The Mouse Market

Roast Beef 'n' Cheddar with Soda Earrings

It seems that the little Mouse Family is a hit. I’ve actually gotten a number of very sweet messages via Etsy from people who enjoyed seeing the mice in my newest item listings, so it’s official: My indulgence in adorable little toys is completely justified, even though I’m almost 30 years old. Next task is coming up with names for them, and I think I’ve decided on Nutmeg for the surname, Mama and Papa for the parents (original, eh?), Mira and Pippen for the sister and brother, and Peep (my gerbil’s name) and Scooter (my old bunny’s name) for the twins.

Buttermilk Pancakes and Syrup Earrings

Oh! I nearly forgot: my friend, Lisa, shared the most brilliant idea yesterday, and I’m so excited to start working on it. In response to my food inspiration binder, Lisa suggested that I put together a mouse family album with little pictures of them doing their mouse-y thing. How cute! I’m wondering if I might be able to combine the two binders and show the real-life food photos as something that one of the mice clipped out of a magazine to use as a guide for their mini meals. Could be fun.

Last but not least, in response to readers’ requests that I offer some way for them to follow my mini-making adventures beyond a boring RSS feed, I’m experimenting with Google Friend Connect. I’m awfully lonely so far, so if you’re feeling friendly, use the pink box to the right of this post to share the love! Finally, if you want to see more pictures of my new Mix and Match earrings, visit my Flickr page, and be sure to check out the newest food preparation magnets that I’ve listed in my shop.

Turkey Spread

My plan to plot out an accurately scaled template of my miniatures booth display turned out to be the best thing I could have done, because the mini-making fire has been lit under my butt, and I’ve been churning out pieces like a maniac. I realized why the template has had such a dramatic impact on my productivity, and it’s because I’m a total sucker for measurements of progress. If you want me to donate to your charity, be sure to stick one of those thermometers that measure the percentage of your financial goal earned to date somewhere on your website; if you want me to take your survey, stick one of those progress bars on top. Seriously, it gets me every time. What’s your golden carrot?

Roast Beef Dinner

With these templates, I can check off each dish as I make it and see a visual representation of how much of each display area I’ve filled. I love it! Yesterday, I completed a meal for the turkey I made last week, complete with four turkey plates with sides, one of those weird, jiggly cranberry moulds, a plate of stuffing, and a platter of rolls.

Country Stew in Bread Bowls

French Picnic Basket

Today, my plan is to work on the second dinner display area, and once I finish that, and the paper plates arrive for the eight peanut butter and jelly sandwich meals I need to glue together, I’ll have finished the picnic, sandwich shop, and two dinner areas–that’s four out of the twenty displays I have planned with roughly a month left. Woo hoo! And now…back to the mini-making.

Toasted Meatball Sub Earrings

The sandwiches have struck again! This time, I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon creating Roast Beef ‘n’ Cheese and Toasted Meatball Sub Earrings, as well as a somewhat disturbing-looking pair of Crispy Fried Chicken Earrings. I discovered that by mixing sand with Liquid Translucent Sculpey I could recreate the breaded appearance of the chicken, and I already have a few more ideas for employing that nifty technique.

Roast Beef 'n' Cheese Earrings

Later this afternoon, I’m planning on dragging out the new booth table I recently bought and setting up a mock display so I can figure out a way to extend my table skirt, which was originally made for a smaller table, preferably without spending any more money on supplies. I’ve been toying with the idea of using two panels of patchwork papers, almost like table runners, to cover up the gaps on either side of the original skirt, and I might have enough decorative papers in various green patterns to make the booth look nice and St. Patrick’s Day-ish.

Handmade Garden Tools

Last, but certainly not least, my dad surprised me with another miniatures special delivery, this time a box full of summer-ready garden tools and beekeeping equipment, which will be perfect for my woodland room box!The squeal-worthy handmade items include a wooden bee hive and smoker, six wooden boxes for Mouse Market Farms organic produce, and three hand forged metal garden tools. Amazing! And get this: My dad pulled the typeface from my logo and had to reassemble the “f” in farms from other letters, because he didn’t want to ask me the name of the font and ruin the surprise. *sigh* Unbelievable.

Handmade Beekeeping Equipment

P.S. I’ve been following the Crafting an MBA blog for the past month, and I recently read two posts that might be of use to fellow crafters in the process of launching their own businesses: How to Lower Your Prices Without Reducing Your Profits and Does Your Business Stick?, the latter which includes tips from the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.

Have a great weekend!