Unfortunately I still have not had the time to create a new post. This is a rerun post that I thought you would enjoy... especially this time of year.
I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed Christmas!!
I found Sleeping Baby Mice in my our Christmas decorations!!!
Eeeeeeeeeekkk!!
The story follows...
This particular egg carton is probably 10-15 years old. I use it (and another) to store small Christmas decorations / ornaments. These cartons are then placed inside a storage box.
I opened this carton to find
"Peanut Reindeer"
When my kids were smaller, and I was a single mother, the kids and I would have Cornish Game Hens for Thanksgiving and / or Christmas dinner. We couldn't eat a whole turkey, so we started going the Cornish Game Hen route. This left us with 3 wishbones! I'd saved the wishbones, and some how or another "saw" that the peanuts were somewhat shaped like a reindeer's face... so I glued two together, stuck the wishbone into the "head" peanut and glued it. I had those 1/2 beads that I used for eyes, drew on a smiley mouth, and tied the stretchy ric-rac around the necks for a bow.
Now don't you think those are cute?!?
In this egg carton (and the other one too) I also found these Sleeping Baby Mice
Oh aren't they just so cute?! (Now don't be mad at me... I never said the Sleeping Baby Mice were alive! :)
(I apologize for the blurry photo) |
When I found these I remembered I made these a LOOOOOOONG time ago! I am certain these are older than the Peanut Reindeer! I am fairly certain I made these at least 25 if not 30 years ago.
I remember that my mother had found a small box in my paternal grandmother's things that had several pieces of material cut into quilt piece size. These small pieces of material are what I used for the baby's blankets. I also remember that I found the instructions for these in a magazine, possibly a Better Homes and Gardens. As you can see from the photo above some of the mice don't have strings attached to them. The ones without the strings I've never used on my tree... I guess I've always felt that I had plenty on my tree the way it was.
I was wracking my brain for instructions on how to make these cutie patootie Sleeping Baby Mice. I couldn't remember exactly so I did a search. I only found one place that had instructions close to what I remembered doing back then.
We didn't exactly put up a tree this year
so in order for me to show you how they look hanging, I used my ornament hangers to hang them on.
I'm showing you this one so you can see I even used a teensy weensy ball of dough to create a nose.
When you attach your cord, ribbon, or what ever you choose, please take it from me you are better off having the strings a bit wider apart as on the walnut shell on the left. If you have the strings too close together or too far back from the head of the mouse your mouse won't hang correctly, as naturally the head weighs more (not that they have big heads, it's just you don't supply any feet or weight at the foot end).
Here are the
instructions I found. (I've added my own
comments in blue, and the two links that appear as purple.)
This cute little
mouse Christmas craft is so sweet sleeping in his little walnut cradle. And he
looks just perfect hanging in a light filled Christmas tree just like his home is on the pine
bough branch. I wouldn't be surprised if he woke up and walked over to a candy
cane for a snack. He looks so real. And if you make more than one of these
ornaments, you could have cute sleeping mouse family. Maybe a father mouse
would have a larger sized head, and you could sew him a little pointed sleeping
hat. A mom mouse would wear a cut calico, lacy bed hat. A cute Santa mouse
would be a welcome addition, but I haven't decided on a Christmas craft design
for a Santa mouse as yet.
What you will need:
- A Can of White Play Doh or Salt Dough
- Small Scraps of Fabric
- Heavy Thread, Yarn or Thin pretty Ribbon
- Whole Walnuts, Unshelled
- Cotton Balls
- Fine Line Black Felt Marker
- Elmers or clear drying craft glue
First to start this
cute baby mouse Christmas craft, you want to crack a walnut in half lengthwise
making sure to keep the two halves intact. Next, you make the mouse's head by
rolling a ball the size of a good size pea from the play doh. And then you roll
two smaller balls, flatten them and lightly press on either side of the head to
make his ears.
Now, you roll out a
half inch piece of play doh and attach the head to this piece making the body. (I also created a little tiny round ball for the nose.) The
body will be covered under the blanket so you only need the allusion of a body.
And then you place your little mouse in a safe place to dry. Or you could place
the mouse in an 250 degree oven for an hour or longer until he is thoroughly
dry and let him cool and finish drying for at least a day.
Now, you want to draw
a face on your mouse, whiskers, sleeping eyes, nose and a mouth. (I used paint and
a very narrow paint brush, but an ultra fine Sharpie would certainly do the job
much easier!) And you take a piece of cotton ball and shape into a
little pillow and place this in the little walnut shell half and secure with
glue. (I used a folded piece of flannel instead of
using the cotton ball for the pillow.) And you can also glue the mouse
to the cotton. Next, you take a little square of cotton material and tuck it
around the cute sleeping mouse all the way up to his little chin and glue
again.
I
painted my mice after they were dry. I’ve
done some research though, and you could color the salt dough prior to using
it. Salt Dough can be
colored with food coloring, natural things such as cocoa powder, paprika,
saffron (although very expensive) or acrylic paint.
Finally, you cut two
8 inch pieces of narrow ribbon or yarn and glue lengthwise underneath the shell
making sure the cut ends meet underneath the shell, and then repeat the same
procedure but place widthwise. Now you glue the two ribbons evenly at the top
and tie with a pretty bow and glue again. Don't forget a loop so you can hang
your mousy friend on a tree bough.
**********
For salt dough mix 1 cup of salt with 2 cups of flour, 1
tablespoon of oil and about 1 cup of water. Mix it and knead it until it is
easy to work with. If necessary add a little more water or a little more flour
to get a good consistency.
Other salt dough ideas:
These four Sleeping Baby Mice found a new home this year for Christmas.
I have a friend that I know would truly appreciate the fact that they're homemade and from my stash. I believe in giving something that someone would enjoy.
This little fella is all wrapped and ready to go back into the egg carton for a long winter's nap (well... winter, spring, summer, fall...)
Start saving your walnut shells!!
Enjoy your nap little fella, enjoy your nap...
awww, the reindeer and baby mice are so cute! You did get me on the eeeek
ReplyDeleteI thought you were talking about real mice! hahaha
Merry Christmas to you and your family Toqua!
gail