Miniature Mouse in a Tin House

This Miniature Mouse in a Tin House was not only fun to make, it has my imagination spinning like it did when I was a child.  I have ALWAYS loved mice.  When I was a kid, I used to sit in my Dad’s pick up truck and stare at the vent near the passenger side floorboard, convinced that little mice would use it as a theater stage to sing songs and dance.  That’s probably why, when I became a mom, most of the books I bought and read to my daughter were stories about mice.  My favorites were “Tessa’s Tip-Tapping Toes” and “Mice and Beans.” But I digress.

Once I started working on this project, I was caught up in the cuteness and couldn’t help getting carried away.  So, file this under the category of “Musings by Marcy,” because it’s amazing how inspiration can come from anywhere.  In this case, I was browsing my local thrift store (I know, big surprise considering I practically live there), when I came upon this old cigar tin.  I had never seen one like it before, and though I’m absolutely not an advocate of smoking, I thought it was so cool.  I knew immediately it would be the perfect home for a little mouse to live in.

I didn’t set out to do this project as a tutorial, so I hope you’re not disappointed I’m not including step-by-step instructions.  I will, however, show you a few of the pictures I was able to take along the way and let you know what I used to put it all together.  I relied on things I had laying around the house or in my crafts stockpile.  And, the first thing I went for was scrapbooking paper to use as wall paper.  I just cut it to size and glued it to the inside of the tin.

I went online and searched under “portraits of mice” to find artwork for the walls.  When I found ones I liked, I scaled them way down before printing, then cut a frame border for each out of gold paper.  I did the same thing with the outdoor scene outside the window.  I cut strips for the window panes from black ribbon and just glued everything in place.

Next, I sewed curtains from a scrap piece of fabric.  I had to sew them the same way I would real curtains so that I would be able to hang them.  I used a wood skewer as a curtain rod and cut two strips of pink fabric to use as tie backs.

I then sewed a miniature mattress, a blanket, and a pillow.  I was able to use my sewing machine for some of it, but had to hand stitch the majority.  You’ll notice the satin pillow came from a piece of white satin ribbon I had.  I stuffed it (and the mattress) with cotton balls.

I made the bed out of foam board.  The size of the bed was dictated by the size of the tin.  I wanted to make sure the bed would fit with the lid closed.  I cut out the pieces, hot glued them together, then painted the whole bed brown with craft paint.  I’m still not convinced foam board was the best choice, and may end up redoing the bed using real wood, but for now, it works.

Next, it was time for the miniature mouse.  I had plenty of gray felt, which I knew would be perfect for it, but unfortunately it was a lot harder than I thought.  I had to sew the entire thing by hand, and sewing something that tiny, made it extremely difficult.  Don’t look close or you’ll see all the flaws.  This was actually my second attempt.  The first mouse I started was too big for the bed.

I decided to make this mouse a necklace with some beads I had, and for a little more flare I made her a tutu using some tulle I had in my stockpile, as well.  I would have preferred pink, but teal is pretty darling, too.

With that, my Miniature Mouse in a Tin House was done.  I can hardly stand the cuteness.  I just had to buy her a miniature tea set and some miniature story books for her to read.  I just hope they’re half as sweet as the ones I used to read my daughter.