Collection of Puzzles

I am always fascinated in interesting collections people have.  I saw this collection of puzzles and wondered who collected these:

Source: Cool Pictures

Amazing Konapun--Fake Food

I was looking for interesting collections people have, and I stumbled upon this amazing YouTube video.  These are Japanese creations of play food.  They cooked like real food.  Watch how the rice is prepared and listen to the sizzling sound:



Aren't these cool?   You can also find other Konapun videos ranging from fried food to desserts.  It seems people are collecting these in Japan.  This is what I read from the video description:

(1) It's a Japanese toy named Konapun.
(2) It's not edible.
(3) It's not for children under 8 years old. And must do play under the adult. ( Under adult supervising)
(4) The fake food made of Konapun will rot soon.
(5) It doesn't cook with actual heat. It is just powder and waterwith sound effects.

 Here's another cool one:



When I searched online, I found that there is a big range of prices and I thought many of you might be interested to give these out as Christmas presents.  They are available on Ebay and some other sites.  Here is a video where you can find more answers about them.  Be sure to read the comment below this video to get into the website "rakuten dot com" if you are interested to get some.

Decorated Fake Food

I like to buy little things as souvenirs that do not take up a lot of room to pack whenever I traveled. I bought these soaps that look like sushi from a Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival years ago.   These are so cute to display in the guest bathroom.

Close-up look of the sushi soaps:

These are hand blown glass candies.  They were from Quebec, Canada and various parts of the country.  I displayed the ones that looked like Christmas candies during Christmas season on a hand blown glass tray and the rest are displayed in a silver tray.

Polymer Clay

My little daughter really likes to work with polymer clay.  She is very talented in art and crafts.  She learned to sculpt with it a couple of years ago.  This craft requires a good amount of time and patience to finish.

She made these when she first learned how to sculpt with polymer clay.  The photo frame, vase and glass votive were all made from polymer clay.

This is the necklace she made for her sister as a birthday gift.  She designed this pendant and put it on to the sterling silver ring and chain.

I requested a tiger figurine. She made this tiger freehand for my birthday.

She had fun creating these cute animals during her leisure time.  These animals are one of a kind. 

She

Whenever she doesn't know what to give us for presents, I always tell her to make jewelry or anything from polymer clay.  When she told me she never made a sketch before actually sculpting them, I told her she's so good with this craft, she could sell them at Etsy.  She just laughed and I am glad she has the talent and enjoys making these crafts.

Everything From Papers

My kids love to make crafts in their leisure time.  I thought you might be interested in looking at these fantastic crafts made from papers. These are 3D origami my older daughter tempted to make. They are complicated to make but she enjoyed the challenge.

These are 3D stars.  I think this is the first origami she learned many years ago while visiting Hong Kong.  It's very popular for the young people in Hong Kong to make a thousand of stars, put them in a glass jar and give it to their loved ones as a gift.  Beautiful strips of printed paper and clear glass jars are so popular and easily found in any Asian books and gifts shop here in the U. S. now.

 Beautiful paper flowers:

She made this to separate and store her earrings:

This is how she organize her earrings in the jewelry box:

This barrel is made of magazine papers:

 A framed 3D art:

My little daughter also likes to craft with papers.  She cut the red envelops from Chinese New Year and collaged them into new cards:

She also liked to print these pictures out and fold them, aren't these cute?

She gave me these flowers for mother's day a few years ago when she was still in elementary school.

Collections of Spoons, Pins and Dolls

I enjoy looking at people's collections.  My friend has so many good qualities;  not only is she very environmentally conscious, but she is also very organized with her collections.   I am always interested in what people collect and love looking at them.  I took these pictures from her kids' collections.

Spoon Collection:

 

 Close-up of the spoons, I like the square spoon:

Assorted pins collection:

Dolls collection:

Toothpicks Containers Collection

I was visiting my friend last week and found out that she has this interesting collection. She was so nice to let me take some pictures of her toothpick containers collection. 

This is a very unique piece and also my favorite.  It apparently is made from some kind of cinnamon woods because I could smell the fragrance as I was holding it.  She told me this was a gift her mom had given her 10 years ago.  It was carved by a village man  in Vietnam. Amazingly the fragrance is still there today.

This fabric pouch of toothpicks was given to her from a Japanese restaurant while she dined there.

This is a little Japanese house from Japan.  It's crafted with woods. The back of the house has an area to hold the toothpicks. 

The wooden heads you see in the back of the house (see above picture) and in the wooden box (below) are just the decorations you can stick onto the heads of the toothpicks.

Don't you just love these cute collections!