Mixing it Up

Over the weekend, I decided to try some little animals other than rats, rabbits and mice. I still remain loyal to the rodents, but in the meanwhile, I had fun thinking up what to make.

This is Oscar. He is a brown bear. He is made from a lovely Schulte German rayon. I think some people call it viscose. I like the word rayon, because I am a big fan of the fiber in clothing. I gave Oscar a black silk tuxedo. He is looking quite elegant.

He and Bonnie make a good pair.

Bonnie is friends with Dierdre.

Dierdre is a fox I made from creamy white Schulte German mohair. I dyed it over the body and at the face to give her a foxy look. There is something very sweet about her.

Dierdre is in love with Reginald.

Reginald is playing hard to get. He doesn't think he is the marrying type. He likes to dress in bright clothing and strut his stuff.

Reginald is friends with Felix.

Felix is a cat. A black cat. He is rather debonair. He is wearing a suit even wilder than Reginald.

I am not sure which of the motley crew I like best. I think I remain the hugest fan of the rat girls, but it's nice to mix it up sometimes, to give perspective. All of the animals fit nicely into the 1/12 scale. Having a few different options gives me more room to play, which is what I like to do best. Have a great week, everyone. Stay creative. It's nearly the end of the year. I hope you have a mind to look back on the year fondly.

Phinnea and Rosalinda

Cotton candy pink. It's what I was thinking about. Phinnea and Rosalinda volunteered for the job.

These 2 sweet girls are pretty much done all over in various shades of pink. Phinnea is a rabbit. Rosalinda is a rat.

Something about pink brings out the sweetness in things. Even rats.

These 2 girls are hanging out at the mouse house today. They will be in my shop momentarily. I hope you can find the sweetness of pink in your week's ending.

Piano Jam

Ellis and Brigitte are the only ones hanging out at the mouse house at the moment. It was a quiet evening last night and they decided a piano jam was in order.

This is Brigitte. She is a lovely cream rabbit girl. She is wearing a fancy boysenberry silk dress with lace and tulle layers, with a vintage lace neck wrap. She is quite fond of her friend, Ellis. Ellis is a mouse.

He is a very cute, obviously dapper, cream mouse wearing a very striking 3-piece silk suit in autumn colors.   He is a man of good taste.  He would like to impress Brigitte with his piano playing skills, so he asks her to sit down while he plays a tune for her. 

She leans back on her seat and gets comfortable. She just knows she will love his selection.  He is, after all, a man of good taste.

He takes his jacket off so that he has better movement. He is quite confident and at the ready, as you can tell.  Brigitte loves the tune Ellis plays for her. She is quite impressed. She is very pleased and would like to play him a tune as well. She asks him to sit down.

Of course he does. He is quite a gentleman.

He sits back to enjoy a relaxing piano moment.

Brigitte takes her seat at the piano and plays a lively march tune. Ellis is surprised by the tempo, but quite pleased.

She has him. She can tell. She sits back down and watches as he leaves the room. Most likely he is going to brag to some of his friends about his good taste in ladies. 

I hope you are having a good start to your week.  I have cleaned up this blog a bit.  I noticed that it has been so long since I last edited the list of blogs I follow, that some of them had since turned to pornography sites.  No kidding.  Eeep.  Hopefully I have that under control and those sites deleted.  :)

Friday is For Relaxing

It's Friday today and I was planning on taking the day off and relaxing a bit, since I usually work through the weekend anyway. It's a rainy day and seems like the thing to do. It's almost noon, though, and I still have to go through photos and list my rat girls on Etsy, so perhaps the sitting back and being chill is going to have to happen later. Ah well, the life of a country doll maker :)

I have 5 new rats done for the week. It actually takes a lot longer to make each one than I imagined would be the case, but I am still having fun, so it's my little labor of love. I have continued to find little furniture pieces for them, and can now switch things in and out and change it up a bit. At least the rats can relax, as they have some furniture that fits them, a room to sit in, and they haven't much to do for the day other than look pretty and sit.

I seem to have gone a little miniature crazy. Besides a few more pieces of furniture, I have gone onto Amazon (usually a big mistake) and found some books on miniatures. I almost can't resist. Everything is just so darned cute! I hope I can find others who are interested in doing little 1/12 scale things. It's really quite fun.

If you don't require umpteen million books to satisfy your curiosity, a lot of the stuff can be had for cheap. There are little furniture kits and also used furniture available out there for in the $10 range, so that as a weekend project you could paint a little chair and have something to add to your scene without feeling like you spent all your hard earned money.

Hopefully you will find a bit of charm in my rats and rabbits and other tinies and see potential for your own scenes and room settings. The stuffed things also go nicely in Blythe scenes if you aren't for the teeny tiny miniature stuff.

My plan for the weekend is to make a few dresses for the rat girls and maybe look into some things for the walls of my little room box. I haven't worked on putting together any faux paintings yet, and I think that might be fun.

I am inspired a little by the old-timey children's books with their illustrations of animals in little jackets and trousers. I want my little rat girls to be a little less countrified, and more city fancy, but the works of Beatrix Potter and Tasha Tudor certainly come to mind.

We are running into a cold snap here for the week, so staying inside seems again the thing to do. It won't be long before winter hits here, and even this morning we had a tiny dusting of snow, and still there are little flakes flitting around outside my window. Nothing sticking yet, but it won't be long.  I hope this is a good weekend for you.  Stay warm.  Stay creative and always find time to play.

The Hare Sisters are Dining Out

 I have set up my little rat dressmaker's shop now and it's time to have some clients.  The 3 hare sisters came in over the weekend and wanted similar dresses in different colors, as they will be dining out, and love to look the same, but prefer different colors.  The hares are a lovely shade of nut brown and they have long ears, making them a bit more stately than the rats.  They fit the same dresses and can sit in the same chairs, but their ears take up more space than the little mouse ears.

The 3 hare sisters, Rita Mae, Claudine and Katrine have decided that they will choose cream, blue and pink as their dress colors.  The rats worked hard and gave each girl a lovely elegant dining out dress, made from a satin devore of rayon and silk.  The bodice of the dresses have a layer of cream colored cotton lace and a bit of white silk gauze at the neck, for a bit of fluffy frou-frou.  The dresses have an underlayer of the same silk gauze as a bit of petticoat.

Each girl was given a head wrap to complement their lovely ears.  No good French hare would like to be out on the town without one.  Keeps the breeze out of the ears, and adds a lovely festive element.

The hare sisters seem happy with their dresses.  They are ready to go.  The rats had a busy day and the shop can be swept and the lights dimmed.

I trust you are finding creative things to do as well!

XOXO

Cindy