mushroom

contract

She has returned from the big city with a book contract! It will published in March '11, and is called "The House that Mouse Built".

comics

Hardworking mouse cartoonist,

inspired by my son Sam Alden. Check out his great work at

gingerlandcomics.blogspot.com

more mouse grooming

I made this ewer out of an acorn modified with fimo and then painted. The stand is made from bent brass safety pins.

vanity

The well-groomed mouse brushes her face every morning

oven

a loaf of mouse bread, the size of a lima bean

Greetings from Mouseland!

I have been away from internet access for a few days and have returned to find my followers list tripled! So I need to thank Nikki for featuring me on her blog, and also thank all of my new followers who've left me so many encouraging comments.

To answer a common question; I am not selling the mice at this point but I am working to develop ways to show them. I am in talks now with a publisher to develop a children's book.

I will keep you posted!

Thanks, Maggie

piggyback

the basket is made from a poppy pod

fandancer

The fans are a pair of earrings

cookie

If you give Nadim a mouse...

picnic

This reminds me of some chilly English picnics I went on in my youth.

The grassy field in the picture is a furry green sweater.

dancing mice

Prom night in Mouseland

waiting

Coupla guys,

waiting around

travelling mouse

This young mouse is going to NYC with her aunt Laura...she hopes to have a book contract in her little suitcase when she returns!

Her dress is made from fabric that came from my great- grandmother Jessie's quilt stash

mouse lit

illustrations were painted with three-hair brush and the aid of a magnifying glass

Sam and Toby

This pair looks eerily like my sons

change purse

mouse games

a fierce game of mouse lacrosse

bedtime story

knitting

bed

portrait

Closeup of a portrait in one of the houses, painted on a necklace pendant

intrepid trio

Easter bonnet

Happy Easter from the

Easter Mouse

mouse and bee

newborn

Mama mouse with newborn, sitting in one of a pair of armchairs I made. Standard dollhouse miniatures don't work for mice because their proportions are so different from humans.

pink girls

Six sisters, decked out in pink. These were for a children's story I was working on.

odalisque

I spent the weekend carving this fainting couch

reading

She is reading under an ancestral portrait, painted on an earring. The window is a glass button and the fireplace is carved from basswood.

pincushion

Lovesick mouse, pining on a pincushion

bath

The bathtub is an eyecup

cart

This reminds me of an old goat cart my father used to pull us in when we were little. The cart is made out of a candy box.

bath time

This is a scene outside the gourd house..I made this maybe eight years ago. The mice are somewhat more primitive than the ones I'm making now.

tray

A tray of mice, ready for their closeups. Or maybe cat canapes.

playdate

The woodstove is a salt cellar

photo booth

My Fred Flintstone photo booth

running mouse

I'm trying out a scene for a children's book illustration here. The house is made out of dictionary and book covers. Roof is an old calfskin toiletries case.

napping

Mama will soon be awake

learning to make chairs

This shows a week's evolution of mouse chairs. They're constructed out of old rulers, which are made from nice old VG fir, and easy to carve. I recently bought a miniature tablesaw so I'll be able to use more accurately milled wood, and the chairs will get less clunky.

The chairback on the far right is made from an earring.

Birthday party

This was in honor of my friend's 50th birthday. The cake stand is made from a part of a chess piece and a filagree earring. The swag is a strand of Pieris flowers.

Happy Birthday, Patty!

baby carriage

The pram is made from a walnut shell

with a hairpin handle. The wheels are

black wooden discs between clothing snaps and eyelets.

blue door

Close-up of a large gourd house. I carved the door and window from pieces of wood, and used some great hinges from a now defunct miniature store. Front step is half of a wooden box lid that I found at a thrift store.

granny mouse

Inside the gourd house. The other half of the lid forms the hearth.

little mouse alone

The mice are made out of felt and pipe-cleaners,

and their eyes are black beads

guitar playing mouse

The little guitar is carved out of wood, with nylon thread strings.

happy family

This is an interior I've been working on recently. The tabletop is made out of a mousetrap.

Grace Darling

An illustration of "The Ballad of Grace Darling":

"She pulled away on the rolling sea

over the waters blue,

'Help! Help!', she could hear the cry of the shipwrecked crew;

But Grace had an English heart

And the raging storm she braved,

'Help! Help!', came the desperate yelp,

And the crew she saved!"

mouse at home by the fire

My first mouse house. The wood stove is made out of a poppy pod.