Christmas Mouse Ornament

Technique:  Sewing

Materials:
larger sized matchbox
warm and natural quilt batting
assorted fabrics
7mm plastic eyes
black embroidery floss
ground cinnamon
Distress Inks
* Vintage Photo
* Peeled Paint
holly punch
grunge paper
adhesive

Tools:
sewing machine, needle and thread etc
printer
paper distressing tool

If you saw my post on Friday you will know straight away where the inspiration for this wee little mouse came from!  The Olde Country Cupboard has a large collection of free patterns available to download, (scroll down the page to find them) and although I didn't actually use most of their pattern, I drew heavily upon it for inspiration, so if you download it and follow her directions you can't really go wrong.

Anywhere, here's what I did differently!

I used warm and natural batting to make my mouse rather than grey felt.  I adjusted the pattern shape of the mouse for a pointed nose rather than the blunt, rounded nose and I embroidered the nose at the tip of the point.  I used plastic eyes instead of french knots, and once he was sewn together I dusted him heavily with cinnamon powder to make him look old and dirty.  The quilt is made from a Debbie Mumm quilt label, and glued in place over the top of the match box.  The letter to Santa is directly from the pattern, and I have aged it with distress inks and glued it in place with a sprig of holly.

It is my son's eleventh birthday in a few days, and believe it or not he asked me to make him an ornament as a present.  He also insisted that he not see it before his birthday and that it be kept as a surprise!  You can see in the photo below the hanger for the ornament, I punched a hole in the top and strung through a bead and some twine so my son can put it on the tree this year.  If you preferred you could glue four beads to the base of the matchbox to act as feet for the bed so it can be a shelf sitting ornament.

Oh, and I have just noticed that the theme this week at Winter Wonderland holly and ivy so I am going to pop this little rascal over there as my first entry this week. I just bought a Martha Stewart holly punch so I have a few projects in mind for this week :0)