Saying Goodbye…

Okay, misleading title…no I am not the one saying goodbye! This post is focused on bidding goodbye to an employee of mine. While I am sad to see her go, I am excited for her new adventures and her move to the mainland! Now, she is a graphic designer so I knew I wanted to personalize her gift with something handmade…and well…if you know me, you also know I am obsessed with miniatures so guess what I did…

I made a miniature of her office! Yes, this was all done by hand from scratch…I wanted to help her to commemorate her first ever office space as well.
Made her bookshelf, mirror (yes her mirror is blue!), art work…
Of course the iPad box contains an iPad inside too! Gotta focus on the details!
Did I? Yes, these are real books in her shelf that I scanned the covers of to create the books! Sorry I didn’t get to show a book inside, but the pages are text lined! Loved creating these mini books!!
One of my favorites in this project, creating the cork bulletin board! Yes, the pictures were the same as the ones on her real board!
Created the blinds in her office with the exact view out of her window…and yes, the blinds move!

I put a lot of work into this piece and while I had my moments of insanity (mainly because I am so focused and detailed), it was all worth it because she loved it! Ugh…I love miniatures so much…

Of course I had to cook for the going away party! I made homemade pancit because it’s one of her favorite foods. Very nervous making this because it’s just such a good dish and the taste is key! I gotta admit, I did a test run myself before this day and did not like the first test. I revamped the recipe I worked with and I think it came out great! My coworkers seemed to like it so I am super happy!

If you follow Kat, you would have noticed she talked about Butterfly Pea Flower tea the other week! It was such a coincidence because I had just ordered the dried flowers online and was prepping to make this drink! So you steep the flowers and the water turns into a very bright blue color. When mixed with acid, it changes color! I made a fresh lemonade (first time, was good!) and poured the drinks at the party. It was so fun to see it turn purple and pink! The tea itself doesn’t have a strong taste or any taste, it’s hard to explain. I would pour maybe 3/4 of lemonade to 1/4 of the tea. Tastes great!

Update: Current Hobby

Hey folks! This past week has been a doozy, in a good way! My office has been a complete and utter mess, the past few years, I’ve had the “excuse” of being in grad school to avoid cleaning. Well, it’s been a year since I graduated and I finally found the motivation to clean. It really did feel cathartic. There are some things that I’ve held onto for sentimental reasons, I decided to let go of some for my sanity! I cleared out at least 3 garbage bags and my office now looks great. I had at least two people mention they didn’t know I had two chairs in my office, that is pretty bad. I’ll have to try to keep it up, wish me luck!

Also within the last week, I started to build miniatures. I’ve always liked doing crafts and projects by hand so this was a natural progression. For those who know me well, know that I absolutely love miniatures. I’ve been watching tutorials on YouTube and decided to take the leap…buying all the supplies I need to start-up. If you’re looking for a starting point, please allow me to recommend The Square to Spare, she is awesome and gives great tutorials along with what materials to buy. I don’t know where I would be without her channel. The room divider I made below is based on this video. So anyway, no food today…just some pieces I made thus far…

First attempt! The cutting board with knife. The cutting board was from this tutorial. The knife, I carved out myself using wooden coffee stirrers.

Progress on the room divider. I messed it up but I messed up consistently so it turned out okay. I learned a lot of lessons doing this piece…

I’ve never done well with measuring and exact dimensions, I’m going to have to learn to be! I drew this cherry blossom tree free hand! Not the prettiest but I am still proud…

There are uneven pieces here, I learned the hard way that wooden coffee stirrers are not all the same size and shape…haha.

Dollhouse hinges! Yes! This divider can be opened and closed! Yay!

Can you tell what this one is? This was done on my own, no tutorials.

It’s inspired by those big floor lantern lights! Custom art by Jenny. Well, I printed out templates to trace onto parchment paper…still wasn’t super easy but so worth it. Koi fish, turtles and lotus flowers. I made this as a gift for my friend, I really hope he likes it.