My Creative Space - Creating a Time Machine

Our first "Mouse House"; The TARDIS; sold this month, and we are keen to get another one in the shop as soon as possible. It has been very popular! So I have been hard at work creating another of these very special Time Machines. It is a delicate process, as you'd imagine... ;-)



There are several very important components, and they are all lots of fun to make and put together. But there are also some extras which appear in the creation process, and I can't bring myself to just throw them away:


I think for sure that they must be destined for some wonderful project of their own, these little blue squares, but I can't think what it might be!

Any ideas or suggestions?

Naomi xx

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My Creative Space - Finding a Warm Spot

Three little Terry Mice have found their way into a cubby hole on my bureau: Just like real cats, they've snuggled into a cosy little corner. Don't they look cute all huddled in together? :-)

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My Creative Space: Sneak Preview

Hello, Mouse-fans! It's Naomi here from the UK to share my Creative Space with you.

It looks like this week will be a very exciting week for The House of Mouse. We'll soon be releasing a brand new item, the like of which has never been seen in our store before. I've been hard at work from my UK studio, having so much fun with this exciting new addition! I am just desperate to show you all what I've been up to, but for now you will have to settle for a sneaky preview... A few little glimpses of this Halloween-themed mousie accessory.

Can you tell what it is??

Keep your eyes peeled, it will be appearing in our store very soon!

Naomi xx

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My Creative Space

A couple of years ago the local craft store ran out of mini flowers just as I got a load of orders for Wedding Topper Mice. Now every time I go into town I feel the compulsion to "stock up" on them. I think I have enough for now right? ;)

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My Creative Space

This week I received another batch of mice from Naomi in the mail. Amongst them was a special little surprise for me: an Anna Mouse! She is so special, just look at that tiny mini-mouse she is sewing! She even has little dreadlocks. I will treasure her always, what a wonderful gift.

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My Creative Space: First parcel from the UK

Hi there, it's Naomi here, I'd like to share my Creative Space with you today!

This week we sold a Graduate Mouse to someone in the UK. It was the 1001st sale at The House of Mouse, and as it was going to a UK buyer, we agreed that it would be best for me to make and send it from my UK studio. It's the first time we've done that since I joined the team; so far, all of my mice have been sent to Anna's studio in Holland to join their mousie friends before being sent on to their adoptive families. But I was definitely ready for this one to be totally my responsibility, so Anna bravely trusted me to take care of it!

Here's the very mouse I made:

Here he is jumping into his little box for postage:


And here's my very first parcel put together for a sale:

Is it silly that I was ridiculously excited?! ;-)

I can't wait for the next 1000 sales, and to really make my mark on The House of Mouse!

Naomi xx

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My Creative Space

... has been invaded my Zombie Mice! I have just been restocking some Zombie Mice for Halloween, and thought they looked great together. A little Zombie Mouse Army.

Sometimes my sense of humour worries even me ;)

-Anna

~

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My Creative Space - Staying organized

My studio is a continuous battlefield between me and the mountains of materials I use to create my mice. After a good day of sewing my creative space often looks like a sewing-bomb went off, scattering materials all over my desk and the surrounding floor. Hunting around for supplies the next day really interrupts my creative flow, so it is really helpful if everything is where I can easily find it.

My ribbons where the biggest challenge: Keeping them in a draw was no good - they just got all knotted up around each other and I was forever digging around trying to find things. Putting a pin in them didn't work either because the pin would eventually rust and ruin my beautiful ribbons. So into plastic bags they went, but still it was hard to find what I needed. Eventually I came up with a solution: I took a wooden board and hammered lots of nails into it, screwed it into the wall and then hung my ribbon bags onto it. Now all I need to do is glance up to the wall to find what I need! Although I do still need to clear up the fallout from the creative bombs at the end of the day.

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My Creative Space: Mousy Details

For my My Creative Space post this week, I wanted to share my progress: I'm really starting to enjoy seeing the world from a Mouse-eye view!

This is the very first mousy guitar I have made, and I'm pretty pleased with it really! It's wonderful and funny to think of the practicalities of the mice actually using the little accessories. I'm also really anjoying coming up with new and inventive ways to make things that Anna hasn't tried yet for the mice. As I was making a set of teacher mice, I thought I'd try making apples and calculators from clay...

I used a needle to indent the buttons and the little screen on the calculator, and painted the apple a nice shiny red. What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts, I am learning all the time :-)

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my work today! These mice will be listed for sale once they've made the special trip to Holland.

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Naomi xx

My Creative Space - Then and Now

For my first My Creative Space post, I thought I would take you back to the very beginning. To the first mouse I ever made... here she is. I just named her "Granny Mouse", as you can see my sewing skills left a lot to be desired! And the fishing line I used for her whiskers was waaaay too thick. But I learned a lot from making her, and I still keep her in my studio so she can watch over all the mice as I make them. She is kind of a Matriarch.

For the fun of a comparison, here is the latest mouse I made: Albert Einstein Mouse: just over 2.5 years span the making of Granny Mouse and Albie Mouse, it's nice to see that I learned a few tricks in that time!


Since this is a My Creative Space post, I felt I should actually show you where I work. The first photo is of me in 2008, back when my studio was in major need of refurbishment. Oh how skinny I was then (before I had a baby!)

Here's my studio today, after the refurbish and much tidier too. I decided not to include myself in this pic - I couldn't stand the comparison on Me!

I hope you have enjoyed having a nose around my studio!

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-Anna

My Creative Space

Well, Anna and I decided it was about time we showed you our creative spaces. It's going to be so interesting, because of course we're both making mice, but in two different countries and each with our own ways of working and our own "studio setup"! So this week you'll be hearing from me (Naomi!) here in the UK. Right now, I am working from a mixture of little exciting bundles of materials and other goodies that Anna has been sending me (like those parcels they drop on desert islands!) and my own sourced materials, for the mice and their clothes and accessories. I've been making good use of some wonderful boxes with fabulous little compartments and cubby-holes that had not been properly used before to store my new wealth of threads, materials and allsorts.


The mice are sitting mostly on the desk with me at the moment, but as I make more and more I am finding that they need official 'homes' before they are adopted, if I want to keep my work space clear! It's going to be fascinating to look back on these Creative Space posts and probably laugh at my very first attempts at some sort of organisation. As I get more and more familiar with the mice, I am sure little tricks will emerge on how to keep things organised! (Any helpful hints, Anna? Or anyone?!) :-)

Oh yes, and finally... This little guy rarely fails to make me grin when I'm mousemaking in here.... He's been lovingly nicknamed "Pinhead", the poor little thing... If anyone would like to rescue Pinhead from his doomed existence, then please do buy me a pin cushion! ;-)

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Much love,

Naomi xx