Mrs. Mouse has been busy in the Mouse House kitchen making peach preserves. The mice think the peach flavor goes well with cheese.

I've been ask how those little jars were made. They are created from a product called Easy Cast. It's a two part resin. I used pencil erasers as the mold. I cut the tips off the the erasers so they sit upright. Clean out the eraser dust from each one with a q-tip, then coat the inside with vegetable oil to act as a release.  I set them up on a tray covered with wax paper to protect the table. Mix the resin following the instructions in the box. put a few drips of resin in the eraser then fill with yellow lentils for peaches. Then continue to drip the resin onto the lentils until the eraser is full (I used a coffee stirrer to drip the resin into the eraser). Let that cure. When they're solid, cut the erasers off.  If the jars are cloudy you can paint them with clear nail polish. The jar lids are card stock paper circles punched with a hole punch, they are stacked and glued together and painted silver. I use some sticky tack on a tooth pick to hold the jar lids while painting them. Glue the lids on your jars and your done! I had a few drips of resin on the wax paper that made a nice"spill" in the mouse kitchen.

Here are some jars with other items in them. Some have seed beads, slices of left over eraser tips, pepper corns and the little candies used to decorate cookies. You can make food from fimo or use whatever spices you have in the kitchen.

American Mouse Gothic. That garden fork was made with some thin metal, the top of a sardine can works well. Draw out the shape you want, don't forget to leave metal to wrap around the wooden handle (part of a skewer). To make the tines start with a hole punch to get the rounded area then cut out the areas between the tines. I sprinkled some cinnamon onto some PVC glue applied to the tines.....instant rust.

Oh dear! Miss Mouse has a splitting headache. The ice pack helped some, but Dr Rodger Rodent has a little injection that will make her feel better in no time.

I made the little ice pack with a fabric circle stitched around the edge with a purse string stitch. The bag is filled with flax seed and half a snap it glued in place to finish it off. Dr. Rodent is holding a syringe made from a straight pin, a long narrow bead (not sure what those are called) and an earring back for the finger grip. The doctor bag is a bulldog clip covered with some thin leather and the handles are wire covered with leather.  I wove the waste basket with waxed thread on a base of florist wire.

Update - Miss Mouse if feeling fine now. She is currently busy in the kitchen making a cheese cake.

Miss Mouse is enjoying the fresh air while hanging the mouse families clothes on the line. I needle felt the mice in my scenes. They have glass bead eyes and a wire armature, so they are able to be posed. Each "finger" or toe or whatever mice have, are wrapped with pink thread and tipped with a dab of nail polish. I hand sew the clothing. The backgrounds in the outdoor scenes are paintings that I've done in plein air. Most of the paintings are oils. The grass is make with some fake fur that's painted green, a messy job, but very useful. I made the laundry basket with waxed cord with a wire frame to weave onto. Hope you enjoy these images.

Mother is cleaning up the kitchen after fixing a cheese platter for the family. She gets a surprise!