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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Challenge To Myself ... Part 1

Hello my dear friends,

I am sure all of you have been a little bit bored at one stage and didn't have an idea on what to create and that's what happens to me as well. I wanted to tell you about a challenge I gave myself a few evenings ago. Do you remember my little mice that I make? They sleep in my felted nests or on top of little tart tins filled with nuts.


 

These are my cupboard mice.


The first mouse I designed was for my primitive creations and it looked like this. A neat mouse but after a year I decided to put some more work into the look of this little creature and then my mouse looked like this ...




... a smaller and a cuter little mouse.

I really like my little cupboard mice, they are small and neat and I adore them but then I got bored a few days ago and I thought to myself  ~ how small could I make them? So, off I went into creating mode and I tried.

 The first result was this ...





... my wee cupboard mouse!!

 This is my unfinished little critter right now.
It is half the size of my small mouse and so you can see the size of it better I took a photo with a looney to give you something to compare it to. But I didn't stop there ... I tried to go a little bit smaller and I did!


(the tiny mouse on the left was my second attempt)


This tiny mouse is even smaller than my first attempt ~ not by very much ~ 10% smaller than the first one, but it is smaller! It is so small it is almost the same size as a quarter and it even fits in here ...


... a little matchbox home ...


... and a name to go with it ...


... this tiny creature is called Mr. Jingles.
(My daughter Ashleigh thought is would be the perfect name for it and I must agree.)

The next step is to give the tiny mice their proper look by staining them. I might even try and go a little smaller ~ I will have to see because the problem that I have are their tiny little ears. They are very hard to sew to make them look the way the are ~ you see I don't use glue in this creation because of their size I hand sew them. We will see ~ if I do go smaller and the tiny critters turn out I will of course share it with you.

So far I think that I did succeed with this self challenge ~ do you?
I hope you enjoyed my wee creation today and do come back to see what happens in part 2 of  my challenge to myself.

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.

9 comments:

  1. Hi Karen,
    I am doing well-busy but well! ;)Your wee creations are sweet as can be. I love Mr. Jingles and his little home. Perfect name for him. I can't wait to see part 2.
    Have a wonderful week.
    Hugs,
    Sonya

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  2. oh Karen...Mr. Jingles!!!! I love that you named him that ~ from The Green Mile ~ that movie is one of my very favs! I can't believe how small you have gotten him!!!! To fit into a tiny matchbox is amazing ~ I just love it! I've been creating baby shoe pincushions smaller too....inside of tiny doll shoes ~ we have been thinking along the same lines I believe :) hugs and love, Dawn

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  3. I love Mr. Jingles, i love your sweet little mice.What more can is say.
    Wonderful job!
    Love,
    Agnes

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  4. LOL Those are the cutest little things I've seen in a long time. Yes, you met your challenge for sure.

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  5. Karen, I love your little mice! You did great!

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  6. Karen,
    OMG, Dawn is right! Mr. Jingles was the mouse in that movie. That mouse is the cutest thing I've ever seen! Are you taking orders? My Lily would love to have one in the matchbox. Please tell me if your selling any. They remind me of Stuart Little too. Precious!
    Lisa

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  7. Holy mouse, how cute is Mr.Jingles?!? And that tiny box he lives in is incredibly pretty too! Karen, this is one of the most adorable crafts i have ever seen and you really should be selling these. Aww, i cannot stop looking at the photos. So, so cute!!

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  8. I absolutely love these sweet little mice! Do you ever do patterns on how to make them? I would love to have them nestled all in my sewing baskets, my fabric stashes and so forth, even one that would snuggle up in my sewing chair pocket! I have always loved mice ever since I was a very small child when I had my very first pet mouse named Maybelle! If you don't have a pattern do you sell these little darlings? I believe these are the cutest ones I have seen to date! So realistic and just precious! Thank you for sharing them. What a wonderful talent you were given. Have a blessed day!

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