Love how this came together in the end. So sweet and cute. I am a little sad that some of the best details are hidden within the store. Also found the gluing difficult at times but sticking with it was so worth it

The Flowery Sweets & Teas model was a lot of fun to work on and customize! First of all, I was pleased with the great customer service from Unicorn Toys. The item arrived very quickly, and with all pieces accounted for. The kit from Unicorn Toys also came with the glue, paint (for the original colours), and batteries, which was a wonderful surprise. Whenever I ordered from anywhere else, I only got the glue (and even that’s not guaranteed), so the extras in this package were really convenient. For this reason, I’ll continue to order DIY miniature models locally from Unicorn Toys in the future.

Overall, this model is very cute. It is smaller than some of the regular Rolife models, and a bit easier to make, but it is still a satisfying project that requires patience and focus. I think this would be a good starter kit for someone wanting to make a miniature for the first time. In this kit, you will make a variety of different items (small accessories, paper plants, metal wire work, wooden furniture, building structures, and setting up simple lighting). There’s enough for you to experience working with different materials and techniques, but without getting too overwhelmed by sheer quantity of tasks.

If you’re a beginner and follow the instructions to make the original design, you will get a very charming final product that is accurate to the advertised product photos. All of the decorations and paint colours for the original design are included in the kit. But if you are a bit more experienced with miniatures, you can still have a lot of fun by customizing it with some paint and miscellaneous craft supplies from the dollar store. There’s a lot of opportunity to add your own flair and make a unique product. This is the route I took- I made my own colour scheme, added some clay food, and used various cheap scrapbooking items I had lying around. It requires a lot more time than following the original instructions, but the end result is a lot of fun! The fact that this was a good quality product to begin with, and can be further adapted to an individual’s style makes this kit a great choice for beginners and experienced crafters alike. It’s probably too complicated for young kids (a lot of small pieces, and requires using sharp tools, etc.), but would be fun for teenagers and up.

[CONTENTS OF THE KIT]
1. An instruction booklet – I found this set of instructions to be better organized than some of the ones from previous Rolife models I’ve worked on. There are some instances where a couple of simple steps are grouped together in the instructions, but they’re still fairly clear. It would be helpful if some of the instruction images were printed a bit bigger, though.

2. Wooden base, and multiple wooden trays with pieces that can be popped or cut out. The wooden pieces are used to make the furniture and building. Most are unpainted, but some of the more complicated pieces come already painted, which is helpful. The wider pieces of wood are reasonably sturdy. However, some of the very long and thin wooden pieces (ie. chair legs) are more fragile, so I recommend cutting pieces out with an exacto knife. If you try to just pop out the long and thin wooden pieces, they might snap. If they do snap, they can be fixed with some glue and a top coat of acrylic paint.

3. A mini paper booklet of schematics used to identify the pieces from the wooden trays. The wooden trays themselves do not have the part numbers printed on them, so don’t cut the pieces out till you need them!

4. An assortment of small glass, metal, plastic pieces, shiny metal sheet, and metal wire that are used to make various small objects (tea pots, flowerpots, lampshades, table, etc.). These are organized in specific numbered bags that the instructions will refer to.

5. Clear plastic sheets: These will be cut to make “glass” for the windows. There is a protective film on the sheets, which needs to be removed before gluing the plastic pieces down.

6. A booklet of various paper items to be cut out: These are printed on regular paper, and are used to make labels, signs, decorations, boxes, books, and more. There are also large sheets that will be used as wall paper, flooring, and to make the ground outside the teashop. There’s none of the thicker brown cardstock that other Rolife kits had for making boxes or baskets.

7. Materials to make plants: There are a few sheets of thin, textured paper in different colours, without a pattern. These will be used to make some simple flowers. There are also paper pages with more detailed leaves and flowers, which come printed double-sided on regular paper, and perforated so that they are easier to remove. Additionally, there’s a really pretty thicker, shimmery paper (similar to fancy chiyogami paper) that has the white flowers pre-perforated on them. Floral wire and miniature stamen are provided, as well. Unlike older Rolife models, the floral wire is wrapped in plastic (instead of paper), so it is sturdier and ...

I had so much fun building this dollhouse and the level of difficulty was pretty average. There are many laser cut wood sheets with some pieces that are hard to pop out. The tiny pieces can break easily if not taken out carefully. I wish they provided each pieces already pre-cut to make it easier. There is also a lot of wood pieces to paint which is the most time consuming aspect of this project. Some colors like white and blue require a few layers of paint so it is fully opaque. I ran out of blue paint and didn't have enough to paint the interior of the front door and frame. At least, it is not noticeable from the outside. I would recommend to paint all the pieces at the same time to make sure you are distributing the paint equally. You could also get creative and paint in a different color than the one suggested. I like that they provided paper cut flowers and leaves which are very easy to detach. It makes the plants building process more efficient. The lights were a bit tricky and meticulous to install but look amazing when turned on. The end result is beautiful and very satisfying. It's the perfect size to display in a cabinet. I would definitely recommend this product to other DIY dollhouse lovers!