The Finishing of 3 little mice : baubles

I decided how I wanted to finish up my little mice designs pretty early after completing my first one. I wanted them in clear baubles to go on my sister's Christmas tree if she has one this year. (Otherwise to a friend or two who will)

I had an (admittedly very quick) look through the local shops but couldn't find what I wanted for the baubles. Though I was certain they existed. In the end I just took the easy though somewhat expensive option and brought them through ebay. Ebay is no always a bargain particularly if you take into account postage. I also had to buy 10 when I really only needed 3. But the others can be used as the manufacturer seems to recommend which is to fill with lollies or treats to hang from the tree.

I did want to use 'Iridescent Easter grass' for the other side of the bauble but you may notice that it doesn't happen to be anywhere near Easter so settled on tinsel instead. Correct festive season and locatable in abundance at a shopping centre near you!

Items used:
Clear Baubles

Tinsel
White Sparkly adhesive foam

A pen
Pair of scissors (a Stanley knife would do the trick too but I've lost mine...after stabbing myself with it. I should maybe not be allowed to play with sharp object without supervision. )

...
And my finished designs of course.

First I traced around the bauble on the back of the foam making a circle. I cut out three foam circles on the inside of the line, to make them just a tiny bit smaller to fit inside the baubles. I wanted them to fit in comfortably but fixed enough the designs wouldn’t move about.

I then peeled the back of my foam circles and lined up the mouse to sit as much in the middle as possible. I was very glad I chose the 8cm baubles and not the 7.5cm ones I was tossing up with. 8cm gave just enough space to look good but allow the mouse not to have to be crazy precise. 7.5cm would have been frustratingly fiddly. 

The great thing about the foam was that it was sticky enough that I didn't have to worry about fraying. Once the mice were stuck it was comfortably I just trimmed the excess and it was ready to go. I put the design in the bauble with a little bit of tinsel on the other side. Squished it all together. And all done :)

Please excuse the reflection of my hand in a few of these photo's. 

Itty Bitty mouse (3)

So last night I finished the third and last Margaret Sherry little mousie from the World of Cross Stitch 3-in-1 kit.

This one unfortunately had a few more 'blips' in the stitching than the other two.

Firstly I don't recommend stitching while exhausted. A long 10 hours of work plus 2 hours travel time does not make for a switched on brain. I completely missed that I'd grabbed the pink instead of the peach - twice. So his feet and ears were in pink instead of peach. It wasn't too noticeable UNTIL I stitched the pink in the correct place (his cheek). Then I'm sitting there going, 'those colours look a lot alike... awhhhh shoot'

And here be my little bundle of shame, all a frogged:

 

Also during my tired stitching I didn't notice I'd picked up the white that had a bit of brown on it. It came in the kit with a smudge of brown on one end. Either somehow contaminated while getting dyed or stained some other way in transport. I was going to trim it off but accidentally used it instead. The end result is a browny cross on his belly where there should be white. It's not too noticeable and doesn't really affect the overall design so I didn't unpick the white. If I'd had to I probably would have abandoned the design.  I have a lot to do at the moment and indulging in cross stitch is just that, indulging.

It was also a little confetti-ish in some places and I missed a few crosses (4 or 5) Not hard to correct but  annoying none the less. 

So here be little mousekewitz number 3 in his finished 6x6 glory:

And one lonely little WIP shot: