This mouse house in a holey rock originated in a Pete and Jackie Steele workshop at a Southwest Roundup in Tucson, AZ .

It is approximately one-quarter inch scale, where one-quarter inch equals one foot. No, the quarter beside it doesn't have anything to do with quarter inch; it's just so you can get an idea of the small scale since most of the photos show things considerably bigger.

The Steeles provided a piece of volcanic rock from their property in Utah (we got to choose our rock), a base to set it on, thin slices of slate, large slabs of bark, twigs, and lots of natural materials. You'd be surprised how heavy this scene is.

It was left to us to decide what our rocks would become. Some just landscaped with flowers and plants, others made fairy or elf habitats. Mine became a home for three cartoonish country mice (no more realistic mice for me!). They look slightly lilac-colored here, but are grey, and were made by Beth Giachetti of Arizona.

I constructed the bark roof and cut and installed the slate floors in the workshop, but did most of the furnishings and landscaping at home.

Mama Mouse (I added the apron) sits in disgust by the mailbox. She thought surely she'd get a letter today from her agent about her latest romance novel.

The rock entryway is made with eggshells. A clean empty eggshell is flattened onto an index card covered with glue. A stain is rubbed on, then off, and the excess card is cut away. I think this was two cards worth of eggshells. I don't have a clue as to what that pink thingy is there by her foot; maybe she's been hiding Easter eggs for Baby?

The steps on the right, made with scraps of bark left from the roof piece, lead up to the front food storage area of the house. Brown floral foam and cardboard pieces were widely used to prop up floors and build up layers of stuff, then covered with glue, sand and model railroad landscaping materials, along with dried flowers, lichen, mosses, etc.

The ladder in the center of the picture leads from the food storage area up to Mama and Papa's bedroom. It was made of cloth-covered florist wire and wood strips, painted dark brown. (Are you surprised to learn mice use ladders?) Just past its base is a storage basket of grains.

Here is a clearer view of the food storage area on a ledge above the grains basket. Notice the bark steps continuing up to this level on the right. My husband brought home all kinds of little dried plant material from his hikes, much of which I used for this scene. I also used items contained in a packet of simmering potpourri mixture, as well as pickling spices, etc.

The long bean is from some desert tree, I think. The two pumpkin-like seed pods grow on small bushes in the red sand hills east of El Paso. I have painted these for other uses as tomatoes and small pumpkins in one-inch scale scenes. Unfortunately, the sand hills are disappearing as neighborhoods creep out that way and so are my bushes.

One night I kept hearing little skittering noises from the back room and was fearful that we had real mice again. When I turned on the light, I saw some of these pods on my work table splitting open and shooting little black seeds everywhere - Nature's way of scattering seeds for the next crop. They look a lot like tiny Brazil nuts. Since then, I have tried to remember to coat the pods with a sealer as soon as I get them home.

Mama Mouse's chair has grapevine rockers and a little pillow for her back. The chest Papa uses for his private papers is at the foot of his bed. The beds are made in large bottle tree pod halves. The Steeles showed us some of these early in the workshop, and that afternoon my husband picked up a whole bag full from under the trees around the hotel.

Here's the opposite side of the bedroom with Mama's bed in another pod half. That filmy looking sheet is a bit of dryer softener sheet. The candlestick on the bedside table is not as close to the roof as it looks; so don't worry about the fire damage. Mama makes sure it is never left unattended.

Baby Mouse is sucking his thumb and has almost outgrown his cradle. That's the stovepipe from the kitchen silhouetted against the background.

Beth Giachetti also made this cradle. I'm not sure what she used; an eggshell or seashell or?

Bespectacled Papa Mouse enjoys communing with nature in the gazebo a few steps down from the bedroom area. It has a pinecone petal shingled roof and its floor is slate, as are the other floors. It tilts a bit, but you may have noticed that mice are not concerned about straight lines. I was surprised to see a very similar gazebo, although much nicer, on Anne Gerdes' website - and here I thought I was being really clever!

Steps lead up from the lower level past the welcome sign to another food storage area under the ledge where Baby Mouse stands. A needlepoint canvas basket holds seeds.

Below and to the left of the gazebo is the bathroom where we can see the mice's ingenious plumbing system at work. Water from natural springs within the rock flows down and runs into a cistern under the ledge, then is piped into the appropriate fixtures. Plants lining a stream that emerges under the gazebo provide a natural cleansing action for waste water as it flows away from the home. These are real dried mosses touched up with green paint.

A leaf forms a bathmat. Notice how the excess water flows from under the ledge on the left here, too. Just around the corner is the kitchen where the pinecone shingled cupboard stands.

Here is the mouse family's dining room on the ground level. Notice more food stored in the acorn basket and piled under the rock ledge. I told you they were thrifty, didn't I?

Some of the dishes in the cupboard are made of tiny seashells. I sawed the chair seats from some twigs. The table top is a little woodsie; its legs are pieces of grapevine.

Here's the kitchen area. Food and dishes are washed at the shell sink.

A stove made of an upside down poppy seed pod with a black painted circle of wood on top sits atop a slate base. Its stovepipe angles under the bark overhang and exits at the roof. The teakettle and skillet were made from tiny jewelry findings. The shelf with the little blue bowl is made from a piece of bark, as are many of the shelves. The storage unit to the right is made with two small acorn caps, one as basket, one as base. (Remember this is all very small scale in actuality.)

Here is the sitting area around the corner from the kitchen. The flames in the fireplace were cut from a magazine picture.

Here is a view of one of the sofas in the sitting area. It is also made from a bottle brush tree pod turned on its side. The lampshade is a tiny painted seed pod turned upside down. The wood in the acorn cap to the left is for the sitting area fireplace.

Here is a second sofa.

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These pictures have been enlarged to show details. This mouse house is about one-quarter-inch scale, but, once again, mice aren't particular about mixing scales!

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