December, 2025
Featured Artist 

My love for the tiny started at age five. I designed dollhouses all day and lost track of time. After owning a chain of home stores for 32 years, I retired to Ojai and began raising chickens. I got the idea of crafting miniature chicken dioramas inside of cigar boxes. First, they began as miniature coops and everyday scenes embodying my love of animals. But they have gradually come to include more sophisticated activities and travels, whimsical art and quotations. They all share something in common; they each feature a chicken. (Lately a Frenchie or two.)  Drunkenly composing a musical score, sipping coffee off the Champs Elysee, or smoking a cigar in a 1930’s Speakeasy, they represent life in its simplicity. I call them storyboxes because there is a story and an inspiration behind each one.

– Carey Appel Pearlman

website: onceuponastorybox.com
social: @onceuponastorybox