Tiny Tuesday Mice

Looking around my house I realized that I have a wealth of Tiny Tuesday material because I've always loved "little things", figurines, stuffed animals, etc., and so I don't have to go chasing after small bugs and live critters after all.

Today's Tiny Tuesday offering is a pair of clay mice I made for my daughter a very long time ago.  Mom is Ethel, (1 3/4" tall) and her daughter is Melissa (slightly under 1").  Fabric versions of the two of them lived in an elaborate dollhouse with husband and father, Marvin Mouse.   Marvin was a Christmas tree ornament that my daughter rescued from after-Christmas-storage when she was about nine years old.   He and his little family went on to live good and prosperous lives as ranchers, acquiring a host of other characters and friends along the way.  In addition to the house,  they acquired a pretty fancy barn with livestock and vehicles, eventually retiring and moving to the city where they live today in a museum quality display at my daughter's house. (See Extras).

Marvin with his family, friends and imaginative adventures was an endless source of fun for our family when my kids were young.  We were living on a ranch in Montana at the time and times were very difficult.  We didn't have much money to live on much less buy anything for each other which is why the Christmas of Marvin stays in our memory.   My husband made the house and barn, I made the household things, including a well stocked pantry with all sorts of food crafted from clay, clothes from scraps of material and the rest from all our imaginations.  
No matter how old any of us get, we'll never outgrow Marvin and his family and for that I will be eternally grateful.