Hansel and Gretel

Inspired yet again by the Grimm Brothers,
I bring you my version of
Hansel and Gretel. 

They come with a darling candy house!
 

There are many photos on their sale page
and I hope you have a moment
to enjoy a peek at them. 

It doesn't happen often,
but these two stole my heart.

http://www.cobblestonecreations.net/shop/tailssales/hansgret.htm

How much smaller can they get?

I was contacted recently by a woman who wants to use my mice to populate a half scale dollhouse. 

For those of you unfamiliar with dollhouse scales, a normal dollhouse is 1:12 where 1 inch represents 1 foot (12 inches.)  A half scale dollhouse is then 1:24 where 1 inch representing 24 inches! 

That is mighty tiny by anyone's standards.

Although my regular mice are roughly 3 inches tall, you would think that would make them look approximately 6 feet tall and should be ok.  But truthfully, they are a bit large for the 1:24 houses. 

So I have made an even smaller mouse who stands just over 2 inches tall.  It is amazing how much difference that makes.

In this picture, from right to left is

a 1:12 door,

a 1:12 dollhouse doll,

my regular mouse (Rumplestiltkins is posing for the picture),

a 1:24 door

and finally my new 1:24 mouse. 

You can see the proportions between the 1:12 door and the doll are about the same as the proportions between the 1:24 door and the new mouse. 

And here she is dressed:

Although I am encouraged by having accomplished this, I was still trying to go smaller as I also want to try making children to fit this scale.  Oh dear . . .

Penelope Randall of Cobblestone Circle

~ Penny Randall of Cobblestone Circle ~

Penny hasn't always been thrilled about Valentine's Day. 
Now she's checking her mailbox ~ will she
find the one card she has been waiting for?

You can read Penny's story here.

She is available for sale on my website.
(Penny has been sold!)

It is hard to believe Penny is the 91st citizen of Cobblestone Circle.  Number 100 is not far off and I certainly must make it something special.  Do you have any thougths about what (who) you'd like to see for number 100? 
I'd love to hear from you.

Alice's Dormouse

Wanted to share a commissioned piece I did in conjunction with

 Carolee Clark of

King of Mice Studios.

Carolee painted the teapot and

I created the mouse for a very special collector.

This is the first mouse I've made of this type

and I do believe I have fallen in love with this cuddly guy

enough to make more like him.

Stay tuned!

Tillie Cobb of Cobblestone Circle

Tillie received a very peculiar gift from her husband for Christmas this year ~ and now she's got to give it a try. 

What did Jack do now!

You can read Tillie's story here: http://www.cobblestonecreations.net/circle/stories/tilliecobb2.htm

She is available for sale on my website: http://cobblestonecreations.net/shop/shop.htm

On my work table . . .

 Just popping in to share what’s currently on my work table.  Lately there has been a LOT on there, but I think I’ve finally got one thing completed so I am anxious to show you.

This is the house I’ve been constructing for what seems like forever.   And perhaps constructing isn’t an accurate way to put it.   The basic structure itself is a purchased item.   It was a plain wooden house that I’ve painted and decorated to accompany the next mice from the Cobblestone Tails series ~ Hansel and Gretel.

Those two haven’t even been started yet so I’ve pictured the house here with Rumplestiltskin ~ who btw is still available on my website.

But before I even think about choosing fur and fabric for Hansel and Gretel I need to finish the other wee ones who are in various stages:

* two new Cobblestone Circle Citizens (These are almost done and will hopefully debut this week!  Tillie Cobb is in her new  snowsuit and Penny Randall is getting Valentine cards in her mailbox.)

* a Potbelly mouse for Valentine’s Day

* another tea party set of mice

*two commissions (very close to done!!!)

*a new size mouse that will fit into a 1/2 scale dollhouse (1:24)

* the two darling bears who have been in pieces waiting patiently for about three months for me to complete them!

Oh, who am I trying to kid ~ there’s no way I can wait that long to finish the mice for this adorable house.
 

 Best get back to sewing right now!!!

ps.  Not sure if I should be proud of this fact or not ~ but I was able to completely decorate this candy house without buying a single thing!  It all came from my stashes baubles, paints and trims.  Oh dear . . .

Rumplestiltskin

My first mouse for 2012 is part of the
Cobblestone Tails Collection.

Inspired by the Grimm Brothers' famous tale, 
I bring to you my version of
Rumplestiltskin!

He is now available on my website:

http://www.cobblestonecreations.net/shop/tailssales/rumple.htm

He is just over 3 inches tall and comes with

this 1:12 scale spinning wheel.
Layaway is always available!

 

Have I been watching too much
Once Upon a Time and Grimm on TV? 

Holy Moses! Wholly Moses!

Thought I'd share some pics of a mouse I made for one of my favorite collectors. 

It's a Moses mouse to go with her

Egyptian mice Mousiris and his Queen.

Complete with leather sandals.

Even Chuck would like this one, I bet.

I've got to change my evil ways . . .

Ok, I'll admit it.  I was a bad girl in 2011.  Instead of entering my business data into my financial software package, I just threw every receipt, sales record, bank statement, etc into a pile.  This is very unlike me ~ or unlike the old me, I should say.  Let's chalk it up to a mellowing on my part.  Yeah, that sounds good.

But the day of reckoning came this week. Mr. Cobblestone had a business dinner one evening, so it seemed a good time to occupy our very large dining table with my very large mess.  Never mind that the mess was there for 3 days ~ he's a very accommodating fellow, my Mr. Cobblestone.

As I stared at the stacks, I knew I'd have to employ a bit of motivation ~ something to get that energy flowing.  I turned to the Music Choice 70's channel through our cable provider and pumped it through all the speakers.

You must agree that there is simply no music like the music you first discovered in your teen and preteen years (go ahead, I'll wait while you do the math.)  Soon I was dancing around the table sorting all those receipts, bills of sale, etc and had a few flashes of a young girl doing The Hustle in front her of mirror in that tiny bedroom in Mon City all those years ago.

But the really frightening thing was how many of those lyrics came pouring out of my mouth like it was only yesterday that they populated the top 10 charts.  We're talking pretty obscure tunes here: "Rainy Night in Georgia" by Brook Benton, "I'd Love You to Want Me" by Lobo, "My Best Friend's Girlfriend" by The Cars, "In the Rain" by The Dramatics, "Low Rider" by War, "Falling" by Leblanc and Carr, "Evil Ways" by Santana (duh) and *gasp* "Ariel" by Dean Friedman!

You'll be relieved to know the table has been returned to its usual state now and the books have been put away, all tax forms filed and paid.

Whew!

Now it is time to SEW!!!

Thank-you all for your patience with me throughout the holidays and tax time.  More than once I needed to walk away from all the paperwork and found myself puttering in my studio ~ resulting in many little piles
of half finished mice and bears.

I promise there will be new little friends available soon!

Just a few loose ends to tie up for 2011



So, how was everyone's holiday? 

It was busy, busy, busy for me so I'd like to take a moment now to wish each and every one of you a most joyous New Year full of happiness, good health and prosperity!

During the past few weeks I had wanted to share a few things with you, but well, somehow never found the time. 

First, let me thank all of you who took the time to send holiday greetings ~ they were indeed appreciated.  I had to laugh that more than one of you found this gem of a card from JacquieLawson e-cards featuring a particularly fitting storefront near the end. 

Some of you have very sharp eyes indeed to spot the little Cafe Cobblestone. 

I loved it!

I also wanted to let you know that Mr. Cobblestone and I once again found a few days for an overnight getaway to Chicago for some Christmas shopping.  We took the train down and had such a lovely time discovering Chicago's Old Town district, lunching at O'Brien's which was decked out in the most charming Christmas decor I've seen in quite a long time.  A chilly (ok, downright cold) walk down Lake Shore Drive through the Gold Coast region brought us to Michigan Ave.  We dined at Frontera that evening and were lucky enough to see Rick Bayless himself.   It is an exceptional meal any time and I strongly urge everyone to get there at least once.

Our hotel was one of the Kimpton properties, specifically The Monaco Hotel.  Now, this was way more fun that it should have been ~ they have large window seats in some of the rooms, with memory foam cushions, where you can snuggle up with the wool blanket and pillows watching the Chicago River.    

Someone in our room even managed to fall asleep there.

I was also extremely thrilled to have been published in the UK

 Teddy Bear Times Magazine! 

Yep ~ there are my mice and bears on page 36 of the Dec/Jan issue. 

Thank for including my work, Faye!!

The decorations have all been packed away over the past few days and now I am ready to start on some new bears and mice.  Two bears have been cut out today, and 3 new mice have been started as well.  Hard to say what exactly they will end up being ~ you know they have a curious way of exerting their own personalities.  I can tell you that Hansel and Gretel are in the planning stages ~ I've found the perfect house to cover in faux candy!  What fun!!!