Artist Elke Lemmens is a storyteller. How does she tell her tales? She squeezes art into tiny spaces in Belgium. The artist gives new life to old boot scrapers. These dusty cubbies make the perfect spot for miniature figurines. They tell the stories of the people living in her city. 

Boot scrapers were common on old city streets. A quick kick on a boot scrapers keeps mud outside rather than indoors. People don’t use boot scrapers like they used to. But the little gadgets are still mounted on Belgian streets.

Ms. Lemmens will fill at least 50 boot scrapers with tiny art. “So many people have so many stories behind their doors,” she says.

She uses tweezers to set the miniature figurines. “Finding the figures is sometimes difficult,” explains Ms. Lemmens. “I often need to paint these myself.”

The finished boot scrapers hold itty-bitty scenes of everyday life. They show families traveling together, children playing, and friends exploring the city.

Ms Lemmens has been creating since she was a child. “I always played with LEGO. I would put together a bakery, but then mold the croissants and breads and cakes out of clay myself and paint them different colors,” she says.

Where will a new tiny scene pop up next? “Soon, there will be a walking map so people can find these boot scraper scenes,” explains Ms. Lemmens.

Art is a gift God gave people to share with others. Exodus 35:35 says, “He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.”