Re-ment Hamtaro Room

 Dear Readers,

A few months ago I found out Re-ment had released a collection about Hamtaro.  The hamster character was from a cute Japanese manga and anime.  

The Re-ment set is called "Hamtaro Room" and featured 8 sets of miniatures, including a fridge, a bed, and numerous little house and food items.

It was just too cute to pass so I got it as soon as I could and displayed them in the Fairy Treehouse from Playmobil.

But the treehouse was a little small so I tried to fit them in the Li'l Woodzeez Acorn Treehouse.  This one has a light on the first floor and next to the front door.  

The Acorn Treehouse came with its own set of furniture and accessories.  I love the leaf chairs and table!  But the cups and small accessories are too big for the Hamtaro figures.

It's not really a problem because the Re-ment box came with their own cups and food items!

I think the Re-ment Hamtaro Room could possible fit in different dollhouses as well like the ones from Playmobil or Calico Critters (Sylvanian Families).  

What do you think about this miniature collection?  

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any stores or website.  

A Day at the Bakery

My evenings have been so busy this past week.  Christmas dinner with the company, attending the boy's school recital, shopping for our first sofa... Can you believe we never had one?  Hubby wanted a  minimum of furniture because our tiny flat is small enough as it is but then he realized it's much more comfortable to sit on a couch than on the floor.

Well, with all these activities, there has been very little time to work on my Christmas village.  Progress has stalled as I am not happy yet with the present setting.  The background was supposed to be light blue sky but my husband came back with dark blue posters >.<  Never send a man on a shopping trip to buy the stuff you need!!! 

But I guess the dark blue will just have to do so I set up a few scenes and took some photos.  I wonder if you can guess what the story will be about :)

Baby showed much interest in the Christmas village.  While I worked on the scene display, I had to give her something to play with because she would constantly point to the little critters.

A sneak peek at the Christmas dollhouses

Since I will be decorating a few of my dollhouses for Christmas, I thought I might as well create a village to display them.  But it's been so busy at work (December and January are the busiest months!) and at home with two of my sisters-in-law moving to new houses.  

I hope I will have more free time this weekend so I can finish decorating and putting in place all the miniature pieces.  Below are some pictures I have posted on my Instagram this week :)

Most items are from Sylvanian Families / Calico Critters, Li'l Woodzeez and Playmobil.
 

 

Initially, I had intended to use the Playmobil Christmas miniature and hide them in the Christmas Advent Tree Calendar so each day we can add one piece to the dollhouse.  Well it's didn't go as planned because my boy found the Playmobil toys in my closet (I should have hid them better LOL) and so I allowed him to open the boxes and we started decorating right away.  My boy spent about an hour on this project and we had a really good time. 

 

As you can see, the Christmas tree is so bare.  I bought Christmas ornaments from an online shop many months ago and stored them away until now.  When I opened the box last week, I realized I unfortunately ordered the wrong size so they are too big for my mini tree! 

 

I guess I'll have to create some of my own!  I don't mind so much though because it's so much fun to work on miniature stuff.  

 

I am sure they won't be as beautiful as the mini ornaments made by Wyrna (from the miniature blog A Fairy Tale Come True) which are available on her Etsy Shop.

 

I have asked Wyrna her permission to show some  pictures of her ornaments and Christmas bags and boxes!  Look how pretty they are!

 

 

 

I wish you all a fantastic weekend and I hope you will be able to stay safe and warm inside your home!

 

 







Happy Camper

A few weeks ago I walked past the Li'l Woodzeez  Happy Camper and I could simply not leave the store without it!  I always wanted to get a camper van and I have been eyeing the one from the Calico Critters collection for quite some time now but it was still too pricey.  So when I saw this box at half the price of that other camper... you bet I took it home with me!  

I really love the toys from the Li'l Woodzeez collection.  If you don't know about them, you must go check it out!  They shows tons of detailed photos of their toys so you really know what to expect when you buy them.

They are much more affordable than toys from the Calico Critters/Sylvanian Families brand. One could argue that Calico Critters toys are better designed and of better quality but I am very happy with this camper van set.  I haven't owned or played with the Calico Critters Camper so I can't really say which one is better, but I know which one was less expensive ;-)  This one is beautiful and comes with a great number of accessories!

The inside of the camper van is very big.  It is made to fit the Li'l Woodzeez fluffy animals but it is perfect for my Strawberry Shortcake dolls as well.  It can also fit Calico Critters / Sylvanian Families, Lalaloopsy Mini Dolls and Melissa and Doug Dolls.

The galley is very functional. All door and drawers open but you cannot put anything in the oven because it is covered with a cardboard picture of pizzas, which I think is a real bummer. They could have easily made a space inside the oven!

But there is a removable drying dish rack with 4 little pegs that you can push on the countertop so it won't fall.  I also like the pots that you can cover with a lid  There are actually many items that come with this toy.

Below is the list of items included in the Happy Camper (from the official Li'l Woodzeez website):

1 car, 1 camper, 1 spare tire, 1 luggage, 1 table, 1 double size sofa bed, 2 armchairs convertible into single beds, 1 foldable sofa mat, 2 foldable armchair mats, 2 large cushions, 2 small cushions, 1 dish rack, 1 pot & 1 lid, 1 pan, 2 milk bottles, 1 large bowl, 4 large plates, 2 large cans, 1 small can, 1 honey jar, 1 peanut butter jar, 1 chocolate spread, 2 jam jars, 3 loaves of bread, 3 apples.  

The Characters shown on the box are however sold separately. which I don't mind at all because I already have a few Calico Critters and other characters that can use this camper van.

The furniture is made of sturdy plastic and the chairs can all recline to a complete horizontal form and become a sofa bed.  The cushions used with the chairs can also be folded open to form a mattress. The cushions come with velcro sewn to their back which are used to stick the mattress back into a cushion form.  There are lovely curtains with ties at each window and the door of the van can open.

There are hidden storage space under the table and under the floor of the camper van.  I find that very useful and well thought of, because you can store the many items that come with this toy and it also emulates the clever use of space in a real camper van.

The car is big and has a removable luggage that you can open.  It can fit six Strawberry Shortcake Mini Dolls (in the car, not in the luggage!) and it can pull the camper van thanks to the strong magnet located underneath the luggage which connects to the magnet in front of the camper van.

There is also a tire that fits in the back of the van. It is really a good addition because it gives the possibility for the children to think about what would happen if they puncture their tire and so they would need a spare. That eventually leads to talking about the list of things to bring for a trip and planning ahead for solutions to possible problems!

This toy was a great hit with the very young kids too but be aware that there are many small pieces that would be dangerous for babies and toddlers.  My nephews are all over 3 years old now so they know not to put toys in their mouth but I wouldn't give this to younger children.

I paid full price for this camper van and I don't regret it at all.... but if you consider buying one and have a Target store nearby, it is on sale this week! If you don't have that store in your area or it does not ship to your location, there is always good old Amazon but it is unfortunately more expensive there than at Target.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my review and I wish that everybody could find a nice camper van like this for their children to play with!  :)