Spooky Halloween house kit from Shein, cost about £20. I thought would share in case anyone else is considering it. Lots of fun miniature aspects, like making potion bottles from beads and I packed it with little 3d things. But instructions were hard to understand and it ended up pretty wonky in places. The lighting was a nightmare, no perspex for the windows (I added that) and worst of all, most of the build was plain wood and you have to stick paper on it. So not sure would recommend but am pleased with how it turned out.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZEYMgUQ76_fPA6eDbZs7EZNmPOSh_XgQ6ViJu-RNIe2FsFA/viewform?usp=dialog

Sorry for all the details, but some folks like them and easy to scroll on by if you don't. I love it when others share tips, so here goes. Santorini, Greece was on my lifetime bucket list, and this kit reminds me of the golden glow. This is the most I've ever modified, so I'll start at the front and work back. Covered steps and terrace in "stones" of thin cardboard, and was pleased the sensor still works. All of the woodwork and shutters got painted in something, mostly cobalt blue and white as in Greece. I made a stand for the aged clay pot (w a syringe tube) to use on the steps since it blocked some of the inside view. The tablecloth is two patterns of fabric. Glass of lemonade is left from Seabreeze build. Pots on the left shelf include recycled paper beads. I wove two baskets, blue for the lemons and the brown for plants. (Might make umbrellas for there?) All the extra lemons were made from Sculpey rolled over a firm sponge for texture. The male figure (and all others ) is from Temu or Hobby Lobby. I've not added figures before, but ya'll have inspired me! The balcony on the left has added greenery and fuschia flowers. Also on that side is a young man in the balcony near the seagull; kind of an Easter egg. Moss dots the wall leading down to the ocean, where a tiny couple are watching the sea. The acrylic plate to cover the sea was missing (Rolife offered a replacement), but i wanted to try an idea anyway. Using clear UV Paste, i rolled and stretched waves across the ocean, cured and painted whitecaps, then floated a coat of clear UV over it all. I was worried it would be too shiny but I like it. Village roofs were too pink for Greece, so I painted them with terracotta. Verandah on the right was also painted, and greenery was added. My favorite mod, and one I'll use again, is making the terracotta tiles for the roof. I used a Starbies cup band for the first one, painted with nail polish and a matte coat. I found a good way to peel apart an Amazon box for the rest. I've bought a tub of paint so I can use a bigger brush for future! Hope you try it, as i think you'll like the results.

Wish list: I really wanted those tiny lamp posts to glow on the lower level, and also wished there was more light from the village area. Santorini, aka Sunset Isle, will now be included in my Travels shelf. I love, love this build! Thanks for being the super encouraging people that you are.

I've been done for a week or two now, but I'm a bit slow to post. This is such a fun kit! Soooo much detail, much of which will never be seen once completed. Plus soooo many teeny, tiny pieces! Soooo much edge painting!

Today was a pretty great day.. I finally received my order for the Rolife event. Yay! I opened it up and started in... realizing I had none of the paint markers I needed. Thats ok, though, I bought yet another set which should be here by Friday, hopefully. Must. Edge. Paint! :)

Make Market (from Michael’s) Lantern book nook.

I really wanted to love this build. I think it looks super cool and I got it 40% off. BUT! I think even at that price ($24ish) it’s a tad over priced.

The interior pieces were fiddly and more breakable than I like. The 3-d elements look cheap, and I had a hard time trying to find ways to customize them. My printed sheets were printed wrong (see pic) so my gift boxes looked wonky.

2-2.5/5 for me. BUT if I could get it for $15-16 or lower, I would purchase a couple more to make as gifts, now that I know the limitations of the set and use different ideas to glam it up. Xposted

finished assembling and detailing this little cooking bookstore!

The box says CUTefun, but I swear this feels like an older CUTEBEE kit. The way all the interior pieces were packaged was extremely familiar, especially that little yellow bag-shaped ziplock they use. So if anyone recognizes this one or knows whether it was previously sold under CUTEBEE, I would genuinely love to know.

Build-wise, I think my favorite thing is how genuinely cluttered the finished shop feels. There are cookbooks stacked on tables, stuffed into displays and tucked onto shelves, open drawers with rolled papers inside, recipe cards everywhere, and approximately zero usable counter space.

The storefront opens up, but I especially love looking through the windows because every angle catches a different little section of the shop. I included close-ups because half the fun is finding all the tiny things buried behind everything else.

Apparently even in miniature form, retail has a storage problem. 📚🍰

The little you see here is two crafting sessions' worth. I suspect that if I was just making this kit and pressing on, it would take two or three days total. But I was inspired by u/shyslothbinks' stunning version of this kit to go a little further with it!

Now, I'm not going as far as they did. I'm not good enough at painting to paint flowers on the sides of book nook pieces. 😅 But I am going multicolor in several places.

Photo 1: I think the sides of this ofrenda-like display are going to be hidden in the end. It's okay. This was an encouraging start.

Photos 3 and 4: always funny to make structures that are floating in space until the larger structure comes together.

Photo 5: while not hidden now, these kitty motifs will definitely be hidden on the back wall once the kit is done.

A couple of comments. First, be very, very careful with the acrylic pieces. They don't have connection points, but they are thin and fragile in places. Our lady on the balcony lost an arm and, I think, a finger on the other arm when I installed her. The arm has been repaired, but the finger was far too small. Hopefully she is not visibly damaged.

Second, don't feel like you need hundreds of dollars of acrylic paint pens of every color to edge paint. I'm using a set of 36 that I got from Amazon for ten bucks. Close enough is good enough - a mild camouflage is all you are looking for.

I felt kind of tired seeing another shelf of multicolored items on the next page of the instructions, 😅 but I'll get back into it later this week.

Fifijoy Event - this is as far as I'm getting on the Abandoned Asylum before the event is finished. The next couple of days will be dedicated to the Rolife event and Stationary Shop.

I love the Abandoned Asylum. I love the grittiness of it. I have spent way too long on edge painting because I enjoyed it.

I just noticed that I'm missing one of the round ceiling lights. I need to look for it tomorrow.

Side note: I had to quit American Horror Story season 2: Asylum because asylums just creep my pants out.

It was my first fifijoy but it will not be my last.

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for my next kit (book nook or anything similar) and would love your recommendations.

What I'm after:
- Lots of pieces / a long build. I want something that keeps me busy for a while.
- Mostly snap-fit. A bit of glue here and there is totally fine, but I don't want a kit where 80% of the pieces need gluing. 30% of glueing is ok.
- No painting at all (or very minimal)

I loved my Alice in Wonderland book nook because it went together without glue, but my last kit needed glue, paint and scissors for almost everything, and it really killed the fun. I loved the Alice in wonderland but it was a bit “too easy/too fast” to build ahah.

Any kits you'd recommend? Thanks!

This just came a few days ago and I wanted to post before the end of the contest.
I enjoyed the build so far. It took me a little bit to adjust to the small scale and tweezers help. I appreciate that the small scale allows for more details. I like the art and colors used.

I'm actually intrigued with these two. One looks like a train car with cats and the other appears to be a patisserie in Paris. I'm especially interested in how the train car will look and how detailed the patisserie will be, but I'm not a huge fan of the 2D cats (wish they were actual figures), but the print looks nice in the previews. I'm betting the price will be in line with their usual $89 USD. It does seem like Anavrin is releasing left and right lately... thoughts?

Edit: spelling

Working on Blossom Book Booth. Been busy so I've been working on this little by little. I love the British phone booth. Lots of foam books.

I would say that there is one light and there is no touchpad. You have to fiddle with the battery box hidden in the post box. I think they should have thought that through more.

Not sure if I'll have this completely done by Friday so I wanted to share the WIP version of this Halloweeny miniature house pre-Halloween!

I said it before, and I'll say it again...this kit is a marvel of design/engineering. Everything fits together so precisely. The building pieces are slotted in so closely around the mechanism and the speaker. I fall in love with this kit a little more every day.

The coffee factory is coming to life now with design parts being slotted in. I've had zero breakage (thank goodness) but I have noticed extras of the more fragile pieces on the boards. The more stubborn pieces are being coaxed out with carefully with the assistance of a razor blade to pop the connection points.

I've only build one other ROKR kit which was a small Santa with sleigh pendulum kit. This kit is so much more than that. It's an advanced build with 593 pieces, music, and movement. It's challenging, beautiful and downright amazing. If you want a challenge, get this.

I had to clean up my area today before I proceeded. I craft on a coffee table in the living room. When you spend time repeatedly trying to find pieces, tools and markers, it's time to tidy up. Believe it or not but this is tidy for me. 🤣

The most challenging piece so far was K33. I was a bit tentative putting it in place and didn't get it slotted in at the the connection points. The part fits snuggly connecting to points of 3.or 4 peieces and I was afraid to break anything so it was sort of rocking when I activated the mechanism for a test. All good now though.

Thinking of getting my gf it for Christmas. Anyone have any experience with it? How was the quality and the level of difficulty? Also what type of glue should I get and do i need a wood polisher?

Oh boy was I excited when I saw this listed as new arrivals on their app today! And $19, I think so! clap clap

I'm documenting this build step by step (there are 26 in this build). My plan is to make it into a Dutch toy shop in 'Sinterklaastijd', the weeks before Sinterklaas on 5 December. I will add some props, but I haven't so far. I did add red and yellow a lot

Picture 1 and 2: step 1 completed. Already added red and yellow. And of course edge painting

Picture 3: step 2 completed. Very cute robots to build. They're plastic sand you have to assemble them. Love it!

Picture 4, 5 and 6: step 3 and 4 completed. In step 3 you only make a few presents, using two of them in step 4, leaving 1 present for later. Again more red and yellow, and edge painting on the doll

Picture 7: step 5 completed. Edge painting takes a lot of time, but I really enjoy it! Especially if those edges are as visible as on the arms of the soldier

Im not sure if this is the best place for this, remove if its not but here we go.

I found these two book ends at an opshop for $15 but they aren't exactly my vibe.

I'm a book girly with a love for crafting, paint and creating but I think im gonna need a hand with this project.

Im thinking of fixing the broken part with some wood putty (anys brand recs welcome) sanding, making the page grooves look better and finish them, restaining in a darker maybe leather colour stain and finishing with some gold touches and sealing them for a long life on my bookshelf, but I'm terrified to start this and thought getting some advice before starting could be a good start.

Any and all advice welcome, I know this might be a big job but I'm invested and wanna give it a try.

This was very fulfilling. I enjoyed that it had so many pieces. The end result is impressive. I wish I could shrink down and go shopping!!!! I want more book nooks to incorporate hinges. I like these easy plastic ones! I loved the foam books for a change and the floors look great. I don't know why, but I want a tiny gold birdcage in there. The mix of 2d and 3d objects is nice.

This is my first Fifijoy kit and so far the quality of the pieces and prints are fantastic. I think I may leave the right wing intact 🪽 🤔. Probably won't get much more done for a few weeks but I already love the look.

It's been a day of slow detailed progress. Using a fork to wrap the tiny balls of 'yarn' was far easier than my handcrafted tool, so I had all except the last 5 done by lunchtime.

I covered the ironing board, and added a cable to the modern iron on the third unit as I don't think wireless technology has got quite that far!

I've had to stop filling the little box with fabric rolls now due to the need to go and do food shopping, but will pick it up again tomorrow :)

Starting my 2nd build for the Fifijoy Event.