our Etsy store. It can't be back-dated.

We're back....for now :)

2011-10-11T20:48:00.000+02:00

We're delighted to be able to let you know that after a few weeks away, we're back with a brand new selection of miniatures for Halloween 2011!

Here's a quick look at some of the pieces that will be listed in the next couple of days :)

We'll post again as soon as the listings are ready so keep an eye open here and on our Facebook page

Cheers!

Marie Antoinette Party Table

2011-08-21T18:28:00.000+02:00

It's not very often we find the time to put together a complete table, but with a short break coming up, we didn't want to leave this one hanging around waiting for us to get back to it!

The inspiration for this table was a "Marie Antoinette" themed party or tea-time, so there are lots of pink goodies and prettiness. Hope you'll enjoy seeing the pictures which have a bit of a vintage pinky look to them :)

And of course if you want to add this piece to your collection, you can find it in our Etsy store.

Pink Pastries, Petals, Pyramids, Plates...and more

2011-08-20T17:35:00.002+02:00

At a time when many people are away on holidays, dreaming of romantic sunsets, eating ice cream to cool down or lying on the beach eating fish 'n' chips covered in sand, we're spending the end days of our summer in the workshop continuing to turn out some pretty fine miniatures (even if I do say so myself!)

It feels like we're on holiday even though we're at home - there's a gorgeous sunset over the village each evening and the freezer is full of ice cream and sorbet (I've lost count of the number of Magnums we've downed this summer). There aren't any fish 'n' chips here in France...but fortunately Emma is an amazing cook, so it's not like there is a shortage of tasty things to try :) Spoilt? Me? Damn right!

Oh, and she made these too...yeah, I'm proud of her :) Go girl! xx

If you want to add any of these beautiful pieces to your collection, head over to our Etsy store where you can find these and many more brand new truly one-of-a-kind pieces.

Have a fun weekend! We'll be back with more very soon :)

--Neil

PS Do leave a comment if you enjoy seeing Emma's work - we love reading them :)

Coming soon....

2011-08-18T16:42:00.001+02:00

Pink Miniatures and Promo News

2011-08-03T18:35:00.001+02:00

Here are the latest additions to our Pink Patch collection! They've just been listed in our Etsy store.

You may remember that last weekend we ran a 10% promo in our Etsy store which was supposed to finish on Sunday. We'd planned to add lots of new pink items over the weekend, but things didn't go quite to plan (which had nothing to do with spending Sunday afternoon watching Jenson Button win the Hungarian Grand Prix!)

So we're happy to announce that the promo is still running :) So if any of the above items interest you, you can still use the promo code 'SUMMERLOVE' to claim your discount (you can find out how to use the promo code here).

Remember that the 10% discount applies to everything in our Etsy store - not just a few selected bits and pieces :)

We're hoping to add some more pieces very soon...so keep your eyes open on the blog, Facebook and Twitter. We'll keep the promo running for a little while longer.

Cheers!

-- Neil

New Miniatures and 10% off Etsy! Remise de 10% !

2011-07-29T20:40:00.000+02:00

We've just listed all of these lovely new miniatures in our Etsy store!

As you can see, we're continuing with our Pink Patch! And it's far from over, so I do hope you like pink...

And to get the holidays off with a swing, we're bringing back our SUMMERLOVE promo for one more weekend!

With immediate effect, you can get 10% off everything currently listed in our Etsy store. Not just selected "old" items. Everything! A little summery gift from us to you :)

To obtain your 10% discount, enter the code SUMMERLOVE into the coupon code box at the check out of our Etsy store.

That's all there is to it!

Oh, wait! Before you rush off, a couple of important things to mention - the discount does not apply to shipping, nor to custom orders and can not be combined with any other offers. Sorry, but the discount cannot be back-dated to orders that have already passed through Etsy's checkout. Payment is required at time of checkout.

Ooooh you tease!

2011-07-29T14:15:00.001+02:00

A vintage-style sneak peek at some of the pieces coming this weekend :)

Summer Skies...

2011-07-25T15:04:00.000+02:00

We're enjoying some gorgeous French skies this lunchtime. With a juicy burger :)

Fabulous Pink French Pastries!

2011-07-23T17:07:00.001+02:00

Some new pink-themed miniatures are now in our Etsy store!

The selection includes these four beautiful cakes and pastries. I can't pick a favourite! Which is yours?

Now available at www.etsy.com/shop/ParisMiniatures

Have a lovely weekend :)

- Emma

New pretties!

2011-07-17T18:23:00.001+02:00

It's been a while, but here's a look at some new pieces!

They are now available in our Etsy store:

www.etsy.com/shop/parisminiatures

Hope you like them!

- Emma

Happy Bastille Day!

2011-07-14T17:53:00.000+02:00

It's the 14 July, and a national holiday here in France - a day which started with the traditional "défilé" of various military organisations down the Champs Elysées this morning. All enjoyed on live TV from the comfort of the sofa :)

There were some lovely images of the City of Paris which I'd like to share - they are taken from the TV so a little blurry, but if you squint, it's almost as if you were there :)

And on this day of "Frenchness", why not treat yourself to something 100% "made in France" from our Etsy store :)

Etsy promo update...

2011-06-26T13:34:00.006+02:00

A big thanks to everyone who has visited our Etsy store over the last couple of days and enjoyed the current 10% off promo. It's still available on everything in our Etsy store but only until tonight (Sunday), so if you haven't stopped by yet, don't delay!

Details of the promo can be found here. Visit our store here.

Some people have reported that the Etsy checkout is not accepting the promotional code SUMMERLOVE. It wouldn't be a surprise that Etsy has thrown a bit wobbly (it's not the first time!) but please make sure that you enter the code in capitals with no spaces or quotation marks - SUMMERLOVE

We've temporarily added the possibility to pay using "other" for those who still encounter problems using the promotional code. If you select "other" as your payment method, please add the promo code in the 'note to parisminiatures' box. We'll work out the discount and send you an adjusted invoice ASAP.

Please contact us if you need any more info :)

HUGE store update and 10% off this weekend!

2011-06-24T19:38:00.000+02:00

We've just updated our Etsy store with dozens of fantastic new goodies!

For those who weren't able to attend this SIMP show last Sunday, we've added a selection of pieces similar to the ones we had on show.

We've also added some brand new temptations to our range of individual French pastries including some new flavours of religieuse...

We've also added some new flavours of Ladurée cupcakes!

And that's not all! We're happy to offer everyone a special 10% discount for the weekend :)

The discount applies to EVERYTHING in our Etsy store. All you need to do is enter the promotional code in the coupon code section of the Etsy checkout. And that code is:

SUMMERLOVE

So, go! Enjoy! All these and more are waiting for you!

10% discount applies to everything in our Etsy store until the end of Sunday 26 June 2011.

Does not apply to custom orders or orders that have already been placed.

New goodies coming later today!

2011-06-24T15:11:00.003+02:00

It's a beautiful afternoon, Emma's making cake, I'm photographing some
new goodies, and it's nearly the weekend! Woohoo!

By the way, keep your eyes on the blog and Facebook this evening. A
very special announcement to come! :-)

SIMP 2011 - Turning Japanese?

2011-06-23T19:31:00.000+02:00

For the curious! A look at our stand from Sunday's SIMP show...

We were still setting up at this point.

Some pink pretties :)

No sooner had we said "Hello" to everyone than it was time to say "Goodbye" knowing that it'll be another year before we see each other. We had a wonderful day which passed way too quickly. Big hugs to all of our mini friends, thanks to everyone for the various nibbles and treats!

And a big "Konnichi wa" to these friendly faces. We always get excited when we send our work to Japan. After all, they're the experts in miniaturisation! But to have a group in front of our stand ooh-ing and aah-ing over our work was really quite a thrill :)

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

2011-06-19T17:28:00.001+02:00

We were honoured that Hello Kitty herself took time out of her busy
schedule to help us present our Hello Kitty cupcakes!

Yes I know she looks like all the other plastic ones in the shops but
she is the real one. Really. She said so.

Gosh I'm tired....

Happy faces!!!

2011-06-19T13:38:00.000+02:00

Live updates from the SIMP Miniatures show in Paris!

2011-06-19T10:22:00.001+02:00

Well, that's the plan!

Head over to our Facebook page at facebook.com/parisminiatures or on
twitter at twitter.com/parisminiatures to follow our live updates :)

Feel free to ask us any questions about the show!

I Scream...

2011-06-18T20:47:00.002+02:00

I know that we should have everything ready for the show by now.

In 12 hours time we'll be in the hall, setting up our stand.

The last thing we should be doing is still making stuff.

But I suddenly decided that it would be nice to have some ice creams on the stand tomorrow!

After all, it's nearly midsummer...

Oooooooops!

2011-06-18T16:56:00.000+02:00

The eve of the SIMP, trying to get things packed up, this is the last thing we wanted. One carelessly placed elbow and whammy!

On a positive note, there were absolutely no breakages :) Phew!

Oups! Mais pas de dégâts - tout va bien! Ouf!

Ladurée Cupcakes - Five Flavours

2011-06-17T18:56:00.001+02:00

This little family of five adorable Ladurée cupcakes will be making
their début at Sunday's SIMP show in Paris! And maybe, just maybe, if
we have time (and stock!) they'll be available for everyone soon...

French Pastries and Petits Fours

2011-06-17T16:48:00.002+02:00

Not sure all of these will make it onto the stand. Bizarrely my own miniature collection is severely lacking much of anything made by....well....me! Hmmm...

Which would you choose?

In which city is the SIMP taking place?

2011-06-16T22:59:00.002+02:00

This photo might give you a tiny clue...or 10! ;-)

All of this will be available on our stand on Sunday.
In Paris :)

Mad about....meringues!

2011-06-16T20:47:00.001+02:00

These always bring forth "oohs" and "aaahs" from visitors to our stand. Hopefully we'll have enough for everyone this year...! :D

Marie-Antoinette Rose Petal Jellies

2011-06-16T14:46:00.002+02:00

Finishing touches...erm...finished! Time to carefully pack them up.
Next stop Paris!!

In a corner of another pastry box...

2011-06-15T18:41:00.003+02:00

Pretty roses, creamy cakes...it's enough to make Marie-Antoinette jealous! :D

A peek in the pastry box....

2011-06-15T12:38:00.002+02:00

Just counted them. 202 in just this box. There are other boxes... ;-) Can't wait to show them at the SIMP!

Preparing for SIMP

2011-06-13T18:05:00.002+02:00

Currently trying to get all the new stuff photographed before packing
it up for the SIMP.

Thought it was a good time to update some other photos too, like these
religieuses! New "flavours" and an improved look! They'll be at the
SIMP and in the store soon...

The Return of M. de la Rue

2011-06-12T20:11:00.005+02:00

A couple of years ago, we introduced you to our neighbour, M. de la Rue. Once again it's that time of the year when he arrives at our door with cherries from his garden. This year because of the exceptionally hot spring, he's turned up a little earlier than usual. And with more cherries than ever before!

While trying to decide what to do with them all, we've been nibbling on them throughout the day. Hey, it's not very often you have fresh cherries under your nose. Might as well enjoy them!

A clafouti seemed like a good idea...but there were so many cherries in the mixture that I had to make a couple of smaller ones at the same time. Yum!!

To be honest, I might have overcooked it a bit. Not a problem with this miniature version :)

With that, I've only used half of the cherries. So if you have any ideas or quick recipes, feel free to post the details below!

One month later...

2011-06-02T18:27:00.004+02:00

I know we've never been ones to update this blog daily, or even weekly, but I was a bit surprised to see that it's been nearly a month since our last post. Ooooops!

I guess it's understandable. We've been having some great weather - more summer than spring. More time spent outside than inside :)

Oh yes, there's also the small matter of the upcoming SIMP show being a little over two weeks away. We decided to have a double table for the first time this year (a chair each! YES!!). It seemed like a wonderful idea a few months back. But now we have to fill it!! Suddenly these miniatures seem so small...

Anyway, here's some eye candy from today. Don't forget if you need your "fix" more often than once a month, we're on Facebook and it's updated much more often than the blog...

You can find all of these pieces on Etsy right now by clicking here

How did our Royal Wedding menu compare to theirs? / C'était meilleur à Buckingham palace ou chez nous?!

2011-05-04T19:04:00.000+02:00

Our Royal Wedding high tea :)

Our teatime on the day of the Royal Wedding was probably a bit more modest than the one staged at the Buckingham Palace reception. Not having a team of professional caterers on-hand, everything was made by Emma (with the exception of the scones - thank you Tesco and home freezing!).

Ok, notre "teatime" spécial mariage royal était UN PEU plus modeste que celui de Buckingham Palace...mais j'ai tout fait moi même, excepté les scones (merci Tesco et le congélo!)

Much of it was prepared on the eve of the wedding to save time. You might remember that I posted at the time that Emma was busy in the kitchen - well this is what she was preparing.

I am a very lucky man!

One funny coincidence...during the afternoon, the BBC read out part of the Royal menu and mentioned that they would be enjoying financier aux framboises (a soft almond cake with raspberries). Guess who had made exactly the same thing for US!?!

J'avais prévu des sandwichs oeuf/mayo et rosbif/mayo/crème de raifort, des panna cotta au golden syrup, des mini crèmes brûlées au thé Earl Grey, des mini bread and butter pudding clémentine et Grand-Marnier, et des financiers aux framboises, finalement le truc le moins british de la bande....SAUF que il y en avait au VRAI menu du mariage, et je ne le savais même pas, je suis TROP FORTE!!!! ;-)

It goes without saying that we were dying to know what else was on the menu. Emma soon found the official menu which she has kindly translated herself into French for our French-speaking readers.

Et rien que pour vous, les gens, vous trouverez plus bas, après les photos, le menu du mariage (essentiellement sous forme de canapés, environ 10 000.......) que j'ai traduit en ne bavant presque pas...

We've included it after the photos...

Bottom layer - egg mayonnaise sandwiches...

...and roast beef and horseradish sandwiches

Top layer - sweet stuff! Coincidentally it includes exactly the same
type of raspberry cakes that the Royals had :)

Bread and butter pudding with clementine orange jam
and Grand Marnier

Mini crème brûlée perfumed with
Earl Grey tea

Pannacotta topped with Golden Syrup
and crumble

The newlywed Royals jealously eye up our high tea...maybe!

The Royal Wedding Reception Menu

* Cornish Crab Salad on Lemon Blini

Salade de crabe de Cornouailles sur blini au citron

* Pressed Duck Terrine with Fruit Chutney

Pressé de canard et chutney de fruits

* Roulade of Goats Cheese with Caramelised Walnuts

Roulade de fromage de chèvre et noix caramélisées

* Assortment of Palmiers and Cheese Straws

Assortiment de palmiers et flûtes au fromage (la classe!!!)

* Scottish Smoked Salmon Rose on Beetroot Blini

Saumon fumé d'Ecosse sur blini à la betterave rouge

* Miniature Watercress and Asparagus Tart

Mini tartelette au cresson et asperges

* Poached Asparagus spears with Hollandaise Sauce for Dipping

Pointes d'asperges pochées et sauce hollandaise (pour les y tremper, précise le menu, des fois que se demande quoi faire!)

* Quails Eggs with Celery Salt

Oeufs de caille et sel de céleri

* Scottish Langoustines with Lemon Mayonnaise

Langoustines d'Ecosse et mayonnaise au citron

#Pressed Confit of Pork Belly with Crayfish and Crackling

Pressé de poitine de porc confite avec écrevisses et.....couenne croustillante

* Wild Mushroom and Celeriac Chausson

Chausson aux champignons sauvage et céleri

* Bubble and Squeak with Confit Shoulder of Lamb

Légumes sautés caramélisés et confit d'épaule d'agneau

* Grain Mustard and honey-glazed Chipolatas

Chipolatas (ils font un barbecue ou quoi?!) glacées au miel et moutarde en grain

* Smoked Haddock Fishcake with Pea Guacamole

Palet de haddock fumé et guacamole de petits pois

* Miniature Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Fillet of Beef and Horseradish Mousse

Mini "Yorkshire pudding" (sorte de pâte à crêpe ou à clafouti salée soufflée, délicieux...) avec fillet de boeuf et mousse de raifort

* Gateau Opera

Euh.....Opéra?!

* Blood Orange Pate de Fruit

Pâte de fruit à l'orange sanguine

* Raspberry Financier (us too :-p)

Financiers aux framboises(Yeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!)

* Rhubarb Crème Brulee Tartlet

Tartelette Rhubarbe et crème brûlée

* Passion Fruit Praline

Praline au fruit de la passion

* White Chocolate Ganache Truffle

Truffe au chocolat blanc

* Milk Chocolate Praline with Nuts

Praline au chocolat au lait et noisettes

* Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffle

Truffe au chocolat noir

Bon App' les gens :)

Royal Wedding Fever! Jour J - 1 du mariage du siècle!!!!!!

2011-04-28T20:06:00.000+02:00

Cor blimey guvnah, we couldn't let something like a Royal Wedding go by without making something in miniature to mark the occasion...especially as we're 50% British :)

C'est demain.....ZE mariage!!

On vient d'aller pavoiser la maison aux couleurs de l'Union Jack, eh oui, on va se gêner, tiens, c'est vrai quoi, on est moitié frog moitié rosbif ici, qu'on se le dise!!

So we made these:
D'où les miniatures de circonstance, collector et tout ;-)

A cup of Rosie Lee?

Some of them will soon be available in our store - click here or on any of the images to find them.

So I'm off to hang up some Union Jack bunting and Emma's been as busy as a bee in the kitchen all afternoon preparing 'secret things' to eat tomorrow (I have no idea what but it smells divine!).

J'ai préparé quelques provisions de bouche pour ce jour spécial (surprises, chut!) et nous nous apprêtons à descendre des litres de thé en commentant les images tant attendues de ce mariage royal, c'est pas tous les matins, quand même!

We're looking forward to spending the whole day on the sofa tomorrow, watching the festivities while troughing down scones, crumpets and teacakes, drinking copious amounts of PG Tips (and running up and down the apples and pears to the bathroom afterwards!) and doing whatever else we can think of to bring us closer to the throngs of people lining the streets of good ole Landan Taaahn :) I'm not ruling out the possibility of Miss Emma wearing her posh wedding hat!

Il y a deux choses auxquelles il m'est IMPOSSIBLE de résister dans un magasin Marks & Spencer's: les sandwichs (oooooh yes!), et les chapeaux.....

Alors merci, Kate et William de me donner l'occasion de porter enfin ma dernière acquisition chapelière, car si le couvre chef en question ne ferai pas tache dans la scène d'Ascot de "my fair Lady", je dois bien admettre qu'il est importable au supermarché du coin....merci donc, et tous nos vœux, mais on en reparlera demain :)

Et vous les gens, quelque chose de prévu pour demain? :)

How will you be spending the day?

Happy Easter!!

2011-04-24T11:12:00.000+02:00

Have a lovely day! :)

Easter Baskets

2011-04-16T18:48:00.000+02:00

I love Easter and it's not just because of the chocolate! :-p

The trees are covered in blossom as they prepare their summer clothes, the birds are singing like nobody's business, and despite that thing that I just said about the chocolate....there's chocolate everywhere!!! A stroll down our local high street this morning revealed shop windows bulging with chocolate hens, eggs and rabbits of all shapes and sizes. And not just the chocolate shops - the chemists, tea rooms and even a kitchen show room were getting in on the action!

Mix in a bit of sunshine and the promise of the first BBQ of the year this weekend, and you have the ingredients for the perfect start to Easter!

Anyway, here are some of the Easter baskets that we teased you with yesterday :)

Now on Etsy!

New Easter Miniatures! / Vous le sentez le chocolat?!

2011-04-15T18:34:00.000+02:00

If Easter or Spring

Happens to be your thing,

Then these new mini treats,

Will make your heart sing!

Coming this weekend - click here

.....paraît que ça arrive de Rome, les trucs de Pâques, c'est pour ça que c'est long :) .......mais mi-Janvier, pour moi, c'était vraiment trop tôt ;-).....pour les voir de plus près, c'est ici, et bon week-end les gens :)

Meet the Family! / On a fait poser des lapins!!!!!!

2011-04-08T19:25:00.002+02:00

A family of cute wikkle wabbits! :)

Had great fun making these last year and the year before (and maybe even the year before that!) but they're sooooo cute, so what the heck, bring on the bunnies for 2011! :)

Toute une famille de pitits napinoux (?!) prêts à faire leur boulot pour Pâques....Ok, on vous a déjà fait le coup l'année dernière, et l'année d'avant, et je crois même aussi la précédente, mais ils sont si miiiiiignons!!!!!

Shown with real Lindt bunnies
Ben non maman, on a toujours pas mangé le blanc de l'année dernière,
on est raisonnables, hein!

Milk chocolate

Dark chocolate

White chocolate

Do you know how hard it is to get them to sit still
for a photo like this...?!

All three flavours are now available in our Etsy store!

Chocolat au lait, chocolat noir ou chocolat blanc, choisissez votre camp, c'est par ici :)

A Strawberry State of Mind... / Envie de fraises...

2011-04-03T20:15:00.002+02:00

Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighbourhood. Not me. Havin' too much fun. 'Cause I'm in a Strawberry State of Mind...

All of these are now available in our on-line store. Click here to see them.

Enjoy your Sunday! :)

C'est bien les cerises, mais varions les plaisirs! On a envie de fraises!!! Alors les voilà ici

Prochain arrêt, oeufs, lapins, poussins....poissons et crustacés, le tout chocolaté, si vous voyez ce que je veux dire ;-)

En attendant, bonne fin de dimanche, les gens :)

See our miniatures in 3D!!

2011-03-24T19:43:00.002+01:00

By Neil

Not sexy. Magic!

I've always been really passionate about 3D. As a kid, whenever there was a box of cereals with a 3D image on the back and a pair of anaglyph glasses (you know, those sexy red/turquoise cardboard-framed jobs) inside, I'd bug my Mum to get it for me with the weekly shop. I was very good and generally ate all the cereals that were inside too! There was also a series of Look-In magazines around 1982 that were in 3D - I don't know how many days of my young life I spent flicking through them, trying to work out how these dull, flat, black and white photos leapt out of the page once the crappy cardboard glasses were balanced on the end of my nose! It was MAGIC!

Poor...but in 3D!

Not scary...

At about the same time there seemed to be a revival of things in 3D. There was a whole season of 3D films on British TV (including the classic "The Creature From The Black Lagoon") and "Jaws 3D" was released at the cinema. In those days it cost £1.20 and the glasses were free...

These all fuelled by fascination with things 3D and then suddenly....... nothing. 3D just seemed to disappear.

Apart from "Shrek 3D", "Spy Kids 3D" (which only succeeded in giving both of us enormous headaches) and "Honey I Shrunk the Audience!" at Disneyland Paris, until recently I saw very few new things using 3D.

But now, some 30 years later, it's all the rage again! And I'm very happy about it :)

Tomorrow you will be mine :)

Hollywood seems to be producing ever greater numbers of movies in 3D (although the 3D effect is often added after which is rubbish!), 3D TVs are starting to make their way into homes (but you still need to wear stupid glasses - and they're electric!) and tomorrow (Friday) sees the launch in Europe of Nintendo's new games console the 3DS (two days before the US - yay!). 3D gaming without the ugly glasses! No surprises for guessing who will be getting one in the post tomorrow morning. Me. Obviously.

Anyway, bravo, if you're still reading this. It is going somewhere, I promise! I started thinking that it would be nice to show some of our miniatures in 3D. So after a few words in French, you can see some of my attempts at doing some 3D stuff myself...before the 3DS makes it easy! (Please read the instructions after the photos to find out how to make them 3D)

J'en connais un qui a du mal à dormir, tant l'excitation de la sortie de la nouvelle console 3DS de Nintendo grimpe, ces derniers jours... devinez qui c'est ?!

Un indice: c'est pas moi!, même si je suis impatiente de voir ça (et la console, et la tête émerveillée de mon grand gosse de boyfriend...!)

Je me souviens de la diffusion du "monstre du lagon noir" à la télé dans les années 80, la France entière avec ses lunettes en carton, verres en plastoc rouge et bleu, et même pas peur!

Mais depuis, à part "Chérie j'ai rétréci le public" à Disneyland Paris (on s'en lasse pas!) et "Spy kids" qui nous avait flingué les yeux, nous sommes un peu passés au travers de l'engouement général suscité par les films en 3D....

.....néanmoins, après avoir vu "Toy story 3"en 3D, Neil n'a eu qu'une obsession: Faire pareil!!!

Ouias, enfin, bricoler ses photos pour les transformer en 3D maison..avant que la DS le fasse toute seule...et ça marche !

Eiffel Tower Cake - in 3D!!

Red Fruit St Honoré - in 3D!!!

Some of Emma's Hello Kitty models on a Ladurée box - in 3D!!!!

Viewing instructions

To view these may take a little patience.... the principal is to slightly cross your eyes while trying to focus on an area somewhere behind your computer screen. You want to try to make each pair of images overlap to produce a third image in between them. This 'middle' image will be in 3D!

If it's not working for you, try getting nearer to, or further from your screen. Remember to keep your head vertical - leaning will kill the effect. If you wear glasses, try without them.

And if it still doesn't work for you, don't worry. Not everybody sees 3D in the same way. It could be that it simply just won't work for you. Whatever you do, stop if you feel any headaches, eye-strain etc.

Please let me know in the comments how you got on. Did it work for you? If enough people enjoyed this, I'll work on doing some more.

In the meantime I'm going to wait patiently for the postman to bring me my new toy!

Alors, attention, ça ne marche pas sur tout le monde, n'allez pas vous niquer les yeux sur notre blog, hein, les gens!!!

Essayez de fixer un point virtuel "derrière" l'écran, en louchant un peu si nécessaire.....il faut que les images se superposent pour donner l' illusion de 3D :)

Amusez vous bien, et dites nous si ça marche, et pas la peine d'essayer d'attraper mes Hello Kitty, ha ha ha!!! ;-)

Allez Neil, courage, plus que quelques heures avant Noël de Mars!!

New Cherry Miniatures!

2011-03-22T20:39:00.000+01:00

Yay it's spring! This is great news because there is no heating in our workshop...which means that during the winter months we've been working in the house, perched on the edge of tables, piling things up on chairs and generally being frustrated at not being able to work as much as we love to.

Honestly, I think you'd be astounded to see how we work during the winter!! :)

However, now that the weather is warmer we've opened up the workshop. There's much more room, and all our materials are at arms reach. No more fannying about - it's time to get some serious work done!!!

Here are some of the new pieces that have just been listed in our store.

Happy springtime!!

Ouf, c'est le printemps, et pas seulement sur le calendrier; il est vraiment là, soleil et petits zoziaux compris:)...ce qui veut dire que j'ai réintégré mon atelier avec une joie sans mélange (Peinture et fimo y gèlent en hiver...)

Fini le matos empilé dangereusement sur des chaises de la cuisine au salon, le bazar sur la table basse, les accoudoirs du canapé, et j'en passe...!

Sérieusement, personne ne peut imaginer comment je bosse en hiver ...et franchement vaut mieux pas ;-)

De la place, de la lumière, youpi, je récupère mon rythme de croisière, et je le prouve, avec quelques nouveautés, par ici.

Et je vais aussi pouvoir rattraper mon retard dans les commandes ...ooops!!!

Happy printemps, les gens!

New Store packed with New Miniatures!

2011-03-15T20:12:00.000+01:00

We're back! In fact we never went away - we've just been really busy, which is nice :) Anyway, here are some new miniatures (I said we'd been busy!)

A slight change for this series - they aren't on Etsy! You'll need to go here to our new online store...

Coucou les gens, nous revoilà!!.....avec quelques nouvelles miniatures, mais pour changer un peu, elles sont là, parce qu'on aime bien essayer des trucs (sinon, on s'ennuie, on ramollit, on s'endort...etc...!)

It should be very easy to use - don't hesitate to let us know what you think :) There's a FAQ in the store which should answer any common queries (if not, email us!)

Bref, rien de bien compliqué, mais c'est toujours sympa d'explorer de nouvelles voies, et n'hésitez pas à nous donner votre avis :)

Miniature Pizza?! - Pizza Miniature?! (wah, ça c'est de la traduction de haut vol, ou je m'y connais pas!)

2011-03-07T19:40:00.002+01:00

Thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of the new miniature pizza I made today.

This one passed our stringent 'lickability' test. Using some science*, we take a macro photo, put the photo on the 52" plasma and if we both leap off the sofa and lick the screen, it passes the test. Science also says that saliva and electricity don't mix very well, so don't sue us if you end up with poorly tongues from licking your screens after seeing this.... :D

Pour être sûr qu'une miniature est réussie, on lui fait passer des tests (ouais, scientifique, rien que ça ;-)

Entre autres, ça doit passer le cap de l'agrandissement macro sur l'écran de l'ordi: si on doit réprimer un irrésistible désir de lécher le dit écran, c'est que c'est bon :)

Pour le fun, renouveler le test sur la -très grande- télé, et si on bave encore un peu, alors là, c'est que c'est vraiment de la belle ouvrage.....

Bon, c'est pas une pizza au caviar, mais j'en mangerais bien un bout, là, tout de suite, maintenant :)

This particular one is now on Etsy here

Don't worry cake-lovers, you can still get your cake fix here!

Mais pas de panique, pour les gueules à sucre, il y a de quoi faire aussi, par ICI

Bon app' les gens :)

*no real science was used in the testing of this piece. It's too dangerous. Last time I used science, I shattered a glass test tube and got bo**ocked for it by Mr Proctor.

Cheery Cherries!

2011-03-03T18:38:00.003+01:00

I thought you might like to see what we've been up to over the last few days - cherries!

Cheery Cherries!

Visit our our Etsy store to see more pics of these and a few other new pieces...

Valentine's Day St Honoré Winner / Avez-vous gagné?

2011-02-24T14:09:00.001+01:00

We finally got round to doing the draw for the Valentine's give-away and the winner is:
Ça y est, on a fait le tirage au sort! Et la gagnante est...

Soffy!

Congratulations! Get in touch with your details and we'll pop it in the post!
Félicitations Soffy ! Contactez-nous pour qu'on puisse vous l'envoyer !

Thanks to everyone who entered - we really enjoyed reading all of your comments - very inspiring! We're sorry that you couldn't all win...
Merci à tout le monde d'avoir participé et nous sommes désolés que tout le monde n'ait pas pu gagner...

Just another morning on French TV! / J'ai faim!!!!

2011-02-16T19:04:00.000+01:00

J'aime bien bricoler avec la télé allumée, juste en bruit de fond, mais des fois, c'est dur de se concentrer!!!!!!!

When we're working we often have the TV on and to be honest, although it's often not very interesting, it's a big help in learning French (remember that only 50% of is French!). This morning however we were treated to an amazing display of French pâtisserie! Had a bit of trouble concentrating after that!!!

I couldn't record it for you, so I did the next best thing and grabbed my camera...

Shame is wasn't in 3D...or even "Taste-O-Vision"!

GIVEAWAY! Limited Edition St Valentine's Day Cake...

2011-02-14T18:25:00.003+01:00

Each year to mark St Valentine's Day, we create an especially romantic cake. This year"Le Valentin" 2011 is a "Marie-Antoinette" St Honoré - a heart-shaped version of the classic French St Honoré pastry, decorated with romantic pink and red rose petals.

Tous les ans, nous créons un gâteau spécial pour la Saint Valentin, en forme de cœur, en édition limitée, numérotée, et tout et tout :)

J'ai eu du mal à choisir sa forme définitive, ayant plus d'idées que de temps pour les réaliser, mais finalement, je me suis mise d'accord avec moi même, IL ÉTAIT TEMPS!!!!! ;-)

It also comes with 3 heart-shaped boards on which to display it - in three shades of pink, so you can choose the one that goes best with your display!

Donc cette année, le Valentin s'est déguisé en "Saint-Honoré Marie-Antoinette", glaçage rose sur les petits choux, chantilly vanillée décorée de pétales de roses, et il est assorti de 3 petits "napperons" en trois tons de rose, à interchanger suivant l'humeur ou le décor :)

They are only available in a very limited quantity and when they've gone, that's it!

You can find them in the Valentine's section of our Etsy store - click here

Or - you could try to win one...

It's giveaway time!

Pour en avoir un, ça se passe ici, ou .....là, sur le blog, car c'est à nouveau l'heure du "give-away" de la Saint Valentin....

Win this!

Just leave a comment below...

...and this could be yours!

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning one of these limited edition pieces, all you have to do is leave a nice comment on this post - that's it! For example, tell us which is your favourite Valentine's piece!

The winner will be drawn at random from the comments next Sunday (20 February) and will be notified via the blog.

Si vous voulez participer au tirage au sort, et peut être gagner un exemplaire du Valentin 2011, tout ce que vous avez à faire c'est de laisser un commentaire sur ce post, .....et c'est tout!

Le tirage au sort aura lieu dimanche prochain 20 février et le gagnant(e) sera averti via...le blog!

(Néanmoins, si vous ne suivez pas "officiellement "le blog, évitez d'utiliser l'option "anonyme", prenez plutôt "name/url" car nous ne pourrions pas vous contacter en cas de bonne nouvelle)

IMPORTANT! If you wish to participate in the "giveaway", please avoid using the "anonymous" option when posting (use the "name/url" option instead) otherwise we will be unable to contact you if you win!

Good luck folks and Happy St Valentine's Day!

Si vous ne pouvez pas attendre jusqu'à Dimanche prochain , ou si vous voulez être sûr de ne pas rater cette édition du Valentin, il y en a quelques exemplaires ici.

Bonne chance les gens, et bonne saint Valentin!

Valentine's Day Miniatures - New Video

2011-02-14T12:03:00.000+01:00

It's Valentine's Day today - love is in the air...!

Have a great day!

Or click here to watch it directly on YouTube

Pink Valentine's Treats...Coming Later

2011-02-11T17:16:00.000+01:00

Ever feel like you're running flat out only to stand still? It's been one of those weeks, but the weekend's nearly here and hopefully we'll find some time to unwind before the big day on Monday - a day where you can prove your love for someone by buying them over-priced cards and yet another watch / necklace / pair of earrings. Or you could just simply say "I love you" and look like you mean it. Throw in a bag of cheese & onion crisps and I'm happy :) Walkers obviously. I'm English :-p

Anyway, we're coming to the end of our St Valentine's stuff for this year. Some of the new listings have disappeared quickly this weekly and several people have asked (nay, begged!) to be told when the next listings will be going up.

So this is it - consider yourselves told! :) In our Etsy store, Tonight, Friday 11 February, 9pm Paris time. Unless I forget. You can find out what time it will be where you live by clicking here.

Below are a couple of the pieces that will be listed.

Remember F5 is your friend...

Enjoy your weekend!

On dirait que c'est la dernière ligne droite en matière de Saint Valentin, et si c'est un plaisir d'imaginer les miniatures adéquates, il faut bien dire que la vraie chose ne nous emballe guère (on aime pas les trucs obligatoires! )

Il y a encore donc quelques miniatures à venir pour célébrer ce pauvre vieux valentin, et comme nos listings sont souvent un peu "sauvages", pour votre information, ces bricoles seront dispo sur Etsy ce soir à 21 heures ....:)...sauf si on oublie;-)....

Allez les gens, on tient le coup, le week end arrive :)

Super Bowl Sunday

2011-02-06T19:22:00.002+01:00

C'est le week-end du Super-Bowl, une institution aux States, que nous connaissons surtout au travers d'épisodes de séries, "Friends" ou "The Middle" ou "How I Met Your Mother", .......un peu comme Thanksgiving, bref, c'est un mythe par procuration!

En plus, ici ça se passe en pleine nuit, donc à part la fois ou Prince faisait le concert au milieu et Billy Joel chantait l'hymne Américain au début (là, j'ai pas eu le choix ;-), avouons le,... j'en ai rien à cirer!

Pourtant, une des bonnes raisons de regarder les Super Bowl, ce sont les pubs, mais en France on ne nous les passe pas...heureusement, ya internet, alors si vous ne l'avez pas encore vue, voici une petite merveille.......

Que la force soit avec vous, les gens ;-)

We haven't done anything special in miniature for today's Super Bowl, but I hope you'll enjoy seeing this selection of 'American Pastries' that we made a while back...!

To say that we're not experts on American football is an understatement. Although it's an institution in the States, we know it more as something that happens each season in shows such as "Friends", "The Middle" or "How I Met Your Mother".

Apart from having to stay up until stupid o'clock to watch the game, the other disadvantage in Europe is that we don't get to see any of the legendary Super Bowl commercials.

A few days ago, Neil showed me this. At the time there were 36 views. There are now more than 12,500,000!!!

You'll have already seen it if you follow us on Facebook, but if you haven't yet seen it, you're in for a treat!

Especially if you're strong with The Force...

To all of our friends and followers in the US,
have a great Super Bowl Sunday!

Valentine's Miniatures

2011-02-05T20:02:00.000+01:00

We've finally listed some Valentine's miniatures!

Chocolate, crème brûlée, macaroon, cupcakes... a bit of something for everyone!

Which ones would melt your heart?

Ben voilà, fallait pas désespérer, les voici les douceurs Saint-Valentinesque!

Tartelette au chocolat, crème brûlée de compète, macarons, cupcakes....il y en a pour tous les goûts :)

Alors les gens, qu'est ce qui vous ferait craquer, fondre, céder à la tentation......?!

A Sunny Day at the Pâtisserie!

2011-02-03T16:56:00.000+01:00

For the first time in what seems like months, we have sunshine this afternoon! It's still freezing cold outside, but the sunshine does make it more bearable. Especially when it falls through the window of the petite pâtisserie...

So we thought it would be a great way to give you an early glimpse at some of this year's Valentine's miniatures, mostly unfinished and not even glued (late, me?!?!)

Enfin, après d'épouvantables journées sombres et froides, le soleil pointe le bout de son nez :) Il fait toujours très froid, mais au moins, ça fait chaud au cœur, et ça tape pile dans notre petite pâtisserie qui, du coup, se donne des airs printaniers, ouf!!

C'est le bon moment pour présenter le début de l'opération "Saint-Valentin", même si la plupart des miniatures ne sont même pas sèches, voire toujours en cours de finition (à la bourre, moi?!)

Allez, courage, les gens, le printemps arrive (on y croit très fort ;-)

A sunny day at the pâtisserie!

...and a sneak peek at some of our Valentine's pastries :)

...and some more...

Introducing my new baby brother! / Je vous présente mon petit frère :)

2011-02-01T18:45:00.001+01:00

At my age (and I'm not saying what it is....) I'd kind of given up any hope of having a baby brother.

Then my parents had....Fiji! Probably as much as a surprise for them as it was for me because it was a birthday present to my Mum from my sister (erm, my real, human sister...!)

He's settled in nicely, is growing far too quickly, but isn't he the cutest baby kitten? Or is it because he's family...?!

What do you think?

A mon âge (et nous ne nous étendrons pas sur le sujet.....), j'avais fini par abandonner l'espoir d'avoir un petit frère...

Et paf, (le chat), d'un seul coup, voilà Fidji qui était aussi une surprise pour mes parents pour l'anniversaire de ma maman, de la part de ma sœur (euh, ma vraie sœur, hein, c'est pas une bestiole cette fois, ....quoique ;-)

Il va sans dire que quand je vois des photos de chat sur un blog, je ricane genre "vraiment, rien de plus intéressant que ça?!"

Mais ça c'était AF (Avant Fidji:), et puis, il n'y a que les imbéciles ne changent pas d'avis, non?!

Alors les gens, il est pas mignon, mon p'tit frangin, miaou?!

Fiji sits...

...and sits...

oooh and he licks his foot!

Time for bed! Good night...

Homemade Galette / Pour en finir avec la galette!

2011-01-30T17:47:00.000+01:00

On avait acheté une galette à la va-vite au supermarché du coin, histoire de faire des photos aves les miniatures: elle était vraiment dégueulasse (ce n'est pas toujours le cas, mais cette fois, beurk!)

Pour rattraper le coup, on a décidé d'en prendre une chez le boulanger , "une vraie", quoi!.....mais notre belle motivation fût quelque peu refroidie au vu des étiquettes: la galette pour 4 (tu parles, 4, pour 2, oui!) affichait crânement 23€...........fourrée à la pomme!! (ça fait cher du chausson aux pommes, remarqua Neil, à qui on ne la fait pas!)

Qu'à cela ne tienne, on va faire ça chez nous!

Néanmoins, la pâte feuilletée maison, c'est jouable quand la table de la cuisine n'est PAS recouverte de fimo, pots de peinture, apprêts de bijouterie et autre matos de bricolage, c'est à dire...pas en ce moment!

Pas grave, la pâte feuilletée, ça se commande chez le boulanger...aaah, mais oui, mais non, car le vilain boulanger vends sa pâte....13€ le kilo (pour information, la pâte "François" réputée la meilleure du marché est à 5€ le kilo......et oh, ça alors!... fournit certains boulangers....)

http://www.patefeuilleteefrancois.com/

....finalement, direction le supermarché, sans le moindre remord, bien au contraire, où nous avons choisi deux rouleaux de pâte feuilletée "croustipâte" sans la moindre saloperie dans la composition, et parmi les moins chères... et hop, la belle galette :)

Pour la crème d'amande battre 100g de beurre pommade avec 90 g de sucre, 120 g de poudre d'amande, 1 oeuf entier, du rhum et quelques gouttes d'amande amère si on aime ça :)

"Empiler" dans l'ordre: pâte, crème, fêve, pâte, jaune d'oeuf, décor, four, miam!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Verdict; pour moins de 5€: la pâte était nickel, croustillante et bien feuilletée, même le lendemain, et la crème d'amande, à se rouler par terre, bref, une tuerie, alors merci le boulanger, sans toi, nous n'aurions pas dégusté une aussi bonne galette!!!

Quick translation: I baked my own 'Galette des rois' after finding the supermarket ones a bit yucky and the ones sold in French bakers way too expensive (23 € for a bit of flaky pastry and some bland almond filling which is meant to feed 4, but would struggle to feed 2!)

It was delicious and didn't see out the day....!

Save 10% on Etsy this weekend!

2011-01-29T14:02:00.000+01:00

Winter weekends - often dark and chilly. And it's not helped when you're suffering from a cold :(
C'est l'hiver, ça caille, il fait nuit en plein jour, beurk, et en plus le Neil a une bonne grosse crève, le pauvre :(

So hopefully this will bring a little light and warmth to the weekend!
Alors bon, pour la peine, pouf!

10% off everything in our Etsy store!

Just enter the code ITSTHEWEEKEND in the coupon code box at the checkout to receive your 10% discount*!

Valid until midnight on Sunday.

Entrez simplement le code ITSTHEWEEKEND, dans la case "coupon" au moment du checkout , et ça va se faire tout seul:)
C'est valable jusqu'à dimanche soir minuit, voilou!

Hurry!! It will only last until Sunday at midnight!
"Vite les gars, c'est seulement jusqu'à dimanche soir, béééééé!"(!?)

Visit our Etsy store here: www.etsy.com/shop/ParisMiniatures

*Only applies to items purchased on Etsy this weekend. Does not apply to special orders. Can not be back-dated for orders already placed.

13 - unlucky for some! 13 à la douzaine

2011-01-15T17:43:00.003+01:00

Some people are superstitious about the number 13 bringing bad luck. Not me. I will happily walk under a ladder carrying a black cat on any Friday the 13th as I don't suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia (yep, it exists - a fear of Friday the 13th!). And yes I copy/pasted that long word :)
Neil's birthday is on the 13th, so is my sister's, "Thirteen" is a sweet character in House M.D. (love it!) and there are 13 units in a "baker's dozen" (which may even date from....the 13th century!). Goodie - one extra...for me!

Les gens sont parfois superstitieux (pas nous, ça porte malheur ;-) ....Nous on serait plutôt du genre à passer EXPRÈS sous une échelle, en portant un chat noir le vendredi 13.....car nous ne sommes pas atteints de

paraskevidékatriaphobie! (ouais, ça existe, peur du vendredi 13, et je l'ai copié/collé, faut pas exagérere, non plus!!)

Neil est du 13, ainsi que ma frangine, on aime bien "Thirteen" dans "House", il y a les 13 desserts de Noël et puis "13 à la douzaine", c'est bien sympa, même si c'est devenu rare!

It's extremely rare that we have more than 2 or 3 of any miniature item ready. For 99% of our stuff, there's just one. But this weekend I find myself in the unheard of position of having thirteen of the same item! That warrants a souvenir picture or two, don't you think?! :)

Il est rare que j'ai devant moi plus d'un exemplaire d'une miniature, et pour les pâtisseries individuelles, 3 ou 4, c'est le maximum.....mais là, pouf, miracle, voici la multiplication des sablés chantilly groseille, 13 d'un coup!!!

Ça valait bien quelques photos souvenir, non? :)

So we used the opportunity to update the photos for these red currant sablés on Etsy :)

C'était l'occasion de renouveler les photos et de montrer ce que j'entends quand je dis que ce sont "tous les mêmes, mais tous différents" ;-)

Et vous, vous êtes superstitieux les gens?

Big & Small - Galette des Rois - French Epiphany Pastry

2011-01-12T18:55:00.003+01:00

Early January sees the annual appearance of golden discs of pastry heaven in French bakeries - the galette des rois - a frangipane-filled flaky pastry treat which marks the arrival of Epiphany.

In each one, a charm is hidden. The lucky person who is served the slice containing the charm (and hopefully avoids a broken tooth) is crowned the King or Queen and wins the right to wear the crown that accompanies each galette.

This year we made a few in miniature with a variety of designs (each complete with a miniature crown!)

Bonne année les gens!!!!!!!!!!!!

....si, si, on a tout Janvier pour ça....pour ça, et pour la galette des rois, vous ne croyiez tout de même pas qu'on allait laisser filer tout le mois sans vous préparer quelques galettes, tout de même?!

On aime trop ça en vrai, impossible de faire l'impasse sur la version miniature:)

Voici donc quelques galettes standard, pâte feuilletée et crème d'amande, et une version briochée aux fruits confits, à la mode provençale, comme ça y en a pour tous les goûts!

...et...oui, on voit la jolie fêve en forme de papillon, ce qui nous est arrivé avec toutes nos galettes cette année: Neil a un "sixième sens galettier", c'est à dire que son premier coup de couteau trouve systématiquement la fêve...il est trop fort (en plus, après, il la range dans MA part :)

We made an 'open' galette complete with a tiny butterfly charm...

Miniature galette - sliced, with tiny butterfly charm

And we made a Provence version which is a brioche decorated with glacé cherries and angelica...

In Provence a Epiphany brioche is common

And seeing as we had a real galette (for "research", of course!), we couldn't miss the chance to photograph miniature and full-sized ones together!

Miniature galette shown with a real one

Miniature galette with a real one in the background

Bon, donc meilleurs voeux et meilleures galettes à vous les gens et si j'ai le courage, la prochaine galette, je la fais moi même, parce que c'est l'arnaque, et c'est trop fastoche! Et vous, pas encore d'indigestion de galette?

Available in our Etsy store.

Unique Miniatures - Naturally...

2010-12-29T18:09:00.001+01:00

Everyone in northern Europe seems to be enduring snowy conditions but before it arrived in earnest, we had a day just before Christmas when there was a very light dusting of snow. Maybe it was the fact that there was only a dusting which made them stand out...so I looked closer at the snowflakes.

And do you know what? It was the first time that I had ever noticed the details in real snowflakes with my own eyes! So I grabbed the camera...

C'est difficile à croire, mais jusqu'à la semaine dernière, je croyais que le coup des flocons de neige , c'était....TRES exagéré!

Je m'explique: bien sûr j'ai entendu dire que ces petites choses étaient d'une beauté étourdissante, et qu'ils étaient tous différents (ce qui laisse à réfléchir, j'avoue, avec rien qu'avec ceux qu'il ya devant chez nous ;-) mais je croyais que c'était au niveau MOLECULAIRE, pas que c'était visible à l'oeil nu!!!!!!

Comme si les flocons stylisés décoratifs que j'ai toujours connu et les vrais flocons qui tombent du ciel présentaient "la même différence" qu'Hello Kitty et ...un vrai chat!

So much detail in a couple of millimetres! And all different! It makes the mind boggle when you consider the quantity that have fallen recently :)

It seems that nature can hold her own when it comes to making beautiful miniatures!

Voici donc quelques miniatures entièrement naturelles, rien que pour vos yeux :) (faut pas toucher, sinon ça fond...)

Comme quoi, il n'est jamais trop tard ;-)

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël !

2010-12-24T18:54:00.000+01:00

The presents are wrapped, the turkey is in the oven and the foie gras is slowly coming up to room temperature, which leaves just one more thing to do before we start 'Le Réveillon de Noël"...

Les cadeaux sont emballés, la dinde est au four, le foie gras mi-cuit nous attend sagement, il n'y a plus qu'une chose à faire avant de commencer le réveillon.....

... and that is to wish you a....
....c'est à dire vous souhaiter.....

Christmas croquembouche by Emmaflam

Gift Certificates!

2010-12-21T18:08:00.002+01:00

We now have gift certificates available in our Etsy store. Available in $25, $50 and $75 denominations, they are in pdf format and emailed to you within a couple of hours (depending on the time of day!) ready for you to print out and give.

Other denominations available upon request.

So if you're still struggling to find that perfect last minute gift for the miniature-lover(s) in your life, maybe this will help! We'll be able to send them out right up until Christmas Eve...

Click on the image below to find the listings which contain all the information you need about purchasing and redeeming.

Or click here

Gift certificates for Etsy now available here

Wintertime Miniatures and a Snowy French Village! / Ca caille!!

2010-12-09T18:24:00.000+01:00

There's a bit of a wintertime snowy theme to today's new miniatures - cool colours, lots of snow and even a brand new stalactite stand!

Allez, on change de crémerie, rouge et vert, c'est bien gentil, mais aujourd'hui, on a décidé d'assortir les miniatures au paysage, c'est à dire un joli camaïeu de blanc, transparent, glace bleutée et autre couleurs frigorifiées....comme nous!

It's not difficult to see why we're in a wintery mood when you see the view we woke up to this morning! :)

On dirait Narnia!

Wrap up warm!!

Allez les gens, un chocolat chaud et une gaufre, et au lit!

Christmas Miniatures...

2010-12-08T18:13:00.000+01:00

We're well and truly snowed in! So what should we do? What about making some....Christmas minis?! And muffins. Real ones. And a beef Bourguignon. Ditto. At least we won't starve :)

Bon, cette fois ça ne rigole plus, on est officiellement bloqués chez nous par la neige....et on fait quoi pour s'occuper?! Ben des miniatures tiens!
...et la cuisine, des muffins choco-banane, du boeuf bourguignon, de la bonne vieille puré maison... mais du vrai, tout ça, du qui se mange, du qui réchauffe :)
Restez bien au chaud les gens!

Here are today's new additions to our Etsy store...

Festive meringue display on shabby chic stand

"Christmas in Paris" French chocolate display

Festive Christmas St Honoré

Christmas cappuccino

New Christmas Miniatures and last chance to save 10%!

2010-12-05T19:10:00.000+01:00

Just a reminder that our 10% saving on Etsy finishes at midnight tonight - remember to use the code "CHRISTMAS" in the promo coupon code box in our Etsy checkout to enjoy the reduction (in price, not quality!)

Why not use it to procure one of these brand new Christmas-related miniature goodies?!

Now in our Etsy store at: www.etsy.com/shop/parisminiatures

Remember that the savings are on everything in our store, not just Christmas items!

So think about gifts! Or think about yourself! Maybe it's the perfect time to treat yourself to a unique handpainted mini painting, fridge magnet, super fine earrings, pretty macaroon ring or other piece of jewellery!

Just make sure you choose before midnight tonight...!

American Miniaturist Christmas Issue 2010

2010-12-03T19:16:00.000+01:00

It looks like we made it into the December issue of American Miniaturist!

The photos and the text for articles can often submitted weeks or months in advance so we'd forgotten all about it until a customer mentioned it yesterday. So some of you will undoubtedly have seen it before us, but we're excited, even if it is old news!!

Ouais, on est contents, on est dans l'édition de Noel d'American Miniaturist :)

Les photos et autres articles sont généralement collectés des mois en avance, et ce sont le plus souvent des collectionneurs qui nous préviennent!

You might recognise the face on the Santa mug - he's currently decorating the background of our blog...

Si la petite tronche du père Noël vous dit quelque-chose, c'est normal, elle est en arrière plan du blog:)

More Christmas Miniatures...

2010-12-02T18:12:00.000+01:00

Here's a quick glimpse at the new miniatures that we finished today.

It's 100% Christmas today, so apologies if you're sick of Christmas all ready! You'll find some tableware, a couple of cappuccino sets, more types of cookies than you could ever dream of and the first of this year's Christmas wreaths. Phew!

Head over to the Christmas section of our Etsy store to see them all now...

Christmas Savings at Paris Miniatures!

2010-12-01T17:53:00.000+01:00

Until Sunday at midnight, you can save 10% on everything in our Etsy store!

How?

Enter the code CHRISTMAS (in capitals) into the promotional coupon code box at the Etsy checkout and your discount will be applied.

Where?

In our Etsy store at www.etsy.com/shop/ParisMiniatures

When?

NOW! With immediate effect until midnight (French time) on Sunday.

What?

ALL ITEMS! Everything! Not just Christmas items. Even new items that will be listed over the next 4 days are eligible. Yes, even items we haven't yet made will be eligible!!

Who?

You! Your family! Your friends! Pets! Share the love :)

Anything else?

The discount does not apply to shipping, nor to custom orders and can not be combined with any other offers. Sorry but the discount cannot be back-dated to orders that have already passed through Etsy's checkout.

Youpi, les gens, c'est parti pour le shopping de Noël!!

Ca commence maintenant dans la boutique Etsy, ici: www.etsy.com/shop/ParisMiniatures et c'est jusquà dimanche soir minuit.

Ca concerne TOUT ce qu'il y a dans la boutique, y compris les choses qui seront listées à partir de maintenant et jusqu'à la fin de la promo.

Il faut juste entrer le code secret (!!!) "CHRISTMAS" en majuscules dans la boîte "coupon code" au moment du checkout, et ça va tout faire tout seul....

Voili, voilou, en parlant de shopping de Noël, va falloir que je m'y colle, moi!...et vous les gens, vous êtes du genre "à la bourre", ou "je maîtrise, j'ai commencé en Janvier"?!*

*Personnellement, j'ai VRAIMENT commencé en Janvier, mais il y a eu un trou de 11 mois et des brouettes..., et là, la panique monte!!!!

Christmas Stollen - Little & Large

2010-11-29T20:38:00.000+01:00

This miniature Christmas stollen cake is one of the new Christmas miniatures that we've listed today.

On reste dans l'ambiance, maintenant que c'est parti, c'est Noël pour un bout de temps ;-)

And of course, if there's the full-sized equivalent lying around, there's only one thing to do (before eating it!). Photograph them together!

Ça alors , on a réussi à faire une photo des deux ensemble AVANT de tout manger!

(...euh, c'est surtout parce que c'était un pseudo stollen sans pâte d'amande qu'il en restait...SANS PATE D'AMANDE!!!!...N'IMPORTE QUOI!!!!!)

Miniature stollen with a real one

Here are some of the other new pieces from today...

They can be found in the Christmas section of our Etsy store

And yes, there's even a Christmas St Honoré!

Eh oui, j'ai osé...le Saint-Honoré "DE NOEL", je ne recule devant rien.... ;-)

A closer look at the new Christmas miniatures / Les miniatures de Noêl

2010-11-28T18:38:00.000+01:00

We teased you a couple of days ago with a single photo of some of our new Christmas minis, so now here's a better look at each of them.

I love the tiny gingerbread men on the cupcakes - which is your favourite?

Click here to see the current Christmas minis in our Etsy store.

Wrapped bonbons on shabby chic stand

Fantasia Christmas Cream Cake

Festive Christmas Cake

Bûche de Noêl (Yule log)

Cupcakes and tiny gingerbread men

Gingerbread cupcakes

Wintery blue ice snowman cupcakes

White cupcakes

Festive gift box of French Britanny galettes and caramels

New Christmas Miniatures

2010-11-26T15:29:00.001+01:00

Hello! It's been a while. How have you been? We're happy to let you know that after a couple of quiet weeks, we're ready to launch some brand new Christmas miniatures into the world! Yay!

Here's a picture to tease you. Go on, admit it - you love to be teased...

The Christmas booty will be listed later today in our Etsy store

UPDATE - It's all listed! We've added a 'Christmas' section to our Etsy store - see it here

“Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!” / "It's Beaujolais Nouveau Time!"

2010-11-18T18:47:00.001+01:00

This time last year we were in the center of Paris - the Beaujolais Nouveau had just arrived. It was impossible to miss!

It would be nice to think that this enormous bottle was filled with Beaujolais, but no such luck. 100% alcohol-free air...

L'an dernier sur les grands boulevards, il y avait une bouteille géante , c'est cool, nous on aime les trucs tout petits et les trucs géants :)

It's once again time to celebrate the arrival of "Beaujolais Nouveau"! The bottles in Paris may be enormous (which is cool because as well as small things, we like too-big things!) but we've been working on something much, much smaller....

Une bouteille géante?! Le troisième jeudi de novembre?!! Ouais, youpi, youhou, le beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!!!!....On s'en fout!!! C'est pas bon!!!

Mais la charcutaille, c'est chouette, et tout ça en miniature, ça devient encore plus ...euh, petit!

1/12 scale glass of Beaujolais with saucisson, olives and crisps.
The service is handpainted in a traditional provençal style:)
Un petit parfum de Provence format maison de poupée:
la vaiselle est peinte à la main, vous les entendez les cigales?

Provence set - available to buy here

With a miniature selection of charcuterie, cherry tomatoes and bread
Accompagné d'une assiette anglaise (ah oui, vraiment?
du rosbif saignant et du chorizo, et ça s'appelle une assiette anglaise?!)

French Country Kitchen Charcuterie Set - available to buy here

Ham baguette with butter, pickles and extra ham!
Jambon beurre/cornichons, la tuerie!
Et maintenant, même les poupées peuvent en avoir!

French Country Kitchen Ham Baguette Set - Sold

The three Beaujolais sets together
A table !!!

Which would be your favourite to accompany a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau....?

Alors les gens, c'est quoi, votre miniature préférée of Beaujolpif day??? et en vrai, vous mangeriez quoi, avec?

Chocolate - Paintings and Miniatures / Chocolat, je te veux!!!!

2010-11-15T20:15:00.001+01:00

Another weekend has passed in a flash and here we are at the start of another week; a week that will see the following coming to our Etsy store...

I've been slipping back into painting recently and here are some of the mini paintings that I've finished. Some formats are great for decorating miniature scenes and others are great for fridge magnets/mini tableaux in the "real world". Our fridge is plastered in them as each new one turns out better than the previous - so I keep them :-p

Aahhhaaah, ça passe trop vite, encore une semaine de cuite!

Je continue de faire des minis tableaux/magnets, sauf que maintenant, ils ne sont aimantés que si on me le demande gentiment, c'est vrai, c'est plus facile de les coller après coup, que de les décoller, non?!

Alors voilà un petit tour dans la "galerie/pâtisserie" (de toute façon , le frigo est plein...enfin, l'extérieur du frigo surtout (!))

Assortment of new miniature paintings - listed here

We're not abandoning miniatures though (who booed?!!). These will hopefully be listed this evening if we can keep our eyes open long enough. If not they will be on Etsy before lunchtime tomorrow...

Mais bien sûr, qui dit chocolat dit chocolat en miniature, c'est un petit avant goût de ce qui Vous attends, période de Noël oblige :)

A table!!!!

Cream and chocolate cake

Assorted French feuille (leaf) chocolates - listed here

Assorted chocolate treats and candy - listed here

Chocolates!

Left side

Right side

Hmmmm, je crois que le VRAI moelleux au coeur coulant s'impose pour le Dessert, ce soir...la recette qui se fait plus vite que son ombre, c'est parti, j'y vais, j'en peux plus!!!!!!

Edit:

Je (Neil) viens de lire ça - quelle jolie surprise! En plus du plat anglais "bubble & squeak" qui m'attend ce soir (miam!), il y aura du gateau!! Si je termine ces listings, bien sûr....! Au boulot!! :)

Croissant, Cakes, Chocolate and Choux

2010-11-11T20:08:00.003+01:00

It's the Remembrance Day 'Bank Holiday' in France today but it's business as usual at "Emmaflam Towers"!* We've been battered with wind and rain all day so any thoughts about going outside have been well and truly quashed.

C'est le 11 novembre, il fait froid, nuit, et venteux, comme il se doit, et nous sommes habillés comme Joey quand il avait mis toutes les fringue de Chandler.... :)
Néanmoins, ce n'est pas une raison pour commencer à hiberner, on verra ça la semaine prochaine, voici donc quelques miniatures toutes fraîches à se mettre sous la dent, bon app' les gens!

Anyway, here's what we've finished up today - it's all on Etsy right now.

French breakfast

Chocolate pastries

Birthday cake

Chocolate and strawberry cake - available to buy here

French chocolates

Pastry swan

*There are no towers. Emmaflam does not live in a chateau :-p

New! Vanilla St Honoré with Butterfly

2010-11-08T18:31:00.000+01:00

We have a new addition to our French Pastry Collection! It's a vanilla St Honoré decorated with a white sugar butterfly with caramel antennae. Very romantic :)

Now available in our Etsy store - click here

Quand y en a plus, y en a encore, des parfums de Saint-Honoré ;-)

Celui-ci est à la vanille, et décoré d'un papillon en sucre, ou en pâte d'amande, en tout cas quelque chose qui se mange.... très "mariage" comme style...

Et le prochain parfum, les gens, ce sera quoi?! J'ai bien fait quelques essais "pistache et griotte", et de "café / noisette" mais rien encore de concluant....

Sunday croissants!

2010-11-07T12:28:00.001+01:00

It's not very often that we're up early on a Sunday, day of rest and all that (yeah, right!), but seeing as our craving for croissants didn't go away yesterday, we popped out for brekkie this morning - and guess what we had?

On est pas du matin (euh, surtout la partie française de la bande, à vrai dire...), mais quand il faut, il faut!
Se lever tôt, si c'est pour des croissants, c'est parfaitement acceptable!

This time they're real ones!

Croissant and a pain au chocolat!

There's something beautiful about the texture of a good croissant - those super thin layers of buttery pastry, the golden colour, the light crisp when you bite into it which sends wisps of warm buttery air over the taste buds and flaky crumbs all over your chin...

And all that before 9 o'clock!!!

These miniature versions are now in my Etsy store!

OOOooooh, que c'est beau, un croissant.....

Miniature Viennoiserie - Breakfast Pastries

So what's your dream breakfast?
C'est quoi, le petit déj' de rêve pour vous, les gens?

Give us this day our daily......croissant!

2010-11-05T20:56:00.000+01:00

Just preparing the photos for our upcoming Etsy listings. When I saw this one, I was suddenly overcome with a desire for a couple of buttery croissants and a cup of hot black coffee - for dunking! :)

But it's 9 o'clock in the evening - so I guess I'll have to wait until the boulangerie opens again tomorrow morning...

Nous préparions les photos des listings à venir, et maintenant c'est tout mélangé!
J'ai fait un rôti avec des champignons, et des pommes dauphines, et on veut quoi, en vrai?!!!! Un café, avec deux croissants :-(
A 21 heures....C'est malin!!!

Coming soon....

Halloween Giveaway Result! Avez-vous gagné ?

2010-11-04T15:38:00.015+01:00

We've finally found time to do the draw for our recent Halloween give-away!

Nous avons - il était temps! - effectué le tirage au sort du "donne-loin" d'Halloween, mettant fin à cet insupportable attente qui rongeait le moral des collectionneurs de miniatures, anxieux et désespérés blah, blah, blah ....(si si, on commençait à avoir des réclamations!!)

Here's how we did it - as you will see, each stage was watched over by an independent adjudicator to ensure that there was no funny business. He also happens to be a papier mâché pumpkin head in his spare time...

Afin de limiter les risques d'embrouille, nous avons fait appel à un huissier indépendant (de sa volonté...) dans la gueule duquel nous avons fourrés les noms des participants, préalablement imprimés, puis découpés, et bien mélangés...

The name of every entrant was printed onto A4 paper...

The names were all cut out.

They were then stuffed into the mouth of our pumpkin-headed friend.

Having warned Mr Pumpkin Head not to bite - Emma bravely entered her hand into his mouth.

And pulled out a piece of paper so quickly that we barely caught the name - she does claim that her speed was due to excitement and not fear of losing her fingers.

Et j'ai mis la main dedans, j'en frissonne encore!

So here is the name a little more clearly....

Congratulations - "Athena"!!!

Youhou, Athena, félicitations, vous avez gagné!

Thanks to everyone for entering the give-away. We really enjoyed reading all of your wonderful comments!

Merci beaucoup, les gens, d'avoir participé, c'était un plaisir de lire tous vos commentaires , et à bientôt pour un prochain "donne-loin";-)

Halloween Giveaway! Gagnez une miniature de Halloween!

2010-11-01T14:28:00.000+01:00

This miniature plate filled with Halloween/Autumn-coloured treats could be yours!

On l'avait dit, on le fait: c'est l'heure du "giveaway" ou "donne loin" en French.....

Si cette petite assiette de cochonneries vous tente, laissez simplement un commentaire!

This plate could be yours! Just comment!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. Make it Halloween-ish - tell us which of our Halloween pieces you liked for example.... ;-)

We'll close the thread on the morning of Monday 1st November, so be sure to get your entry written before then.

The winner will be drawn at random early next week.

Inutile de suivre officiellement le blog, on s'en fout, on est pas comme ça ;-) mais pas de commentaire anonyme si vous voulez participer (ce serait ballot, en même temps!)

Vous avez jusqu'à dimanche soir minuit, ou lundi matin, tranquille ;-) et nous ferons le tirage au sort en début de semaine...

Happy Halloween! (with "souvenir" photo!)

2010-10-31T18:43:00.001+01:00

Although Halloween isn't really celebrated in France, you can tell from our recent miniatures that we do like to get into the "spirit" of it!

So this afternoon we prepared a dish full of candy for the 4 or 5 kids that live in the village that may pass this evening and dug out our trusty old papier mâchée Jack-o-lanterns to let them know we're up for a visit!

On ne peut pas dire qu'Halloween soit particulièrement célébré en France...On a bien essayé de nous y pousser il y a quelques années, à grand coups de marketing bourre-crâne, mais ça n'a pas marché...

Néanmoins, quand la saison arrive, après quelques soupirs désespérés, c'est toujours un plaisir de remettre la main à la pâte (fimo, orange et noire, tant qu'à faire!)

You can see from the brown leaves on the strawberry plants under the pumpkins that we're not as enthusiastic about our gardening as we are our miniaturing!

On a ressorti nos vieilles citrouilles de la cave, ainsi que nos vieux bonbons, au cas où.... ;-)

Ooops, les fraisiers, sous les citrouilles...

Having said that, the rose bushes under the window are mercilessly hacked down to the ground twice a year (we're told not to do this!), but they keep growing and they are once again in full bloom. And the roses this autumn are g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s!

Les fraisiers sont peut être cuits pour cette année, mais les rosiers, non!!....une belle rose d'octobre..."Y a plus de saison, ma bonne dame, avec tout ce qu'ils nous envoient dans le ciel!!"

A rose. This afternoon.

But you're not here for gardening advice - don't ever come here for that. Cooking, yes. Miniatures, yes. Gardening, nooo!

Talking of miniatures, here is a 'souvenir' photo of most of our pieces from this year!

Allons, assez parlé jardinage, voici un petit souvenir: la photo de classe, promotion halloween 2010!

La jolie boîte en bois n'a pas été réalisée par nos soins (rendons à Dracula ce qui est à Dracula, tout de même!)

Class of 2010. Click for larger size.

And with that, we draw a line under Halloween for this year. Well, almost. The give-away draw is still open! If you haven't already entered, click here to do so. It closes at midnight tonight, 31 October, so don't delay!

Cette fois c'est officiellement fini pour cette année, mais il est encore temps de participer au "donne-loin" jusqu'à ce soir minuit, les gens, et Joyeux Halloween, même si on s'en fout!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What will you do with the extra hour?

2010-10-30T23:39:00.000+02:00

Don't forget that the clocks go back an hour tonight. At least they do in Europe, elsewhere I don't know...

Anyway, this is great news because we get back that hour that they took from us at the beginning of summer. I did so like that hour. It'll be nice to see it again :)

I do have a suggestion for what you can do with about 30 seconds of it - try to win a miniature!

If you haven't done so already, why not enter our Halloween giveaway where you can win this plate full of mini treats...

Just leave a comment here before Sunday midnight to be entered into the draw.

OK, done? So what are you going to do with the remaining 59 minutes and 30 seconds of that extra hour?!

Handpainted Halloween / Gribouillages Halloweenesques

2010-10-25T20:47:00.001+02:00

Coucou les gens!
Un peu de peinture, pour changer, mais toujours en miniature :)
Parceque chacun sait que la peinture miniature, c'est plus difficile, mais c'est plus beau, que la peinture en gros!! (pas si sûr, mais bon...)

For a change, some painting, in miniature of course :)

J'en profite pour remercier officiellement Madame Halloween sans qui je n'aurais jamais tenté de gribouiller ni squelettes ni fantômes, ni citrouilles, comme quoi, faut pas cracher dans la soupe!
(sauf, si, justement, celle au potiron, pouark!)

If it wasn't for Halloween I'd have never tried scribbling skeletons, ghosts or pumpkins. So thank you Halloween!!

Et comme on me pose souvent la question, "non, je n'utilise pas de loupe" mais oui, des pinceaux avec presque pas de poils....

And because I'm often asked the question, "No I don't use a magnifying glass", but I do use brushes with next to no bristles....

Ca vous branche, vous, les tartes au potiron et autre potage de circonstance? (en vrai, dans l'assiette, qu'il faut manger... ;-)

Halloween Miniatures Now Available!

2010-10-20T13:33:00.000+02:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ParisMiniatures

Halloween Jewellery / Bijoux Halloweenesques

2010-10-19T20:09:00.003+02:00

To take a break from miniatures I often relax by making myself some jewellery. I make tons of it, way too much for me (and Neil won't wear them!), and I can't wear it all at the same time...

So if anybody wants some - take a look below...! I've grouped together some pieces that go well with Halloween and of course, it's all food-based...

Miniature collectors shouldn't despair - I'm not abandoning you! The Halloween miniatures we've been teasing you with will be listed tomorrow morning (French time). We'll put up a post when they're listed :)

And now in French...byeeee x

Les miniatures, c'est bien, mais c'est fatiguant!

Alors pour me détendre, m'offrir une petite récréation bien méritée, bref, m'amuser un peu, je fais des bijoux...

Toujours en pâte polymère bien sûr, on ne change pas une équipe qui...fait tout en pâte polymère!
Mais des bijoux, j'en fais plein, j'en fais trop, c'est vrai quoi, à la fin, je ne peux pas tous les mettre en même temps, alors bon, si quelqu'un en veut....!

Que les foules se rassurent, je n'abandonne en rien le 1/12ième, mais de temps à autre, je ferai volontiers une petite excursion du côté de la fanfreluche....à condition que ce soit gourmand, on ne change pas une équipe...gourmande!

Voici quelques exemples à commencer par mes petites religieuses adorées :), le tout aux couleurs et aux parfums de saison (quoi que, l'oreo à la citrouille....je ne sais pas....)

Je me suis bien amusée à faire des aller-retours entre la miniature et les bijoux: par exemple, les candy corn sur le cookie au chocolat (Etsy) sont de la même taille que ceux sur les cupcakes miniatures....étonnant, non?

Alors, les gens, vous en pensez quoi? Vous en voulez encore?

Black Truffle Religieuse Earrings

Earrings listing

"Black Magic" macaroon necklace

Macaroon necklace listing

Oreo cookie necklace - Halloween version

Oreo necklace listing

Oreo cookie ring - Halloween version

Oreo ring listing

Halloween Pastries, Cupcakes and more!

2010-10-17T19:36:00.000+02:00

Today we've been photographing the remaining Halloween miniatures which means that they should available very soon - but not today, it's the weekend :-p

Which is your favourite....?

Pastries!

Cupcakes!

Teatime!

Treats!

Halloween Charlottes

2010-10-16T16:15:00.000+02:00

Here's a glimpse at a couple of the charlottes that will be part of our Halloween series this year. Coming soon...!

Chocolate charlotte

This charlotte comes with a Halloween cake stand

...and here it is on its own

New Halloween Miniatures / Quand je disais que ça sent la citrouille....

2010-10-15T17:42:00.001+02:00

I mentioned yesterday that we hoped to have some new Halloween minis ready to show soon. Well it's sooner than we thought! Here are some from the first series - hope you like them!

....et voilà!

Rien de très gore, comme d'hab', parceque c'est moche, mais des harmonies de couleur chocolat/orange, et un petit air automnal...

Les cookies-squelettes sont ma seule concession à la tradition telle que la vivent nos amis d'outre Atlantique, et c'est ma limite...(en matière d'horreur!)

Le reste est en cours, si vous êtes sages, on vous en montrera d'autres ;-)

Et vous les gens, vous en pensez quoi d'Halloween? (franchement?!)

Not sure when they'll be listed; hopefully this weekend / early next week.

Getting Ready For Halloween / Ca sent la citrouille !

2010-10-14T20:05:00.002+02:00

With a bit of luck (and lots of concentration!) we should have some new Halloween miniatures to show you in the next few days (hopefully before 31 October!), so in preparation for their arrival, we've pimped up the blog Halloween-style!

We've also rummaged around in the archives and pulled out some photos from Halloween 2005 which many of you will never have seen. They are shown here exactly as they were back then - in super "Bubble-O-Vision!" which ...ahem... we no longer do (we had to start somewhere, and to think we were so pleased with this amaaaaaaaaaaaazing idea back then!)

Enjoy!

Avec un peu de chance (euh, et beaucoup de concentation!), nous devrions avoir quelques miniatures halloweenesque à montrer dans les jours qui viennent...idéalement AVANT le 31 octobre...ha ha ha, non, vraiment, ya pas de quoi rire!

En attendant, nous avons farfouillé dans les archives, et resorti quelques photos de 2005.
Elles sont "dans leur jus", c'est à dire une mise en page à "bulles"....comment dire, qu'on utilise plus! (mais bon, il falait bien commencer quelquepart, et nous étions très fiers de cette idée gééééééééniale!!!)

Bon, c'est pas tout ça, mais j'ai une tarte à la citrouille au four, moi! (Dieu merci, ce n'est pas une vraie, beeeeuuuuurk, et pourquoi pas une tarte au concombre?!)

Halloween box of chocolates

Witchy-girl doll dressed up for Halloween.
I sculpted, painted and dressed the doll

Mug tree with cups

Hats off to Lucia! Chapeau!

2010-10-12T19:03:00.001+02:00

The miniature hat that I won in the giveaway on Lucia's blog arrived this morning :) My first giveaway win! Hooray!!

Il est arrivé au courier ce matin, le chapeau que j'ai gagné au giveway de Lucia. :)

http://casedibambola.blogspot.com/

Snug in its tiny box, after a voyage across the Atlantic I had the perfect hat stand ready for it!

Bien calé dans sa petite boîte, il a traversé l'atlantique pour arriver là, où l'attendait un porte chapeau qui, c'est clair, avait été fait pour lui!

I love it - lots of detail and it's beautifully finished!

Les finitions sont parfaites, c'est assez rare pour être signalé!

I take my hat off to you Lucia, a thousand thanks!

Chapeau, Lucia, et mille mercis!

And talking about giveaways, we're working on it....

Justement, en parlant de giveaway, on y réfléchit....

Chocolate!!!

2010-08-30T20:22:00.001+02:00

Coming to our Etsy store tomorrow....

Until then.....sweet dreams!!

The Great British Bake Off - Tonight on BBC 2 - 8:00 - 9:00pm / vive la BBC!

2010-08-17T16:48:00.019+02:00

We caught the trailer for this for the first time last night after Dragon's Den - "The Great British Bake Off"!

Billed as "Masterchef with less shouting", we're looking forward to seeing what delicious sweet treats the Great British public will cook up. There are never enough desserts and cakes on Masterchef, so this should make up for it!

The first episode comes from in the Cotswolds (Neil's neck of the woods!) and features a Victoria sponge round and a chocolate celebration cake round - if that doesn't tempt you, I don't know what will!

Presented by Sue Perkins (who you might remember from the fantastic "The Supersizers Eat...") who is reunited with Mel Giedroyc for this series of six episodes.

....il faut bien l'avouer, il y a beaucoup plus de choses qui nous intéressent sur les chaînes Anglaises que chez nous...(d'autant qu'on recoit pourri, dans le bled...)
Entre "Docteur Who", "Dragon's Den", les divers "Masterchef" (avec des pro, des particuliers, des célébrités....) et autre reconstitutions historiques, séries "so british", docs et l'incomparable "Top Gear", je signe ou pour me débarrasser de la télé Française?!

For those of you with long memories, Mel & Sue used to present the 'Light Lunch' chat show on Channel 4 in the UK from 1997-1998, where guest chefs used to cook for Mel & Sue's guests.

Et pire encore, il y a plus d'émissions de cuisine que d'heures dans la journée pour les regarder!!! ah....Delia! Jamie, Valentine, allez, même Gordon!

Rien de gastronomiquement bouleversant dans tout ça, mais la cuisine familiale expliquée aux foules, c'est la base , et c'est très bien......

Find out more and watch the trailer for the first episode here. Looks like a lot of fun!

Ce soir sur la BBC, il y a donc une nouvelle émission, une sorte de concours national amateur de pâtisserie de ménage, dont le premier épisode se déroule dans les Costwolds, le coin -magnifique- d'où vient Neil -magnifique, également, c'est juste pour voir si tu lis ce que j'écris ;-) Yes I do :-p

Au programme, Victoria sponge et gâteau au chocolat...miam...on vous en reparlera....je ne cracherais pas sur un scone, moi, maintenant!!!!!

Et vous, c'est quoi vos choses sucrées britanniques de prédilection, les gens?

Time for a break after 63+ new miniatures in one month! / Il est temps de dormir un peu!

2010-08-09T19:37:00.000+02:00

We've had some great fun during the month of July coming up with ideas for our "Pink Patch" miniatures. We hope you have enjoyed seeing them all...but in case you missed something, here's a collage showing 63 of the pieces that we came up with.

On s'est bien amusés en juillet avec cette orgie de miniatures roses, en espérant vous avoir épargné l'overdose, voire réalisé l'exploit d'avoir converti certain(e)s d'entre vous à la vie en rose ;-)

Voici un petit collage regroupant 63 de ces miniatures...

I think it's all there, but we may have missed one or two...! Believe it our not, I was up for 63 more...
However there are only 24 hours in a day and we need a break (for some English brekkies, fish 'n' chips, cream teas etc, if you see what I mean!)

Évidemment, il en manque certainement, mais croyez le ou non, j'étais prête pour 63 de plus....

Cependant, il n'y a toujours que 24 heures par jour, et nous avons besoin d'un break (english breakfast, fish and chips, cream tea, si vous voyez ce que je veux dire!)

Can I please go to bed now...?!

So which was your favourite? Let us know in the comments...

Alors, les gens, quelle est votre miniature "rose" préférée ?

Upcoming Miniatures - Ladurée and Strawberries

2010-08-03T20:36:00.002+02:00

Here's a glimpse at what we've been working on - from pink we moved onto red!

Voici un petit coup d'oeil sur les ptites nouveautés, après le rose...du rouge!!

Strawberries

Our visit to the zoo last week was so quick that we didn't have time to visit Ladurée! Can you imagine that?

So we made up for it in miniature...!!

Après la visite au Jardin des Plantes, on a pas eu le courage de se traîner jusque chez Ladurée, tellement les bébés léopards nous avaient ...euh...épuisés....nerveusement...(oui, nous sommes des petites choses sensibles et fragiles, parfaitement!)

Pour rattraper le coup, j'ai joué à "on dirait qu'on serait chez Ladurée miniature et qu'on aurait les clefs et qu'on mangerait tout ce qu'on veut"! et toc!

Ladurée Set

Luxurious Ladurée goûter
Le goûter Ladurée, c'est pas pour les enfants, y a du Champagne!

Planning on putting some of this on Etsy tomorrow morning with some other pieces - too hungry to do it this evening and am waiting impatiently for the delicious-smelling lamb curry that's cooking as I write this! Bon appétit!

Ca, et d'autres bricoles seront dispo sur Etsy demain matin, car ce soir on a trop faim de ce délicieux curry d'agneau qui mijote pendant que j'écris, bon appétit les gens!