Movie prop: The cryptex from The Da Vinci Code

I am an avid collector of movie memorabilia.  The strangest the gadget, the more I covet it, and if the movie happens to be one of my favorites, it is even better.  

I have talked here of Beetlejuice's Handbook for the Recently Deceased, the Jurassic Park cryocan, Lucian's necklace from the Underworld movies, the H2O Just add water locket, The Illusionist locket, Lana Lang's kryptonite necklace... Most of the time there is no official product, and I have to find an artist to make it, or buy it knowing it is a knock-off made by someone else.  I really don't care, as long as I have it in my hands.

This time the coveting came after we came back from Paris.  After visiting the Louvre, the church of the Saint-Sulpice and seeing the Arago medallion markers, I rewatched The Da Vinci Code.  And I found myself wanting to own my own cryptex.

Naturally, I knew the official replica made by the Noble Collection was out of question.  I cannot justify spending that much in a movie prop. It is true that it is absolutely gorgeous.  But no.  There is a smaller version that is more affordable, and may be something you may like to consider.  I myself was interested in this one, until I saw some reviews that said it was not very sturdy, and the rings and the opening mechanism did not work very well.

Instead, I went looking for a non-official version.  And I found it!  And for the price that I paid, I think it is a very worthy investment.  I chose the white ring version, as it is the one most similar to the movie prop.

 

This is a knock-off, but it is very well made, EXCEPT for the fact that it has 6 rings of letters, instead of 5 like the original cryptex.  Can you believe I had not realized this until I tried to change the password combination?  But, you can bypass this problem if you use A-P-P-L-E-S, with an extra S that the movie riddle does not have.  

My cryptex is absolutely made of metal except for the letter rings, that are some kind of plastic, although you would not guess it by looking at them.  It is heavy, and big!  It measures about 14 cm long, and it opens!

It comes in a gift box, with a card (in case it is for a gift), with a screwdriver, 2 screws, 2 black cord necklaces and a pair of The One ring from The Lord of the Rings, one smaller in silver and one larger in yellow gold.  Naturally, they are not real pieces of jewelry.  And instructions for how to change the opening combination.

 

See how bit it is!

You can open it, of course

 

 

I will not use the rings (neither will my husband).  The important thing was that I wanted to have inside the cryptex the final clue, but obviously it did not come with it.  A pity, truly, that even the official one lacks that detail. But!  I can make my own.

 

I searched the web for pictures of the clue prop, and I found several that were good.  Here is a still of the movie in which you can see it:

 

I took the biggest one, cleaned it and enhanced the lettering in Photoshop.  Then I removed the background color and printed it on parchment paper.   Then I added a red edge made with printable cotton paper, and glued it with double-sided tape to the clue.  Here is the result:

 

LOL, you can see my mermaid leggings!

I curved it with the help of a brush

I love how well it looks!  I am so happy with my cryptex, it will go to the shelf with the rest of the movie props I have.

 

 

If you would like to have your own cryptex clue, HERE is a free printable for you to make it.  As always, please feel free to print as many times as you like, and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too!).  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you and enjoy! ♥  

Free printable! Tuna can pack of three

Remember that post in which I made some tiny tuna cans with wrappers?

Here is the new and better version: tuna pack of three!

Same as I did with the individual wrappers, I scanned the life size version of the 3-can-packet, cleaned it, reduced it and printed it to wrap 3 tiny silver tuna cans:

 The wrap measures barely 2 cm:

 

 

I am in love!  If you want to make this project, here you can find the tiny cans, and here you can get the free printable to download and print.  Bear in mind you need 3 cans for each wrapper.  And if you don't want to buy them, you can make the cans with polymer clay or foamboard.

 

As always, please feel free to print as many times as you like, gift them to friends and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too!).  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you and enjoy! ♥

 

People in this scene really like their tuna!

 

A long forgotten project: the Handbook for the Recently Deceased. And free printable!

I watched Beetlejuice when it first came out on cinemas in 1988.  I was a teenager at the time, and I remember vividly how much I felt in sync with Lidia, and how I would have loved to live in the Maitlands' home.  My dad bought me the VHS when it came out; I watched it so many times I could have recited the dialogue by heart.  Later I bought myself the DVD, and kept watching until Beetlejuice Beetlejuice came out last year.  

I was delighted when I saw all the merchandise pop up for the new movie - we did not have such things in the eighties!  I had wanted the Handbook for the Recently Deceased from the first moment.  But it was impossible to find it then.  And later, some replicas appeared, but they were valued in hundreds of dollars that I did not want to spend.  Most of them were blank journals with the original front and back cover, but they cost so much I was put off by the prices.

But I was so lucky that my husband got one for me for Christmas!  It was official merch, and it cost about $20 dollars.  The beloved book from my childhood was finally in my hands!

And that reminded me, that a long time ago, I had bought a printable to make my own Handbook for the Recently Deceased book box.  To do that, I purchased a book shadow box from Tim Holz - I think now it has been discontinued (this was in 2019!).  It looked like this:

 

A regular book box to embelish made of paper mâché

 

The inside little boxes are removable, which was great, because I wanted it to store inside my DVD copy of Beetlejuice.  A kind of personal limited edition, if you may.  But for some reason, even though I started the project anxiously, it got relegated to the back burner.  Well, now it was the time to retake it!

The image I bought to act as the cover was bigger, so it had to be manually adjusted in an image program.  I measured carefully and adjusted it to the precise size needed to cover the box.  I printed it professionally in A3 size.  It only took two tries to make it fit pefectly.  Since the box had been in storage for long, the part that holded the inside boxes came unglued, which was perfect.  It was super easy to just cover the outside with the printing, and it looked great!

So wondefully spooky!

I removed the inside boxes, and I was ready to store all my treasures:

 

If you would like to get the paper props, you can find them on Etsy.  I got mine from Paul Elder Designs, but he no longer offers them.  Instead, you can go to Legendary Tales Edit to get a whole bunch of Beetlejuice curiosities.  And from my part, I am happy to offer you the Take-Your-Turn numbers HERE. *Update*  I also made business cards with the Maitland Hardware shop info.  I hope you like them!

I hope you enjoy having your own Beetlejuice numbers!  Feel free to print as many as you like, and pass the file along to anyone; links back are nice too.  Just please do not sell the file.  Thank you very much, and enjoy! ♥ 

A new addition to the beach hut, and free printable! Tuna can wrappers

This post is going to resonate specially with my fellow miniaturists from Spain, because it features a local famous brand for canned tuna. 

This project has been in the back burner for a long time.  First, because I changed my printer and had to learn how to use the scanner.  Second, because I could not get a good wrapper to scan.  Well, today, that changed!  

Hubby had to help me to set the scanner to work remotely on my computer, but he is the best and he doesn't mind doing these things for me :)

The thing is, I found these tiny round cans in one of my suppliers' website:

Tiny adorable cans!

 

And as they point out, they look similar to tuna cans.  So I decided to buy 3, to make a set of a very well-known package of tuna cans.  They normally come in sets of 3, but recently they released them in an offer of just one at a very cheap price.  So instead of doing a set of 3, I am doing them one by one.

And so, today I finally was able to scan the carboard package, which looks like this:

Then I resized the image in Photoshop, and printed 3 copies to make the wrappings:

It measures only 0.7 cm in high!

It was fun to cut them, fold them and glue them around the cans:

I love them!

These are going to the beach hut, because it is always a good idea to have canned food, in case you get hungry at the beach!

They are tiny, but they look so real!

And also, since I was busy with the beach hut, I decided to glue the straw carpet to a piece of cardboard, because it was getting warped.  Now it looks just like new:

So, if you have around some tiny round cans, or you just want to order them from Tienda de Casitas, here is a link to the free printable with a lot of wrappers for you!  Of course, they will fit perfectly the ones I bought, but you can resize them if yours are a different size.  As always, please feel free to print as many times as you like, gift them to friends and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too!).  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you and enjoy! ♥

Free printable! 2025 ballet calendar

It's that time of the year again in which we have to get calendars ready!  

Just finished this morning (because I am on holidays, and very happy!), here is a free printie with next year's calendar.  Once more, it is ballet theme, because ballet is awesome.  You have several background pictures, and the tear up 12 month calendar pages.  Made with the help of Print a Calendar website.

As always, please feel free to print as many times as you like, gift them to friends and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too!).  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you and enjoy! ♥

Free printable! Ballet calendar 2024

Happy holidays!

Long time no see!  It's been some time since my last entrance.  I have been busy with work stuff, preparing a belly dancing showcase, and also sick with COVID.  Both hubby and I caught it at the same time.  Thank goodness we were not that sick, and we were fully recovered in about 2 weeks.

So how about a little mini to celebrate the holiday season?  As each year, I am happy to provide a calendar for your mini scene.  And as always, with ballet scenes, because ballet goes with every decor.  Here is the link to the printie.

The picture that is featured in the calendar (which is special to me) is not included this year - I chose some new ballet pics I found on the internet.  However, if you like that particular pic, you can find it in last year's calendar printie.  For the pages I used the Print a Calendar website.

 

Feel free to print as many as you like, make gifts for friends and pass the file along to anyone; links back are nice too.  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you very much, and enjoy! ♥

New furniture for the bedroom, and free printables!

This weekend Kassandra and I have been busy getting ready her new shelves for the refurbished bedroom.  We had a great time assembling them - she said this was her first time assembling furniture, and she thought it was a lot of fun.

She has decided to go for an Scandi look, and this was the first one we did:

Can you see the assembly guide on the floor?

"Thank goodness for illustrated instructions!", she said.  "I thought we would be having to go through technical names, and I am terrible at that."

"Yes, it is true that this furniture is very easy to put together.  Are you going to use it as is?"

"Oh no, I got some storage boxes for it.  What do you think about them?"

 

"Always black with you, my dear!  But I really like the dotted one!  It gives a pinch of informality to the set."

"Yes, I think so too.  Let's start with the second one!"

And said and done, this was the second shelf:

"Very nice!", she said.  "I like the simplicity."

"Let's put it in place."

"I love it!  I'm so happy with my new bedroom!"

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Fantasy apart, I love that these pieces are so similar to a real life ones from a very well known Swedish  shop.  I am very happy that we can find modern looking furniture for modern settings.  You can find them already painted (I have seen them only in white), or in untreated wood (like mine).  I painted them white, obviously.  I have another set in my Japanese room.  In that case I painted them black.  You can find these kind of shelves at Beautifully Handmade.  

Also, the storage boxes I designed myself specifically for these shelves,  inspired by the real counterparts.  So, if you have these same shelves, I am happy to share with you the free printable to make them.  Also, if you are a devil for the details as I am, here is also the assembly guides printable.

As always, feel free to print as many as you like, make gifts for friends and pass the file along to anyone; links back are nice too.  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you very much, and enjoy! ♥

The final touch for the ballet studio

This was the only thing that the ballet studio was lacking: a ballet barre!

I wanted to order a custom-made one, but in the end I finally decided to try and make it myself.  It was easier than I thought.

My coworker Carlos cut the wood for the bases for me.  Then I drilled some holes on them, as well as in the wood sticks:

My husband's drilling tool came in handy!

Then I used a couple of toothpicks to hold the side bars in place:

Then came the gluing, painting and staining part, and voilà!

I think it looks very nice!

The studio finally has all the furniture that it needs! 

Also, this beauty arrived all the way from Italy:

It is the child of Minimariba.  Her shop is full of beautifully made dresses and shoes.  Go check her out!  Also, see the tiny ballet box? That is a free printable from Zena Miniatures, so go and grab it right now!  And, this is the most amazing thing ever:

A box of convertible ballet tights!  Just when I think I cannot find anything else for the ballet studio, I find the most incredible things!  Also the creation of Zena.

Love the ballet studio!

Kassandra's DVDs collection

Today Kassandra and I starting unpacking some DVDs and Blu-Rays that just arrived.  Now that she had delivered a home-cinema setup, she wanted to have some entertainment for the children when they visit, and so we started organizing her collection.

"I have always assumed that vampires enjoy movies", I said.  "After all, they can be enjoyed anywhere; and these days of streaming, no need to even go out of the house to watch them".

"You are quite right, it is something thay we all in the family enjoy.  As you can imagine, I like to watch every vampire movie that comes out; some are sillier than others, but many are quite interesting.  Some of them even get a couple of things right about us.  We just watched yesterday "The Old Guard", which I thoroughly enjoyed.  They were not vampires in the strict sense of the word, but they managed to portray the vampire point of view regarding many things quite correctly.  I particularly liked Andy.  She reminded me of me.  Well, I was never a warrior like her, even though I have had my share of battles.  And the relationship between Joe and Nicky is one of the most beautiful I have seen in movies in a long time.  I hope we get to see a sequel."

"You know what a sequel is?"

"Ha!  I am educating myself in modern cinema.  I recently watched the Star Wars saga.  How fun!"

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Since we all have our favorite movies, I thought it would be fun to include some titles in Kassandra's new home.  So yesterday I spent a good portion of the afternoon making DVDs and Blu-Rays for her collection.  They are very easy, fun and cheap to do!  Here is a tutorial for you to build up your own collection:

Materials you will need:

internet access o scanner

a piece of scrap paper

white regular paper

color printer

cello tape

scissors

Eva foam (blue for Blu-Rays and/or black for DVDs)

white craft glue

Optional: tweezers and toothpick

1- Gather up your covers.  You can scan the ones you have at home, or you can search for them on the internet.  The more modern they are, the more chances you will have to find them.

2- Use a photo program to reduce them in size.  For DVDs, you need a 1,5 x 2,2 cm image; for Blu-Ray, you need a 1,4 x 2,5 cm image.  If it is easier for you, I am happy to provide you with templates to use.  DVD and Blu-Ray.  Your image has to fit inside the black lines.  Also, make them 600 dpi.  That way you won't lose resolution.

3- If you feel lazy to find your own, here is my collection; you can see I favor fantasy movies and mermaids.  The Blu-Rays are on top, and the DVDs on the bottom.

4- Print them out.  

5- Cover them with a strip of cello tape, before you do any cutting.

6- Now you can cut them up.

7- Take the Eva foam of your preferred style and cut a strip the size of your film cover:

8- Take the cover and wrap it around the Eva foam, making sure to align the spine of the movie with the foam:

9- Cut to measure:

10- Make sure there is no foam sticking out of the cover.  If so, trim the excess:

11- Put a small amount of white glue on your scrap paper and use the toothpick to extend it on the back of the cover.  You can use the tweezers to hold it so your fingers will not get covered in glue:

12- Glue the cover around the piece of Eva foam:

13- Make sure all the corners are glued.  Hold it with your fingers for some moments while the glue sets.  You have you new Blu-Ray!  Congrats!!

Now get crazy!  The more you make, the easier to do they become:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and have lots of fun making your collection!