Comping: August Wins

Last month was a little disappointing when it came to wins - I only needed five bullet points. This month has been much better!

☆ Logo Billionaire board game by Drummond Park, from the ET Speaks From Home blog.
☆ Emily Sparkes and the Competition Calamity book from the Primary Times.
☆ Blue elephant travel bag from Fikay Eco Fashion in collaboration with the Big Issue.
☆ Zelf, Shopkins, Lalaloopsy, etc from the >Never Grow Up blog.
☆ Shopkins Swapkins Party Kit from EvolutionComps.
☆ Mr & Mrs Murder DVD from TNT Magazine.
☆ Bolts and Blip DVD from The Brick Castle blog.
☆ Nuby Flower Child Feeding Set from the Mummy Vs Work blog.
☆ Mini Marlenka Cake from lovemarlenka.co.uk.
☆ The Jolley-Rogers and the Cave of Doom book by Jonny Duddle from ?

☆ Goodreads:
          - Auberon (Jessica Keller Chronicles #1) by Blaze Ward.
          - Beyond The Sea - Melissa Bailey.
          - Echoes Resounding from the Past by Cheryl Freier.
          - Generations of Betrayal: Lies, Lies and More Lies by Nsleumas.
          - If Pigs Could Fly by Jonny Nexus.
          - Seasons of Conciousness by Martina W Mullins.
          - Summertime by Vanessa Lafaye.
          - The Killing Kind by Chris Holm. (x17!)
          - The Other Son by Alexander Soderberg.
          - Whispers From The East by Amie Ali.
       

Anthony's caught the comping bug this month - so far he's won two books from Goodreads. Even more exciting (I know, I know, what could be more exciting than Anthony's wins?) is the fact I've been offered the chance to host a couple of giveaways myself in September. Stay tuned for more details! :)

Mini Mart: miniatures.inc, sunsetsammi, theweecrafthoose

Reviews of a few UK ebay miniatures suppliers:


Supplier: miniatures.inc
Website: eBay store.
Products: Handmade 1/12 scale books, food packaging, etc. Really nicely done, and some of the best quality out there for modern packaging.
Post and Packing: Pay once then get free postage on all other items paid for on the same invoice.


Supplier: sunsetsammi
Website: eBay store.
Products: 1/12 scale miniatures, including a range of handmade paper items - like the tarot cards I bought. They were great quality and true to scale.
Post and Packing: Combined postage on multiple purchases and very quick dispatch time.


Supplier: theweecrafthoose
Website: eBay store.
Products: 1/12 scale miniatures, including hand made food packaging.
Post and Packing: Combined postage for items on the same invoice.

Mini Mart: Milklegs - Suffragette Doll

This review first needs a little bit of back story. When Marianna was very young shuffle happened to chance upon the Mary Poppins song 'Sister Suffragette'. It instantly became her new favourite thing, and she still kicks wildly with excitement every time she hears it. This led to the idea, Marianna being the first grandchild on both sides and spoilt rotten in every way, that I could make a suffragette Barbie as a keepsake Christmas present for her. She certainly won't need anything practical, that's for sure.

The doll would have to be a redhead, of course, so I was thinking maybe Sindy's friend Marie, or perhaps Barbie's friend Midge... Then toyboxphilosopher, the doll review blog, happened to have a guest post by Charlotte of Milklegs. Holly O'Hair, the doll above, was the subject of a repaint tutorial. And when I checked out Milklegs' Etsy, Holly was still available for sale. :)


Next, to turn an EAH princess into a suffragette. I brushed her hair and pulled some of it back with a blue ribbon - the flappers of the 1920s were the floppy bow wearing girls of the 1910s, after all. Her plastic gold earrings were swapped out for plastic pearl studs, and she was redressed in Barbie's Promenade in the Park dress. I also made a placard and a rosette in suffragette colours - green, white and violet ('give women the vote'). I just cut out some circles of various sizes, coloured them in, glued them together, snipped the ends to make 'ruffles', then glued a white circle to the back to hold the ribbon and a micro magnet. Then I attached it with another micro magnet on the inside of the blouse.

Finally, I printed out some suffragette handbills, etc, and stuck them to the back plate of an empty doll box (Takara Kimono Barbie) I had lying around. Ta da!



Supplier: Milklegs
Website: Etsy Store.
You can also find them on Tumblr and Instagram.

Products: Doll repaints - primarily Monster High and Ever After High. As anyone who collects dolls will know, good repaints can cost an absolute fortune. Milklegs dolls are generally around £30 and include the doll's original shoes and clothing. Awesome!

Post and Packing: Domestic postage is £3.15. My doll was sent next day recorded about a week after ordering.

Mini Mart: Rebecca's Minis

There is quite a mix of scales going on here - 1/24 scale slot together kitchen from Tiger (it was a birthday present from Anthony!), 1/18 scale Pose Skeletons by Re-ment, and 1/12 scale packaging by rebeccasminis.

Supplier: Rebecca's Minis
Website: eBay Store.  Etsy Store. They also have a Facebook page.

Products: Handmade 1/12 scale prams and car seats on Etsy, and various handmade 1/12 scale accessories (packaging, iPhones, etc) on eBay.

With 1/6th scale, if I can get decent scans online, I'm generally willing to make up my own packaging. It's fiddly and time consuming, but doable. When it comes to 1/12th scale that is just no longer the case. I don't have the patience. So I was very impressed when I received the medicine bundle of six items. The Savlon box in particular is amazing and worth the £1.95 I paid for the set on its own.

Close up of some of the medicine packages.
I also ordered a set of banknotes (5x each of £5, £10, £20 and £50) for £1.80. They are printed on both sides and the best I've seen in my trawls of miniature suppliers. The final item I ordered was an iPhone for £1.35. It is so tiny! But perfect. This last was a gift for my mum who has recently become the proud owner of a Malibu Beach House (more on that some other time), and is looking for modern accessories.

Post and Packing: Postage discounts available on multiple items, I paid £1.40 for my order of three listings. The items were sent protected in a small cardboard box within the envelope which I was really pleased about, as I've sadly ended up with squished miniatures in the past from other sellers. The package arrived within days.

The package, note, and close up of the iPhone and banknotes.

Review: Peppa Pig First Discovery Tablet

It lives!

Back in January I won two KD Toy tablets from The Reading Residence blog: the Palace Pets Magic Screen Tablet and the Peppa Pig First Discovery Tablet, both recommended for ages 2 and up. Now, it's no secret that Peppa Pig and I are far from bosom buddies, but the First Discovery tablet was so impressive I decided to overlook the fact.

The tablet retails between £24.99 (Argos) and £18.99 (BBCShop - currently on offer).

Although only 7 and half months, Marianna still loves anything that makes noise. I liked the idea of that noise being something useful, like colours, numbers and sounds. The touch sensitive buttons are a bit hit and miss as she can't really 'press' them as such yet, but slapping the tablet a few times will invariably make something happen.

Like this.

I like that repeated pressing changes the response. For example, press the triangle once and you get 'the triangle, *ding*', press it again and you get, 'the triangle is red'. Or press the 2 and you get 'the number two' or 'the circle'. The numbers are Marianna's favourite as we go through 1 to 10 a lot with her, and she recognises the sounds.

As she gets older the tablet will remain relevant through its quiz function. It will ask you to find something, and you then need to press the right button. The other thing I like about this tablet is that, if the child loses interest, it will prompt a few times - 'press a key' - and then, realising it's been forsaken, will turn itself off. Saving its own battery life. If only all kids' toys would do the same!

Mini Mart: fan21hk

The bag and books on the bed are from the Sailor Moon Daily Life set.

Supplier: fan21hk
Website: fan21hk.com.  eBay Store.

Products: Re-ment 1/6 sale miniatures.

I love Re-ment - highly detailed plastic 1/6 sale miniatures - but getting hold of them in the UK is generally either impossible or prohibitively expensive. Even buying from abroad can be a pain because of high shipping costs and then customs (I almost never buy from the USA for this reason). But. Fan21hk are the knights in shining armour of UK Re-ment collecting. Their website, selling full sets, is one of the cheapest around, and all prices include free international shipping. I've never had a set held up by customs, either.

You can buy individual splits and other miniatures from their eBay store too. This will work out more expensive, and you have to pay shipping, but you can sometimes find rarer sets this way.

Postage and Packing: Free international postage. My latest purchase was a pre-order for the Sailor Moon Daily Life set. Once they were in stock it was shipped within days, and took about a week to arrive. Really, if you're looking for new Re-ment releases, fan21hk is the way to go.

The parcel.

Mini Mart: BearKnitsAndMore

For scale - the little blue teddy is being held by a baby from the Re-ment Toddler Paradise set.

Supplier: BearKnitsAndMore (Angela Smith)
Website: Etsy Store.

Products: Miniature knitted teddy bears, ranging in size from 5cm high to 3cm high. I bought a tiny blue teddy, and a 'big' glittery pink teddy. They're so adorable, and priced at £3 each they were a total bargain!

Post and Packing: £1 for first class postage in a bubble wrap envelope. My order only took a couple of days to arrive.

Mini Mart: AuldReekieCrafts

Supplier: AuldReekieCrafts (Louise Pendreich)
Website: Etsy Store.

Products: 1/12 scale baskets.

Not just any old baskets either, but moulded from tapestry canvas to give a really good true to scale look. I bought three: this one, this one, and this tiny one because I knew it would look even more adorable in 1/6 scale. The wicker effect is impressive, especially on the rims of the baskets. I love my Re-ment baskets (plastic), but these look much more realistic (which is always the goal!).

This really sweet message was included too.

Post and Packing: £3.20 for multiple items via seconds class post. The basket were wrapped in tissue paper, in a little box, in a padded envelope. They took three days to arrive.

Mini Mart: KogaRyokoSHOP

Licca-chan with the colouring book. (2nd gen Licca head on an Azone body; Re-ment outfit, rabbit and van; Licca bedroom set bed; Bodo Hennig doll house wallpaper; handmade plushie and bedding - recycled from one of Marianna's 3-6 cardigans!)

Supplier: Koga Ryoko (Japanese illustrator)
Website: Etsy Store.

Products: Stationery and miniature books.

I can never resist miniature books, they're just so cute. I bought two 1/6 scale colouring books (£1.06 each) and a dressing up book (£1.59, and perfect for that toy shop...). They're so professionally done, with glossy covers and thread binding, and look fantastic.

Post and Packing: Postage to the UK from Japan for all three items was 53p. You can't send a letter within the UK for 53p. I ordered on August 1st and it arrived on August 5th. The items were sent bubble wrapped in an envelope, and the seller included a cute sticker as a bonus which was such a sweet gesture! Really, I can't recommend them highly enough.

Mini Mart: Melody Jane Dolls' Houses

I bought some new accessories for my 70s' living room - this is Sindy's Wall of Sound repapered with a page from Pepin pattern book #54; the plates, stands and fruit bowl are Re-ment, while the rest are from a mix of UK suppliers.

Supplier: Melody Jane Dolls' Houses
Website: www.melodyjane.com. Well laid out and easy to use, the only real problem is that the search function doesn't work, which is quite frustrating if you're looking for something in particular.

Products: 1/12 scale dolls' house and miniatures, plus a small selection of 1/24, 1/144 and 1/148.

Based in Conwy, Melody Jane stock all the usual brands (Streets Ahead, Town Square, Farrow Industries) as well as some of the more hard to find like Bodo Hennig and a range of handmade miniatures. The best bit is their clearance section where you can find some real bargains - I picked up a slight seconds 'Harry' hoover for under £2, 6 little dog ornaments for 25p, and 36 Licca-chan sized plastic helmets for £1.50.

Altogether I bought 35 items - my favourites were these two angel ornaments (20mm high and £2 each) and the little sailing ship (£7.20).

Post and Packing: £3.50 on all UK orders - unless you spend over £45 in which case postage is free. You can upgrade to next day delivery for £5.95. Their international postage is brilliant too, at £5. All orders paid for by 1pm will be dispatched the same day. I paid for my order on Thursday night and it arrived on Saturday morning.

My well packaged parcel.

Mini Mart: Furniture For Dolls

I have really been getting back into miniatures in the last few months, which means I've bought some new stuff for my doll house. I plan on doing a series of haul / review posts on the various suppliers I got them from - because you tend to see plenty of reviews for dolls but hardly any for miniatures.

In my Sindy house - the chest of drawers is vintage Tressy, cassette player and sport bag are Re-ment, the book (Scouting for Boys) is Dateman, and the bedding I made myself.

Supplier: Furniture For Dolls
Website: Etsy Store

Products: 1/6 scale wooden furniture.

This is surprisingly difficult to find, especially at prices which don't put you in mind of their 1/1 scale counterparts. I normally use Sindy furniture because that doll had just about everything, but I have been hankering after some 1/6 scale bunkbeds for years so I splashed out and spent £15.77 on this set. I might paint them in the future like the seller has done HERE (typically that one wasn't listed when I found them...), but for now I'm happy with white.

Post and Packing: The seller is based in the Ukraine, and they only offer tracked shipping so it cost a bit more than it might have done (£11.83), but nowhere near as atrocious as it would have been if they were US based. Estimated shipping time for the UK is 10 to 15 days - it actually took 9 days to reach me. It was packed securely in plastic wrap, polystyrene foam and a cardboard box.

Overall I'm really happy with the bunkbeds. I kept saying I would make my own but, really, I hate making things like furniture, and it wouldn't have turned out as nicely. I already have my eye on the shelving sets for the future toy shop diorama...