Barbie 1998 Family Cottage - Update

Dear Readers,

Do you remember how excited I was about the blue 1998 Barbie Family Cottage?  It was not a complete playset and I was missing a few of the original furniture.  Well guess what ...

TA DAAAAAAAA!

I found the chair and the crib in different Ebay auctions.  The crib was part of a bigger lot but I saw it immediately and I knew it must belong to the cottage!  It looked exactly like the crib I have seen on the picture of the original box (the picture of the box is from Amazon.com).

And when I received it, I placed it in the empty storage space intended for the crib and it was indeed a perfect match!

The chair was less difficult to find.  I hesitated to buy it at first though because of the price but I eventually caved in because I have not seen any other chair like it on the market.

The crib is a little snug for Licca-chan's little sisters but they insisted on trying it :)

I tried to take more pictures but as soon as I got Miki-chan and Maki-chan out, my baby girl was all over them.  So I could only take the picture above and that was it.  My girl calls them "baby" and she loves playing with the cottage!

Don't you just love it when you find the missing pieces to your playset?  Now I am on the hunt for the missing bench and baby seat ^_^

A Bedroom for Licca-Chan

Dear Readers,

About three months ago, I was determined to stop buying 1:6 scale furniture for my full-size dolls and focus on my 1:12 miniature instead but then I suddenly found out that Licca's Bedroom by Takara Tomy was on sale at $30 on Amazon.com, which is half the usual price! I just couldn't let that chance go and I click on that "PROCEED TO CHECK OUT" button pretty quickly.

I immediately started writing a post about it so other Licca fans could buy it too...and 5 minutes later I was ready to publish it my blog, I checked the link again to see if it worked properly, ...but the price had gone back to it's original amount!  I guess I was lucky to get that flash sale but it's unfortunate other people couldn't get it!

Well since the sale no longer existed, I decided to wait until the package comes so I can write a review.  It came very fast, in less than 2 weeks and it was very well packaged for shipping.  Kuddos to E-Japan (via Amazon) for doing a great job despite the fact that I paid close to nothing for shipping!  Sometimes, sellers would advertise their product and promise free shipping but the packaging is terrible and careless but it was not the case for this item!  Everything arrived in perfect condition!

Thank goodness because the house is made of cardboard.  It is not very thick cardboard and is rather flimsy.  But the colors are sweet and the design is very clever!

There is a handle on the top so it is easy to carry around

Licca dolls are only 9 inches tall compared to the 11 inches Barbie dolls so most of the used Barbie furniture I have don't really fit my Licca dolls.  I was drooling over this bedroom set for quite a long time but never thought I could buy it at such a high price tag.

The inside of the cardboard room-in-a-box is soooo pretty and colorful!

There is so much going on this side of the room!  So many details! 

The door can really open because the door outline is pre-perforated so you can swing it open.

I wish that puppy could be a real Licca toy!

Apart from the plastic furniture, there are many pieces made of cardboard in this playset.  You have to cut out each piece and build the boxes for the cabinet.  There are 3 boxes in total and the rest are magazines, notebooks, cell phone, cookies.  It would have been a lot better if the items were 3-D plastic objects.

What I like about this playset is that you can use the furniture in different ways.  The bed can become a loft bed and the cabinets can be used as support for the bed or standalone.  The vanity can become a study desk and the cabinet can transform into a wardrobe.  It's so awesome!

I like this setting very much!  A loft bed is so cute and the ladder fits perfectly against the bed.

But I like this setting even more because you can display and see better the storage cabinet.

As you can see in the photos below, Licca-chan fits perfectly in her new bedroom :)

I did not add any other accessories than the doll and her teddy bear to the bedroom set so you can see how it looks like just by itself.   But for the future, I will probably add some of my existing miniature items from Re-ment and Barbie collection to embellish the bedroom.

Takara has released a new Licca bedroom with a Hello Kitty theme!  It's exactly the same model as this bedroom but with red accents and Hello Kitty objects.  So maybe the price for this pink bedroom will go down in the future?  If I do notice it, I will blog about it so you can grab it while it's still available!

Do you like the pink-haired Licca doll in today's photos?  She is a Licca Castle I bought from the Etsy store Found in Japan!  I will blog about her and my other Licca Castle doll (the blue-haired one) soon :D

Have a good week!

Melissa and Doug Fold & Go Woodland Dollhouse

As explained in my previous post, I am selling some of my dollhouses.  One of them is my first wooden dollhouse.  I think it might even be my first dollhouse period.  Since I will put it up for sale, I might as well write a review about it before it goes away.

I saw the Melissa & Doug Fold & Go Woodland Treehouse many years ago and fell instantly in love with its whimsical design.  The title says treehouse but it's really a dollhouse.  There are doors to both the front and back.

Included in the dollhouse are :

• 2 beds
• 2 chairs
• 1 table
• 1 ladder
• 1 plush bunny
• 1 plush bear

The furniture are well-made and carefully painted.  There is a nick in the ladder so it can latch on to the dollhouse without falling.  The plush animals are very cute and soft.

What I love about this dollhouse is that you can open the doors to the full extent and they stay open or close thanks to clever strings. 

The inside of the dollhouse is left in its natural wood state, which is great because you can customize it the way you want or you can leave it as is.  I think it's also quite roomy!

The exterior of the dollhouse is beautifully painted! Even the handles are painted! It's colorful but not overwhelming.   I love the bold color of the doors against the wood and nature background. Look at the details of the painting!

There is a balcony/rooftop with plenty of space for furniture or create a garden.

This dollhouse fits Calico Critters (aka Sylvanian Families).

It also fits smaller dolls like the Mini Lalaloopsy.

The dollhouse can also fit Strawberry Shortcake Mini dolls, Playmobil people, and other small figures, but it is too small for Little Dal/Little Pullip dolls.  

I wanted to give the dollhouse to my baby daughter as she started to show a great interest in my bigger dollhouse ^_^   It's sturdy enough to withstand any rough play.  But I will have other dollhouse for her eventually.  I really like this one so I am a little sad to see it go away.   

Orcara - Street Snacks and Giveaway

Today I will be showing you another Orcara Miniature Collection: The Snack Shops / Street Snacks Collection!   It has many items that are popular street food in East Asia.  As usual, they are highly details and have all kind of cool inserts you can remove from the containers.

Bubble Tea
If you haven't tried Bubble Tea or Tapioca Tea, you should! It's so yummy!

Fruit Smoothie

BBQ Skewers

Hot Dogs

Soda Dispenser

Popcorn Machine

Beef Offal
I am not a fan of beef tripe so I'll pass on this LOL

Takoyaki
I was super excited to get this set because takoyaki is one of my favorite Japanese snack food!  It's basically little chunks of octopus in a ball of dough (chewy in the inside, crunchy on the outside).

This is also the GIVEAWAY PRIZE!!!

This is what a full-size takoyaki pan looks like (it's my own).

A few months ago, I posted on Instagram the first batch of takoyaki I made with that pan :)  It turned out just fine and super yummy delicious!

If you have never tried Takoyaki, you are missing out!  It's seriously the most awesome street food ever!  If you want to learn how to make them, you can rely on the very instructive video below  :)   They show the right ingredients and steps.  Or you can do like me and save a few steps by buying an already prepared batter!

To win the miniature Orcara miniature tayokaki set, please follow my blog and leave a comment to this post.  You can link this post in your blog but it's not necessary.

The photo I show you above is my own open set but the winner will receive a brand new set within the sealed bag.   The deadline is September 30th, 2013 at midnight CET.

Good luck to everybody :)

EDIT: THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!

Orcara - Story of Cakes

I am very excited to show you today the The Story of Cakes Miniature Collection from Orcara! Of all the Orcara miniature collection, it is my favorite.   I think it's probably because I am biased toward sweets and cakes but truly these are beautiful miniatures.

Front cover of the individual box

Back cover of the individual box

Complete Set Box

Now to the miniature cakes.  They look AMAZING!   Each set is so detailed and the colors, texture, and accompanying containers and cake stands are beautiful and well made!

Heart Cookie Cake

Citrus Strawberry

Ice Cream Dessert

Chocolate & Pocky

Valentine Delicacy

Fancy Chocolates

Fresh Fruit Cocktail

Fruit of the Forest

I can't get over how cute and beautiful these miniatures are! I wanted to show this to you for quite some time but I had to wait for some Barbie furniture in order to showcase the cakes properly!  Here below is the Barbie Bake Shop and Cafe.  I didn't add any other miniature except the Orcara cakes so you can see what it looks like in a bakery setting. 

And here below are my Licca dolls in the bake shop.  They are only 9 inches tall so barbie dolls at 11 inches tall would tower over the yellow top counter.   But I like my little girls here because they are supposed to be children anyway so their size is appropriate for Barbie furniture. 

Don't you think the cakes look so beautiful displayed in a bake shop?