The Mouse Market

Custom Rainbow Chip Cookies

My insomnia is still doing its best to hang on, but I was able to get to bed a little earlier last night, and waking up at 9:00 this morning wasn’t completely agonizing for a change. Tomorrow, I’m aiming for 8:45, and hopefully, by the end of the week I’ll have my morning routine back!

Piled High BLT Earrings

This morning, I finished a batch of custom ordered cookies and listed new pairs of sandwich earrings in my shop. I sometimes forget to check which items have completely sold out (not the best business plan), and it occurred to me over the weekend that my grilled cheese, BLT, and PB&J sandwich earrings were long gone. In a similar vein, I desperately need to restock my vegetable jewelry supplies, particularly since those are likely to be more popular in the summer months, so I hope to tackle carrot and eggplant earrings, plus new melon and squash pieces inspired by the glorious Seed Savers Exchange catalog. I have a feeling that corn earrings would sell as well, but I’ll have to drum up some motivation–so many teeny tiny kernels!

PB&J Earrings

On a real food note, I picked up a book called Vegetarian Supercook at the library a few days ago, and I’ve already made three of the recipes, with another dish on the menu for dinner tonight. I’m so in love with this book! The spicy bean cakes with lemon mayonnaise were delicious, and last night I made Pad Thai and corn fritters, which I will definitely make again. I’ve been on a quest to find the ultimate Pad Thai recipe for years, motivated by a dish at one of my favorite Chicago restaurants, the Blue Elephant, and I may finally have found a winner.

Partially Finished Picnic Tables

This is going to be quite the busy weekend, with three custom orders on the agenda (I may have to close new custom orders until the show), website work catch up, and, of course, more prep for the mini show. I managed to finish a huge tray of sandwiches yesterday–piled high BLTs, crunchy peanut butter with jelly, and gooey grilled cheese–and I completed roughly half of the mini picnic tables, which, let me tell you, were no picnic. I still need to make the table trusses and the bench seats, but the work should go fairly quick now that the major components are finished.

Sandwich Tray Numero Uno

Eventually, I’m going to need to purchase a better hand saw, because while I was able to cut the cherry wood slats for the top of the table, trying to cut such a hard wood on an angle for the table legs was a nightmare, and I eventually gave up and switched to basswood. The downside is that I’ll have to paint or stain the tables now, because the two woods don’t match, and I was looking forward to keeping the beautiful cherry intact, but I suppose that’s what I get for using a craft store saw reminiscent of a butter knife with a shaky handle. The good news is that the table legs are actually even (it’s a miracle), so I won’t have to sell a miniature piece of folded up cardboard, which is my go-to solution for wobbly tables.

Enjoy your weekend!

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!

Piled High BLT Earrings

If today’s post title is any indication, I have a lot of random things to share with you this morning. Now that my morning tutoring job is over, I’ll be able to get to work first thing in the morning, which definitely helps to ease some of the pressure I’ve been feeling to have pieces finished early enough in the afternoon to take advantage of natural lighting for my photos, yet still finish my graphic design and writing projects without having to work well into the evening.

Yesterday, I completed my first batch of BLT earrings, and I’m quite happy with the results. My goal is to have more savory foods, as well as vegetables and fruits, for my next show, since those always seem to sell well, and go a little lighter with the desserts. Speaking of, the promotional flyers for the show (Indie Craft Revolution) are available, and I’ve posted one online, so if you know anyone in the St. Louis area, feel free to spread the word and send them a link!

BLT Earrings (Detail)

The other night, I was craving crème anglaise something fierce, so we made a pile of yummy whole wheat waffles for dinner paired with the anglaise and a tamarind sauce. I had purchased a jar of tamarind paste a week or two ago in order to try my hand at making Pad Thai, and I was so delighted by its tangy fruit flavor that I was determined to find another use for it. I’m horrible with keeping tabs on my recipes when I’m cooking, preferring to add a “little bit of this” and “some of that,” but the basic idea is to take maybe a tablespoon or so of the tamarind paste, dilute with water, simmer, sweeten with honey to taste, and thicken with a corn starch slurry. The resulting sauce is the perfect contrast to the creamy vanilla anglaise, and the pairing made for some of the best waffles I’ve ever eaten.