Slumber Party

The rats are having a slumber party! We have been without power off and on all week, and no one has really gotten out of their pajamas, except to get outside to shovel snow (a lot of snow, I am telling you!) We had an ice storm, followed by a snow storm, and several days with power off and on, a couple of days for the entire day and some of the night. I was thinking about pajamas all week. When the power was actually on, I made 4 little rats in lovely pastel shades of pistachio pink and an English rose. They are all wearing pajamas.

This little girl is called Libby. She is a lovely pistachio green mohair girl with her own unique style of pajama-wear.

And of course, her pal, Clarice. Clarice is a lovely shade of English Rose pink. She, too has her own unique pajama style.

Next up, Pearle. She is Libby's sister.

And finally, we have Patrice, rhymes with Clarice. They are sisters.

I got a new wooden dollhouse bed that I painted pale pink and made a silk shabby comforter to go with, which turned out pretty well. Paula of sweetredcottage had given me some little pillows as a gift, and those worked in perfectly.

The slumber party girls fit nicely into the scene.

They are lovely lounging about. They don't care if we have power or not.

At the last minute, one of the Blythe girls joined in on the party.

She is maybe a little too large for the furniture, but it doesn't really matter.

It's all in fun anyway, and the good news is, I was able to take photos even when we had no power, as my trusty camera is battery operated and always ready to snap a shot or 2. Crossing fingers power stays on for the weekend. Hope you all are finding the weather where you are to your liking!

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.

Evany, Bevany and Lucille

There are 3 new girls in the house today. Cousins Evany (dressed in teal), Bevany (dressed in pink), and their little mouse friend, Lucille (in peachy pink).

These girls are all quite lovely in their fine dresses and crazy matching headwraps.

I spent yesterday and the couple days before fixing up some more furniture to go with them, and have decided I can easily change out the wall paper of their room box when I grow tired of it. So life at the mouse house is good.

I think people are liking these little tinies, because they all seem to be going to live in other towns, in other states, even in other countries. Very pleased about that. I love them, I do. But, I am a country dollmaker. I have to expect that some of the dolls will want to move to the city. Country mouse, city mouse. Hard to decide sometimes.

Hope you are having a lovely end of the week and that the weekend brings many fun things. Stay warm. Stay creative. Always have fun!

XOXO Cindy

Spanish Dancing Rats

I have a bit of an imagination, if you didn't already know. So, I was thinking about spanish dancers. Well, dancers of any kind. But, I wanted some fancy dresses for the rat girls, and, that was the image that came to my mind.

I made 4 Spanish dancing rats for my etsy listing this week.

Their names all rhyme, because of course they must. I have Sabrina, Josephina, Katina and Irena.

I gave them hand-dyed silk charmeuse dresses. Some with lace, all a little different. I love the shades of salmon pink, lavender, aqua and cerulean blue. So pretty.

I really am having too much fun. I got some new chests of drawers in dollhouse scale in the mail this week. I want to spend some of the weekend re-finishing them. Haven't decided how I want them yet. They are kind of old and ratty (well, of course!), but have nice lines. We will see if I do and what I come up with. I also want to make another room box, but this time out of art board. Not sure how that will come out. I will let you know. Hope your week is wonderful and you are staying warm and staying creative. XOXO Cindy

Rat Style - All Dolled Up

The Fancy Girls

I have not blogged in forever.  I don't know what has gotten into me today, but I feel like blogging!  So here goes.

Aggie

I have been working for a month on little mohair animals.  Bears and rabbits mainly.  This past weekend I got the idea that rats in fancy dresses would be just the thing.

Aggie

I knew I wanted them to have skinny limbs.  Rats don't have fat arms and legs like bears.  They have wiry limbs.  So, I drew up a long pointy nosed pattern and added in some skinny legs and arms.  The legs should have boots and heels, I thought, so I gave them that as well. 

Little Debbie

I have been messing around with traditional teddy bear making stuff - cotter pins and disks.  They make the limbs move, especially the head, around and around.  The rats should have movable heads, so I gave them those.  The legs and arms, since I like to pull them in tight and because they are quite skinny, I gave button twist joints instead, and put vintage buttons on the outsides of each limb. 

Little Debbie

The rats are between 5 and 6" tall.  That is roughly dollhouse scale.  They are probably a little fatter than most dollhouse folk, but it seems like the furniture fits them pretty well. That led me, of course, to look into making my own dollhouse setting for them.  

Francine

That will have to come later, as I did order a bunch of stuff for a roombox, but it won't arrive for another week or 2.  Hopefully I will be sharing that with you soon.

Francine

So anyway, back to the rats.  I gave them fancy dresses, which all good ratty girls should have.  The contrast is lovely, in my mind.

Martha

Fancy dresses for ratty girls.  I hope to make a bunch of them and then offer dresses for them in addition to the ones they come with, so that they are more like a small doll - with changeable clothing.  I think they will need other things as well.  Perhaps hats and maybe furniture.  We shall see what I come up with, but I am a little inspired at the moment.  It brings back childhood memories or little mice dressed in finery.

Martha

I have included some photos of the girls.  Hope you are all having a lovely season of creating!

Dancing the Can-Can