I love these...

Put some tabby stripes on this cute kitty, and it's so totally Sadie!

One hundred hearts...

My Etsy shop is very close to 100 hearts, sooo.....

I'm offering a giveaway to my 100th shop heart. The winner will receive a pair of Jennifer earrings in their choice of color.

(The above pic is me this year at Breyerfest, standing in the special items line for the Breyer store.)

Back from Breyerfest...

Well, I'm finally settled back in after my trip to Lexington, KY for Breyerfest, and thought I'd share some pictures. (Isn't the costume above adorable? There's a miniature horse in there somewhere!)

This is me on Friday morning at the Hobby Information Booth demonstrating how to hair model horses.  I was amazed how many people were interested in this aspect of customizing, since (to me, at least) it's a little old-school.  I answered all sorts of questions on customizing as well, from what I use to paint (pastels & acrylics) to how to remove the manes & tails for hairing (Dremel--to be used by adults only, please!).  I worked in the HIB all three days, promoting the model horse hobby and taking subscriptions for Just About Horses on Saturday and Sunday.

This was the volunteer horse for this year, the Breyer Proud Arabian Stallion in a chestnut pinto... isn't he awesome?  This particular one went in the Saturday night auction for $600. 

This is the 2009 Breyerfest celebration horse, Whizard's Baby Doll (Roxy) and her rider Stacy Westfall.  They're waiting to enter the arena for a bridleless reining demonstration. And yes, she is wearing a wedding dress, it's part of their routine.

This is my best friend, Melanie, who won the Just About Horses raffle for a Silver Screen model.  She had just left the park, so I had to call her and tell her to come back because she had won! 

On Vacation...

Well, I was going to post pictures during my trip to Breyerfest, but dummy me forgot the cord that attaches my camera to my laptop. So, the pics will have to wait until Monday when I get back, unless I can figure out something else.

Queen of Procrastination...

Remember the Breyer Lady Phase I was torturing in my last post? Well, she finally got to the painting stage, which is a good and a bad thing.  

Good, because I'm making some progress and getting her ready for my demo at Breyerfest. 

Bad, because I leave town tomorrow to drop kitty off at my parents' house and drive to Kentucky on Wednesday morning, so I don't have any time to paint after today.

Here is my drying space, as you can see I'm trying to multitask and get several models done.  If I get the others finished, they will be for sale at Breyerfest.  So far, only one of them is even close to being ready by Friday.

And, as if I weren't stressed out and overwhelmed by my painting procrastination, I've been restoring some Hagen-Renakers to possibly show at the Breakables live show on Thursday. The two on the left are probably not going t get done, they have quite a bit of work left on them.

Well, back to the trenches....

Adventures in Customizing...

I've been chosen to demonstrate the somewhat lost art of rehairing customized model horses at Breyerfest again this year, and decided that I needed a new model to work on, since the one from last year was a little boring (and, to be honest, I was really using the wrong kind of hair last year... using up old materials).  I also decided to share the fun experience of customizing with all of you.  So, I pulled out this gal:

To those of you who are not in the hobby, this is the Breyer Lady Phase.  This one has obviously seen better days, but that really doesn't matter since I'll be painting her later.  My first step was to remove her mane and tail.  So, I pulled out my trusty Dremel and went to work cutting and grinding.

Here she is without her mane and tail.  Unfortunately, she is also without a nice chunk of neck (you can sort of see it--where it looks like a dent on her neck) and has a big hole in her rump.  Oops... got a little over-zealous.  No worries, though, because I will be filling this in and sculpting a new neck and tailbone with Apoxie Sculpt.

These two photos show the holes in the body, filled with tin foil.  Breyers are hollow inside, so I needed to build a base for the Apoxie Sculpt to sit on, otherwise I'd have to use way more of it than was necessary.  I'd never be able to get this thing through airport security, though!  :)

I need to let the model sit for 24 hours for the Apoxie Sculpt to cure completely, and then I will be able to apply primer to the model and get her ready for painting.  More pics to come!

New Necklaces...

Here are a couple of new necklaces I've been working on:

This is Morgan... as you can see, she is a little horse-crazy...

I created this necklace along with matching earrings as a donation for Breakables, a model horse show that I will be attending in July in conjunction with Breyerfest.  Their raffle will benefit The International Blessed Broodmare Project. You can read more about Breakables and TIBBP here.

And since she turned out so well, Morgan will also be available for purchase in the Etsy shop.

Also in the works is a variation of the Sabrina necklace, this one is Audrey:

She should be ready to be listed in the Etsy shop this weekend.

Only Two Weeks Left!

In two weeks, I will be heading to Lexington, KY for Breyerfest, a three-day event for model horse collectors.  It is held at the Kentucky Horse Park, and is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year.  (Shown above is Fluffy the inflatable horse, he greets visitors as they enter the park.)

Lexington is also a treasure trove of *all* things horse related.  This sculpture is outside of one of Lexington's parks (there are many more inside the park as well!), I found it by simply driving around town one day.  This is one of my favorites.  

I've been lucky to have been able to work at Breyerfest a couple of times... this is me after my workshop assistant gig a few years ago... I have to say, it is a blast being able to help out and introduce new collectors to the hobby!

Two weeks left!