And the winner is....

31st October 2012
I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who entered the competition to come up with a phrase to be printed on this Santa Teacup Mouse's placard. With nearly 100 brilliant entries, I was definitely spoiled for choice, but one suggestion pipped the others to the post with its originality, quirkiness and brevity (which was quite important given the size of the placard!) So, a big congratulations to SAM for coming up with the winning entry - "MERRY KISSMOUSE" :) This wee mouse will be heading off to live with you very soon!

There were several entries that deserve a mention too - there were so many wonderful suggestions, I was just blown away by your inventiveness and wit! Here are some of my favourites:

"Mousie mistletoe kisses £1.00" - Nina J.
"Keep Calm and Be Merry" - Courtney Y.
"Please stop here, Santa" - Pamela B.
"Santa's Little Helper" - Alisha M, Honey Daze
"Santa Paws: The Mouse Before Christmas" - Lemur Lady

Many thanks once again to everyone who took the time to enter - I had so much fun reading all your ideas, and the mice had a good chortle as well! I will be selling a limited number of these special Merry KissMouse Mice in the run up to Christmas, and if anyone wants to reserve one (price £23 plus shipping), just drop me a line.

Competition time!

8th October 2012
This Christmas, I will be doing a limited edition Santa Teacup Mouse! This wee mouse has a lovely Santa hat on and is perched in a festive green tea cup, but he just doesn't know what his placard should say! Can you help him?

Wedded Bliss Part 2

Teapot Mice

4th October 2012

In the second part of my series of articles about the wedding cake toppers I've made, I thought I'd start off by looking at the role that props often play when I'm working on a design. And first up are these adorable Teapot Mice, made for the lovely Helen and her husband Gareth. Helen first got in touch with me in April through Etsy, as she had spotted the Teacup Mice and she thought the style would work for their wedding theme. Helen  had in mind the idea of a mouse in a teapot, and after we spoke on the phone, we came up with the idea of a mouse in a teapot, and also another mouse pouring a cup of tea (I just love the circularity of that!) Helen managed to source this wonderful miniature teapot, to which I added the mice (the little grey mouse just tagged along for the ride - the handle was just crying out for a mouse!)

Photo © Richard Moore 

And this was the amazing cake, upon which the Teapot Mice were perched! Isn't it beautiful? You may spot a little cup and saucer at the bottom of the cake - another couple of mice found their way in there, holding a sign saying "Keep Calm and Marry On". Perfect.

Another commission that involved a certain circularity was a computer mouse on a, err, computer mouse! These two mice were based on the bride and groom's professions, with the groom in IT and the bride a scientist. I managed to find a fairly flat computer mouse on eBay, and the mice were right at home!

Another recent commission I did involved a beautiful ceramic apple from Penkridge Ceramics. Jo had got in touch to see if I could make some fairly simple mice for her wedding, to include three little mice to represent their daughters and the flower girl.

What I loved about this commission was that the mice are wearing elements of the real wedding outfits, but just in highlighted form. So the bride has a couple of flowers at her waist, similar to those on Jo's dress, and the bridesmaids and flowergirl are wearing sashes, again taken from their dresses. The apple is just wonderful - Edie's mouse is clambering up the side (she loves climbing), whereas Lily's mouse is dancing. The tails of the bride and groom and entwined in a heart.

Signs are always a pretty popular prop when it comes to weddings. These two giraffes were commissioned by Al as a gift for her sister's wedding. The groom is about 9cm tall, and the bride is 8cm tall.

There is one final installment to go in this series of wedding cake toppers - if you'd like to see more of the sort of commissions I do, pop over to my Flickr page
.

Wedded Bliss Part 1

Michelle and Paul's wedding mice

10th August 2012
I consider it a great honour when I'm asked to make wee creatures to perch on the top of a wedding cake. To be a part of someone's special day is a big thing, even if it's only a small part, and I love working with people to come up with just the perfect design.  I've clocked up quite a few now, so I'm going to take a look at some of the ones I've made over a couple of posts.

Introducing the Moodlings

3rd July 2012
June was an interesting sort of a month for me, one of those roller coaster ones that come along every once in a while. Not only did it not get off to a great start when I dislocated my left thumb and was out of action for over a week, but it didn't really improve when my computer caught a few bugs which (thankfully) are now fully cured. But on the plus side, I have developed a new range of wee creatures, the Moodlings, AND I have finally opened my long-awaited new online shop!