Bunny Sunday

Yesterday was another nice day to let the bunnies out in the front courtyard for some outside time. Five bunnies running around is quite the sight to see. I highly recommend it if you are feeling blue or have had a bad day! Bunnies have magical powers to make you smile. You just can't help yourself. I managed to get a picture of each bunny next to my Tombstone Rose (not looking so beautiful right now, but give it a few months and it will be full of blooms).

Ginger:

Turbo:

Bully:Sandie:

But wait. I got a pic of everyone but Digger. Hmmm...

I guess this is what he thinks of that:Sorry Diggy! Happy Bunny Sunday everyone...

I "heart" hearts

If you've ever taken a peek at my Etsy shop, you already know this. I use hearts of all kinds in my designs. I've always been drawn to hearts and what they represent -- love, friendship, loyalty.

So naturally, I also "heart" Valentines Day. What a fun holiday. You get to be a little silly and give cute heart shaped valentines, bake heart shaped cookies and candies and decorate with those little paper heart shaped doilies. And it's the perfect time to treat yourself with a little something.

With that in mind, I'm having a sale in my shop through Valentine's Day (exclusively for you, my friends in blog land) for 15% off everything AND free shipping.

Here are just a few selected heart designs:

Sterling Silver Hearts and Turquoise EarringsGive Me Wings Cowgirl CuffCopper Heart and Swarovski Crystal Earrings Shot through the Heart Copper Cowgirl Cuff
Hearts of Copper and Turquoise Earrings

Turquoise and Braided Leather Cutout Heart Pendant Necklace

Flying Heart Garnet EarringsThe sale is for anything in my shop, not just the designs shown here. If you find something you can't live without, send me an e-mail (link at top left) and I'll send you an invoice with the adjusted price.

Have a great weekend!

Calling the Tooth Fairy

I've been checking Piper's mouth daily for months now, expecting that she'll be losing her baby teeth any day. Well, today was the day!

I opened her mouth and there was this tooth, just hanging there by a thread. I reached in and gave it a little tug and out it came. Now THAT is one big baby tooth!My little horse is growing up...Doesn't this remind you of every little kid's first grade school picture?

And what does the horse tooth fairy leave, anyway?

Bunny Sunday

We had rain for several days straight and it finally cleared up yesterday. All of the mountains around us have snow on the higher peaks. We definitely need the rain and the snow looks very pretty, but I'm ready for some warm sunshine. Nutmeg agrees.

She's lovin' the sun on her face... (look at her reflection in the window - she has her eyes closed, just soaking it up). Now that is a contented bunny!

Break out the bun-kini...

Demolition Goat Strikes Again

What is this you ask???It USED to be one side of the door to the goat house. That is, before Valentine got to it.

Who me???
You might recall this post about the new goat house. And the reason why we had to get a new house in the first place. Guess who?

We built a new door out of plywood this afternoon and reinforced the inside with metal 2 x 4s. When all this crazy rainy weather stops that we've been having I'll get out the red paint and give it a coat.

Valentine immediately started eyeing it up: And Lee gave her a little lecture about "why we can't have anything nice around here!" I can see the wheels turning in her head already. If she could talk, she'd be saying something like, "How many screws did you say you used in this thing? I'm pretty sure it wasn't enough."

Cowgirl Wisdom

It's very easy to fall into a rut doing the same ol' things. There's nothing wrong with being comfortable with your life and sticking to what you do best, but it's also good to branch out and try new things. This year, something I'd really like to learn is metalsmithing. I'm looking into taking a class at the local Community College. I want to be able to create some of my own original designs for my jewelry. It's time to learn something new.

What do you want to learn this year to make yourself smarter???

Horse Expo

Boy, this past weekend really wore me out. A couple of 10 hour days in my booth at the Horse Expo and I had to rest all day yesterday!

The weekend went well, there were a lot of people at the event taking in the different horse demonstrations and visiting the vendors. I really enjoyed talking to all the different "horse people" that stopped by.

Here is a picture of my sign hanging on the inside of the arena fence. Equine Voices, the horse rescue that I adopted Piper from, was one of 4 rescue groups benefiting from the Expo. Their booth was right next to mine, so I was able to visit with them throughout the weekend.

I made up a double batch of caramel corn as my own personal fundraiser for them. I packaged it up in coffee bags and made a label for the front with Piper's pic on it:

Every last bag sold, and after the show I was able to make a nice donation on Piper's behalf to help the horses. (I will admit, I ate some of the profits... I needed something to snack on in the afternoon)

I was able to catch one of the demonstrations going on outside of the arena by an equine chiropractor. Check out the visual aid he used:

Isn't this the COOLEST thing??? I had to run back with my camera and take a picture. I think they used some kind of chalk to paint this horse with. This really gives you a good idea of how things are connected and interact with each other on your horse. Just like people, horses get out of whack and need adjusting from time to time.

Have a great week everyone!

Bunny Sunday

Awwwwwwww.......That sums up this picture for me. These two are just so sweet together!

Today is day 2 of the Horse Expo. Yesterday was a busy day there with lots of people coming through my booth. I met a lot of very nice horse/animal lovers. I need to be out of the house this morning by 6:30 (in one hour), so I'd better get moving. Couldn't leave you all hanging without your Bunny Sunday fix, though!

Horsecamp Design Studio

I'm trying something new with my booth at the Horse Expo this weekend. I thought it would be a great idea to include some other local jewelry artists' work to add a little variety and also help promote their work.

Let me introduce you to Kiyo Taylor of Horsecamp Design Studio and her original silverwork: Kiyo does all of the design and silversmithing for her pieces.

I absolutely love these horseshoe pendants. They are strung on simple wire cord to show off the detail in each piece:

These gorgeous rings fit so nicely on your finger (of course I had to try them on!). They have a pinch type adjustable band that is very comfortable.

These are just a few of Kiyo's designs. I have a nice selection for my booth this weekend and I am sure they are going to fly right out of there! If you see anything you can't live without, send me an e-mail (link at the top left) and I'll be happy to give you prices and send you an invoice through PayPal.

OR, you can go check out her website for more of her beautiful designs.

Southern Arizona Horse Expo

This weekend I will be setting up my booth at the First Annual Southern Arizona Horse Expo in Tucson. Click here to see the flyer for the event which runs Saturday and Sunday. If you "just happen" to be in the area, stop in and say hi and come check out the great clinicians that will be presenting throughout the day.

If I wasn't participating as a vendor, I'd definitely be there anyway, soaking up some horse knowledge. They will have presenters on topics ranging from Colt Starting, Gaited Horse Training, Hunter/Jumper Training, Problem Solving (such as trailer loading), Training for the Trail, and also a Mustang Demonstration. I'm hoping my booth is not far from the action so I can at least hear the presenters, if not see them.

And it gets better! Equine Voices (where I adopted my Piper from) is one of the rescue organizations that will be benefiting from the Expo.

I've been madly creating for this event. Here are a few new things that will be available in my booth (and are currently available in my Etsy shop):

Today I'm working on more new designs and going through my checklist to make sure I'm ready for this weekend. These shows are a lot of fun to do, but also a lot of work! I've also been checking the weather forecast, which looks like sunny and mids 60s all weekend. Yay for Arizona weather! I'll let you all know on Monday how everything turned out...wish me luck!

Bunny Sunday

Look at this face. Isn't she sweet?
Oh, but looks can be deceiving! This is Bulldog, but we usually call her Bully for short. She had a little bulldog face when she was a little bitty bunny and of course, we didn't know if she was male or female at that early age, so that is the name she ended up with.

Unfortunately, she did grow up to be a bully! She is the larger of our 2 female bunnies (of the 5 siblings) and she has definitely taken on the "boss mare" role. She chases little Turbo (the smaller female) around and then turns her displeasure on the 3 boys. Round and round they go until she is satisfied they all know who is in charge...

Queen Bully rules with an iron paw.

But she really can be sweet, too. When she wants to be. As long as we all know our place...

Growing Like a Weed

Where did this big horse come from? I took this picture of Piper the other day after we did some training in the round pen.This picture was taken last July. Has she really grown this much in 6 months??? Funny how that happens. You don't notice it so much on a daily basis, but when you look back at pictures -- wow.

She just turned 2 and 1/2, so she still has more growing to do. I haven't posted much about our training lately, but intend to do more of that (training AND posting). This is the first horse I have ever trained, so it has been a real learning experience for me. I'm in no hurry and I think that has really helped both of us. She loads in the trailer - just throw the lead rope over her neck and she jumps right in, and backs out nicely. When I go in her corral to get her with the lead rope, she comes right to me. She stands tied quietly without pulling back. She will walk nicely next to me on the lead rope MOST of the time. We're working on that, making sure she doesn't get ahead of me. She saddles with no problems. I have been working her in the round pen with and without the saddle on and have actually sat in the saddle and walked her around a little bit. That was HUGE for me. So, all in all, we are progressing quite well.

Those of you who have trained your own young horses, I'm open to any and all tips!

(Oh, and if you know how to keep a horse from rubbing half their darn mane off, let me know that, too... I've tried it all and nothing has worked. As you can see from the first pic, she has done a real number on hers...)

Bunny Sunday - Too Pooped to Post

Never fear, Bunny Sunday will return next week on it's regularly scheduled day. All the bunnies were wore out from their New Year's celebrating. But now, the party hats are put away and they are resting up and looking forward to an awesome 2010!

Wishing everyone the best year yet...

Birthday Ride to Kentucky Camp

Happy 2010! Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and successful New Year! It has been a treat getting to know you all through your blogs and sharing a little of my life with you.

All I wanted for my birthday yesterday was to go riding and spend some time outdoors with my horse and my hubby. The weather definitely cooperated -- it was sunny without a cloud in the sky. Although, by our standards it was a little cool, only about 50 degrees. I'm not complaining, though, especially since parts of the country are bitter cold and covered in snow right now.

Even though Phoenix is 32, he still has plenty of get up and go. Well, at least enough for a leisurely trail ride. Just when I start to think that I'll need to stop riding him soon, he shows me that he still can and still wants to get out. My oldie...

Lee checking to see if we're still behind him. :)It's open range on the way down to Kentucky Camp. We came across these cows and their babies sunning themselves on a hill.I wanted to bring this little red one home! So darn cute.Kentucky Camp was a gold mining camp in the late 1800s. Later it became a cattle ranch and in 1989 the land was acquired by the National Forest Service.There are still some buildings at the camp. Some in better shape than others. This was an adobe barn that is in the process of being preserved by the Forest Service.

The camp is down in a canyon and surrounded by low hills. We stopped and found a spot under some trees to tie the horses and have our picnic lunch.We brought along some french bread, salami, cheese and fruit. We shared the apple slices with the horses. But the best part was the homemade chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmmmmmmm....

For me, it was the perfect birthday. Time spent riding in beautiful scenery with the ones you love is good for the soul. Simple things really do bring the most joy.