My cousin Crisie graduated from college on May 7th, and she is studying to be a chef! Of course, everyone enjoys going to visit because Crisie is, naturally, an excellent chef. Anyway, Crisie posted a photo of one of her final practicals, a beautiful raspberry cheesecake with a pineapple, apricot, and macadamia nut compote. Here is a picture:

Photo courtesy of Crisie

After seeing the photo of her beautiful cheesecake, I wanted to try to make a tiny one on my own.

 

It's definitely more of a nod to her cheesecake than a miniature replica, but I love it either way. I think the leaf detail really makes it recognizable as Crisie's dessert. :)
Congratulations, Crisie! We are so proud of you.

Last night I was hit with a wave of creativity and I attempted to make something I thought I never could: French crepes. I had always thought about making miniature crepes, but I never tried because I thought it would be a frustrating, headache-inducing nightmare. However, these were relatively easy to make and I love how they look!

 

The first time I tried crepes was in high school in my French class, and a year later I was lucky enough to try authentic crepes in Paris. I absolutely love them, especially with chocolate and strawberries, which I was able to replicate in my miniatures. 

I am afraid they are a little too delicate to wear as jewelry, but I am going to work on making them more durable.

I made some tiny cinnamon rolls today!  I was very surprised at how nicely they turned out. I made four of them, but I couldn't stand the way the other two looked, so I scrapped them. They were frustrating for me to make, but I love the end result.

I turned 22 on March 26th but I didn't want a cake, so my dad suprised me with these macarons and fruit tarts from Provence Breads & Cafe in Nashville.

My dear friend and ex-roommate, Natalie, came to Nashville to visit this weekend. I absolutely love when Natalie comes to visit because we have similar interests and get along perfectly. We went to Hillsboro Village and visited a couple of stores.

This Goethe novel, "The Sorrows of Young Werther" and play, "Goetz von Berlichingen", were purchased at Bookman/Bookwoman, a rare and used bookstore with a HUGE selection of books. Walking into the store, for me, is like walking into heaven. Row after row of books, stacks and piles of books, books everywhere. It's a wonderful atmosphere and I am always able to find exactly what I am looking for. They also have a variety of books in different languages, so I always stop by the German section to pick up a few books to help me work on my (terrible) German.
Used books, already being "green" in the sense that you are literally recycling the books to be used and loved once more after being abandoned by previous owners, are so interesting to me. I love finding notes, messages, and other tiny things that give hints about prior owners and what they did with the books, like these translations in my Goethe books:

We also visited a consignment store called Clothing XChange. I love this store, so much. The prices are extremely cheap and reasonable, and they also help to support local artists by selling original art in their store! I picked up this high-waisted plaid skirt for only 10 dollars.

- Vintage plaid skirt from Clothing XChange
- Belt from Charlotte Russe
- Grey shirt from Forever 21
- Black wedges from Forever 21

Look at these little creme brulees I made today, complete with their tiny ramekins and caramelized sugar. I like how they came out.

 

I absolutely adore making miniature pies. In the picture above, I am holding miniature key lime pie, lemon meringue, pumpkin pie, and blueberry cheesecake. Every time I show someone my pie charms, they always give me new ideas by telling me what their favorite type of pie or cheesecake is! I don't think I'll ever run out of ideas when it comes to different types of pies. 

Recently, I was watching an episode of Barefoot Contessa (my absolute favorite cooking show) and Ina Garten baked some French madeleines. I had never heard of them before, but they were tiny lemon-flavored tea cakes in the shape of a seashell. I was really intrigued by them, as I am with most French cakes & pastries.
Later that week, I went to a cookware shop with a friend and she pointed out several madeleine pans! I decided that it was a sign and immediately began work on my own, tiny version of French madeleines.

 click to enlarge

I used a bit of gold chalk to make it seem as if they had been baked. They are tiny, but just big enough to use for stud earrings! I am also working on some larger ones, but I prefer, by far, these tiny ones.

I made these life-size petit fours a while back. Making faux petit fours is a lot of fun because of the vivid colors used in the frosting and the eccentric decorations that are found on real ones!
I love the way they look, but I still think they are a little bit too big to wear as jewelry.

 

I hate donuts. I always have. I can hardly stand to be in the same room as a box of donuts, because the smell of them turns my stomach. I wish I liked them though, because they are so cute! I made a few miniature French crullers today for my mom for Valentine's Day.

I turned a matchbox inside out and glued it back together to make a little box to hold the donuts. I loved how it ended up looking in the end.

As far as REAL food that doesn't nauseate me, my mom bought me an early Valentine's gift today! Beautiful mini-tarts with slices of kiwi and strawberry.

I have had an obsession with skulls and skeletons for about a year now... and, along with my new found interest in resin and lucite, I have come up with these.

I made the molds myself, and I cast the resin and added the colors and crystal eyes myself. I haven't glued them together, and I'm still deciding whether I like them better on a necklace or a ring (the frames the skulls are in are 36mm x 40mm) but I just love them. I am trying to find some better opaque dyes for resin that are more vibrant. This picture makes them look a lot darker in color than they actually are, but other than the dull colors, I am more than satisfied with the results.

What I wore today:
 - Sage low-back t-shirt from Charlotte Russe
-  Faux fur leopard jacket from Forever 21
-  Hand-me-down white painter paints
-  Beautiful wooden Coach heels that I stole from my best friend

Look at these beautiful French macarons I bought at Provence Cafe in Hillsboro Village in Nashville! The heart-shaped macaron is a limited edition for Valentine's Day, and it's so cute. Macarons are such a trendy food right now, and I've had them before, but the current macaron-craze inspired me to go out and buy a couple authentic ones. :)

I experimented today with making some jam-filled cookies. I was inspired by Jammy Dodgers, a British biscuit that is filled with plum jam.

 

I'm not entirely sure I like what I came up with. They're cute, but they don't look exactly like I wanted them to... which annoys me.

I also can't decide if I like the cookies with the flowers in the middle or the small hearts. I guess for now, these jam cookies will just be prototypes.

Look at these tiny cookie charms I made today! The outside is polymer clay and the filling is made of Fuwa Fuwa whipped cream.

Hello! I'm Erin, I'm a 21 year old drifter, temporarily settled in Nashville, TN. I am an avid crafter and lover of animals, nature, traveling and all things tiny and cute.

I have been making miniature foods out of polymer clay for a few years now. (The first thing I ever made was a sushi cane!) I have moved on to bigger and better things now, and I am planning on perfecting my little foods to sell soon.

More recently, I have become absolutely OBSESSED with making little tarts out of clay!

The five tarts seen in the bottom picture were made yesterday! I made a small order from the online deco supply shop, Sophie & Toffee and ordered some Fuwa Fuwa whipped cream. I usually make my own whipped cream out of liquid sculpey and white polymer clay, which gets really strenuous, so it was a nice change to use the Fuwa Fuwa. The Fuwa Fuwa also came with a tip, which I loved. Overall it worked quite well and I was very pleased with the results.