Make-It-Monday: Pom-Pom Mice

I've always had a thing for mice.  When I was a little girl, I drew little pictures of them in the margins of my school papers (with frowny faces on the ones on the math papers!).  I think my childhood love of mice was influenced by "An American Tail", which came out in 1986, when I was 4 years old.  I liked "The Secret Of Nimh" too, but "An American Tail" was my favorite.  (I had a pet mouse for a short time that I named "Fivel")  When I was older (around 9 or 10), I read books like the Redwall series, and about Reepicheep in "The Chronicles of Narnia".   What is it about mice that is so enchanting? (In fantasy movies/books at least.  In reality, when one gets into my house, I am kind of glad my cat is there to catch it!  But if I can, I try to get it away from her unharmed and put it outside).  

Anyway, my craft show friend Amy of Sweet Pea Felts makes adorable little needle-felted mouse soft sculptures (you can see photos on her blog or on her Facebook page.  Recently, she made pom-pom mice with her daughter, and then decided to post a tutorial on her blog.  As soon as I saw it, I HAD to make one!

This mouse has unleashed my inner little girl.  I just want to play with it and pose it, and take pictures of it all day!

I haven't decided on a name, but I imagine him as a brave little scamp!

"Touche', Pussycat!"

I made him some armor from bottlecaps and gave him a T-pin as a sword. My friends on Facebook said "It's Reepicheep!"...convenient, since the bottlecap has an "R".  I'm also reminded of books like "The Mouse And The Motorcycle" and "Ralph S Mouse" by Beverly Cleary, as well as "The Tale of Despereaux" (I've never read the book, but I saw the movie)

My poor animals endured my attempts to take some staged pictures...

This shot of Luna sniffing (and consequently knocking over) my mouse makes it look like an action photo of the mouse doing battle!

"Really, Mommy?  What is up with the mouse?  I just want to nap."

I've since made 2 more mice (and have been suppressing the urge to make more!).  I made one brown mouse to experiment with using a different textured yarn, and another white mouse to give as a belated birthday gift to my friend's daughter Lydia, who just turned 10 last week.

(The Sweet Pea Felts tutorial is for personal use only, so I will not be making any of these to sell.  If you'd like one, you can make one yourself!  The materials are inexpensive (I had everything already on-hand in my craft supply stash) and the tutorial is super-easy!  Or you can contact Sweet Pea Felts.)