Crafty Equine

A long overdue update

2011-04-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hello people who still follow my blog! I'm amazed that you are still here (or haven't hit unsubscribe yet, haha). I want to try to start this blog up again. The only difference is, it will probably be revamped a bit.

I don't know how much "crafty" will be left. I have gotten more into photography and I really haven't been messing with leather, in fact, I'm thinking about getting out of it entirely. I DO still knit and crochet, and will share pictures of that. I've also become very interested in cooking. I probably won't be sharing recipes as of yet, as I'm still learning, but I will share pictures and experiences. I also want to talk about my horses.

In the time since my last post, I have moved across the country, back to Michigan, and I have started school again, for nursing. I also had my daughter, who is now 19 months old. Its been that long since I posted on here...over two years.

Anyway, I want to post pictures here and start getting back in the groove of blogging. I also might share inspirational stuff. I try not to be too religious in my public sharing, but spirituality is important to me and will surface from time to time. Just a warning in case you're not comfortable with that.

My photography is not perfect. I am an amateur and I'm learning.

Growth all around!

2009-07-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how badly I neglected this blog again. I really do want to stay involved in updating it, but I'm not sure what to write about. I'm really just a mess trying to figure out what to do with myself. I'm trying to just relax and enjoy my pregnancy but I really need to get a full time job, which with me being 7 months pregnant, isn't really an easy thing to do. Plus, there really just aren't a ton of jobs floating around out there to get. I also want to take some classes in 2010 but then I start feeling like I'll have no time to spend with my baby or my horses. I don't know what to do really, so instead I keep pretending I don't need to look for a job. Yeah, not the best approach, but it stresses me out less.

Mostly, I've just felt really emotional lately. Go hormones! Its hard to make a post that can be read by anyone and avoiding the emotional stuff that wants to come out.

Anyway, I come bearing pictures! :)
I'm making this dress for my baby. Who, is a girl, and will be named Adria. Orion is getting so big and his color has really changed a lot!

I don't want to promise I'll keep posting, but darn it, I'm going to try really hard. I did a lot of work to build this blog. Way too much to just leave it like this!

Sorry its been so long!

2009-05-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

So, I took more than an entire month off of blogging on here. I'm sure you may have noticed that, but still.

I needed an internet break. I'm still not sure what I'm doing for now. I've closed down my etsy (vacation mode) indefinitely and I am thinking about doing the same for my artfire, especially since I've only had one sale on there, and got screwed on the shipping...Moral of the story, I'm too nice to complete strangers. Basically it COST me money to send an item to someone. Yeah, I should have thought it through better, but I'm not thinking incredibly clearly with the pregnancy. So it may be best to close the listings on the Artfire for now too. I'm going to close down the website I was making. I don't have the time/desire to be online as much as I need to be to run my blog, Livejournal, update twitter, Tumblr, and check my facebook. Yeah, I'm sort of addicted.

I opened a Tumblr, by the way! I love using it, and using it sort of made me feel that I should stop neglecting this blog.

I AM going to redo my 101 things in 1001 days to-do list because so many of the goals just don't apply anymore. Things changed pretty hardcore in my life.
Speaking of...

I have to go pick up my Rebel from Best Buy, it needed to be fixed (something that my husband and I did to the poor thing over time). I haven't been doing much photography wise. I really like my Rebel, and since its been out of order, I haven't really felt like messing with the older Sony we have. We did get a new digital video camera that shoots amazing vids! And I'm getting a new computer, so hopefully I'll have more videos and pictures for you and I won't take another unannounced month and half long hiatus!

I'm so behind!

2009-03-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

I hate that I have been so far behind on this blog. I'm trying really hard to get the stress out of my life.

Here are the two big things that are bothering me.
1-I really need to figure out what kind of career I want so that my husband can go to school full time at some point. I probably shouldn't worry about it so much right now, but it is really difficult.

2- my parent's might have to get rid of the two horses they still have. Hopefully Doug and I can still manage to take Blue, but I don't know with the kid and the other animals. But they have another horse who has arthritis and knee problems and really is pretty much green broke. I'm so scared she'll end up in a bad place. Most the horse sanctuaries and rescues are at capacity in Michigan. I don't know how to go about getting her a good home.

I'll stop with the worries.

I am visiting Michigan, that would be why I have another lack of posting going on here. I really do mean to step up the blogging soon. But I'm still up in the air about everything. I am feeling more and more like permanently closing my Etsy and Artfire accounts. I don't know, I just feel like I need to find a full time job and sort out my career and my horses more than anything right now. I don't have time for leather, and I have no real desire to do anything with it anymore.

I will be flying home from Michigan on Sunday, I will do my best to do more posting after that!

In which I talk about evertything.

2009-03-05T07:02:00.000-08:00

I'm so behind in EVERYTHING! I need to take a lot of stuff off my plate but I don't know what! I'm working right now, which has left me beyond busy and I'm trying to finish blog giveaway prizes (gosh I'm so sorry), work the horses (I've been failing at that), and keep the house clean (also a fail). I did finish one keychain for the blog giveaway and the other is very close to being finished, probably in the next day or two. Then I just need to crochet the owl.

I've been meaning to post about this! My new blog banner was made by a friend of mine, Steph. You can find her at her livejournal. She does some great graphics work and also takes amazing photographs and is a talented artist. Horses are her favorite subject.

Also, someone asked after my last picture post what kind of horse Blue was and I didn't get back to you, I'm sorry! However, I thought I'd post it here so anyone wondering that can know. Blue is a Morgan/QH as far as we can tell. He is still hanging out at my parents' place and he's in his mid to upper 20s (best anyone can tell anyway). His teeth are excessively worn from windsucking for years, so its sort of hard to guess his exact age, even the dentist had to do an estimate.

Blue brings me to another thing. My dad is losing his job, which means they may not be able to keep Blue and Shasta (my mom's horse). It also means I'm not as likely to have an actual wedding reception as planned because we can't afford to pay for all of it and they were going to help out, but now they probably can't. I've been so stressed lately, which is horrible for me and probably the baby, but I don't know what else to do. I'm so exhausted that I'm having a hard time completing any task.

Can I fast forward until after the kid is born?

Old Gymkhana pictures

2009-02-27T17:00:00.000-08:00

I'm having way too much fun digging through old pictures on my external hard drive. So, I give you some old pictures of my horses and I. These are 4-H, local gymkhana shows, and just, all sorts of fun stuff I miss doing!
I might keep posting old photos for a little while, so I can gather up NEW material to talk about. Then maybe I'll post more for awhile.

The picture above is my old horse Blue when I was in the 4-H junior mounted division and I got to carry the flag in the parade.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Yeah we're not fully in the frame, but its just so neat to see the speed and the flag stuck in the bucket. It was so hard to stick the flag with Thunder!
This picture was from when I was on the Junior Mounted Division which was through 4-H. We were carrying mail, in the brown saddle bag, in a relay. It was called the Pony Express.Titan running back after a decent pole pattern. I look SO tall in this picture. I'm not!
One of the first ties I ever let Titan go quickly through the pattern. He used to run so NICELY. What happened? haha.

I love this picture, the lighting is just SO pretty.

Some old kitten pictures :)

2009-02-26T18:11:00.000-08:00

Last night Titan colicked fairly severely. I was very busy keeping him up and painless. It was caused by atmospheric pressure changes. Which, until now, I never knew happened. Weird.

Anyway, I meant to post really cute pictures of my cat Banjo as a kitten. I love the flashback of his kitten hood :).

Goals and goals aplenty.

2009-02-23T11:14:00.000-08:00

I think maybe the 101 things in 1001 days needs to get changed a bit. There are so many things on that list that seem sort of, out of reach now. Is it wrong to change my goals? Personally, I think it isn't. Goals change! I shouldn't leave goals on there that I don't want to complete.

Anyway, we did give Apollo back to the woman we got him from, she said she'd find him a great home, thank goodness. I was so attached to the little bird already, and it was only a couple weeks. All the horses are staying for now. I may retrain Titan a little bit for dressage and English showing. He has a great foundation on him and rides beautifully in a snaffle, he also has lovely free-flowing movement and collects pretty well, so the training won't be too tough. He may get sold later as a dressage horse, but not for some time.

Everyone keeps telling me that when you get to the second trimester the serious lack of energy goes away and you feel better. I'd love that! I have noticed that I'm trying to fix the house up more and get everything ready.

In crafting news, I'm thinking more and more that I will get back into leather. I'm working on the keychains for the blog giveaway (I have one mostly done and the other is waiting on rhinestones). I guess I feel burned out because I have far too many hobbies. I don't have time for all of them, so I keep thinking I should cut something out. But then I realize, that I'm also not doing much most of the day right now, so really, maybe I just need to pick them back up when I can. Hopefully, I'll work everything out. I'm sick of worrying about everything! I know I shouldn't keep worrying, but its hard not to sometimes.

OK, enough of my rambling. I'll post some pictures at some point.

Mexico and the Sonoran Desert Museum

2009-02-20T15:08:00.001-08:00

I come bearing more photos. That’s pretty much all for today though. I’ve got stuff to get done!

Prairie Dog at the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ.

Mountain Lion, also at the Sonoran Desert Museum.

Rattle snake. I can’t remember what kind this was, but he was also at the Sonoran Desert Museum.

My husband in Mexico buying some awesome hand decorated keys.

A couple of guys playing music at the restaurant we ate at in Nogales, Mexico.

Glad to see you didn’t all leave.

2009-02-18T16:38:00.001-08:00

Well I lost two followers. Not bad for all my non posting. I guess the news about the baby, sorting stuff out, working, and friends visiting from Michigan have sort of had me pretty busy with other stuff. I intend on working on posting nearly everyday again. I missed it! I also have to catch up on all the blogs I’m following. Yikes!

OK, pictures from our adventures, at least, round one!

Me at the Saguaro National Park, with a saguaro, of course. Did you know that Saguaro’s have to read 70 years old before they can grow arms?

Chollas, they look very pretty in the sunlight. They probably don’t feel great though.

Don’t you love the views out here? Well, I do!

Anyway, I will post more pictures from Mexico, and maybe other pictures if my friends post some nice ones I can steal from them!

In other news, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep up with my Etsy and Artfire accounts. I don’t feel much like crafting…EVER. However, now that I’ve got some time I am determined to finish the leather keychains for the blog giveaway.

Behind!

2009-02-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I haven't been updating like I was. I am sort of on vacation. I have friends from Michigan visiting and we've visited Bisbee, Tombstone, Tucson, Kartchner Caverns, and today, Mexico!

So, I've been busy. But I will have pictures to show you soon! Bear with me.

Also, I'm in the process of debating whether or not to have a wedding ceremony or just a reception come May. I really want pictures, but I don't know, Doug keeps telling me I won't like it being 5 months pregnant :(. I'm not sure he knows anything. Maybe I'll ask my mom, I've got to call her in a few minutes, it is her birthday after all.

Apollo and Orion :(

2009-02-07T16:51:00.000-08:00

What to do with animals? Hmm.

Well, we sort of figure that we will have to rehome Apollo. I'm worried about the noise! Between the bird and the baby I might not be able to rest, and not to mention the baby might not be able to nap if the bird squawks. Unfortunately, we are limited in size in this house too. I wish I would have known I was pregnant before I got him, I really love Apollo, but I'm not looking forward to having to wash my hands entirely and change clothes when I go from handling the bird to handling the baby.

As for Orion, I thought we'd be fine keeping him, but today he threatened to kick me and just missed my stomach. Wake up call anyone? Being that I do most of the feeding, and when I don't my less horsey husband does means that someone is bound to get hurt. He could injure me or the baby and is likely to injure Doug as well. So, it would seem that the wise thing to do may be to have Care for the Horses take Orion back, as he is still owned by them technically until April. I am thinking that I may lease or sell Thunder as a teens gymkhana horse. He is a challenge, but could win them tons of ribbons once they get with him and learn to ride him. It'd be a great reward and probably a great advancement in their riding skills. I hope I can find someone to lease him. I'd prefer to keep him around for my husband, but I guess money for the child is going to be the most important thing, and if I can't keep him, I can't keep him. Titan will stay until after I am able to barrel race again. If I feel he'd be better with a different rider, than perhaps he will find a new home too. This could mean I might get a new horse, but only ONE new horse. As hard as this might be, it'll have to do if I can't keep them. My hope is that I can somehow work it out, lease Thunder temporarily and end up keeping both the adult boys. However, the truth is, I really want a different competition horse and while before, I could keep all three of them, now I'll have to choose who stays and who goes. :(

This baby will be a great thing, but what it is doing to my menagerie of animals is heartbreaking. I can only hope that the kid will make it so I don't regret the bird or the horses.

I thought I needed a change, but this change? Man.

Life is difficult. I can only hope I work this out!

OK So.....

2009-02-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well, the reason I've been sick to my stomach is this....

Baby Ticker - The Baby Countdown Pregnancy Tickergreat free widgetsWidgetbox

Yeah, I'm pregnant, about 7 weeks. This would explain a lot of things. Not something that we were expecting, but alright. This might mean we have to rehome Apollo, as I'm not sure I can live with a noisy bird and a baby, but we'll see what happens. I may have to give up Orion as well, and I'm most likely going to have to sell a horse. While these things are all sad, I can only hope that the addition of this family member will make up for all those things. Of course, I'm going to wait a while before making all these decisions, to make sure there aren't any complications and what not.

This also means I won't be barrel racing soon, like I intended.

Things happen when they're meant to happen, at least that is what I'm telling myself.

Old photos galore

2009-02-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

I miss photography. I was really into it for a while, but right now I've hardly been playing with my cameras. I really enjoyed macro! Nature photography is my favorite! I am by no means professional, but these are some of my early attempts with the nice cameras. In fact, I'm definitely an amateur.

I also really want to play my guitar a lot right now, but instead I've been doing pretty much nothing, I haven't even ridden the horses.

Why? Because I'm incredibly sick to my stomach pretty much ALL day. Pepto isn't helping. I'm sick of feeling, well, sick!

I've also been pretty much constantly tired. Going to a doctor might be a good idea, hmm.

Etsy Finds : Appaloosas

2009-02-04T09:41:00.001-08:00

I tried to search artfire for appaloosas, but sadly, there was NOTHING :(. So, I present, Etsy finds that are all appaloosa horses! Appaloosas are my favorite breed of horses. I’ve always wanted to breed, raise, and train appaloosas. I’ve never owned one, which entirely saddens me. I’ve ridden several, and loved them all. Hopefully, my next horse will be an appaloosa filly!

This beautiful appaloosa horse painting is by Etsy user DanielleBarlowart.

This wonderful eventing appaloosa painting is done by Etsy user GiddyUpStudios.

This cute little needle felted wool appaloosa is made by PleasantViewWoolArts.

This gorgeous head profile of a bay appaloosa is by Etsy user KarenHargett.'

And last, but not least…

This wonderful pendant featuring an appaloosa horse head is made by Etsy user GypsyMare.

So, visit these wonderful Etsy sellers and buy some appaloosa art! Personally, I want a pendant from GypsyMare :).

Posting everyday is hard!

2009-02-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

Coming up with something to post about everyday is hard! It is hard mainly today because I'm feeling rather sickly and have done nothing productive. For the two blog contest winners that are getting custom items, it will take a little while!

So, I've decided today is a good day to show an old photos.Michigan winters were pretty...but so cold!

High and Mighty Parelli-ites and stereotypes!

2009-02-02T11:38:00.001-08:00

Volunteering at CANTER is nice, but some of the people drive me nuts. People for some reason, keep acting like I know nothing about horses. Its pretty frustrating, considering I explained to them my horse experience on Saturday. I think part of it, is I'm up against the usual (at least for me its usual), "she rides Western, I ride English. Western people don't know how to ride, particularly barrel racers." First off, I'm not saying that all English riders think that, but I've ran across quite a few that do, and it drives me nuts. Also, I've also ran across enough Western people not knowing how to ride, particularly in barrels. But, I'd be lying if I said I haven't seen English riders that knew nothing. And honestly, I ride both! Yeah, most of my gear is Western and I find it more comfortable to wear my western boots and jeans to horse functions if I have an option, so all you see is Western-y stuff. Today, I combined that with my barrel racing sweatshirt, which made it even better. I hate stereotypes. Honestly, I wish we could just all look at each other as a "horseman" or "horsewoman." Sure, if the person proves to you that he or she is completely incompetent, that's fine, but seriously, give people a chance. People at CANTER let some of the volunteers ride, and I can't wait until I get to get on a horse and show them that I know how to ride English, in fact I have taken lots of jumping and dressage lessons.

I get that a lot of local barrel racers and some of the pros do things that are construed as cruel, whether or not they really are. I also get that, for some reason, a lot of people think that you don't have to have a good seat or posture to ride the barrels. These people do not represent the whole of barrel racers! I know there are stereotypes for pretty much every discipline, and all I can say is, "BOOOO!"

The other issue I had today was people touting the wisdom of Parelli. Parelli bothers me a little, sure, I like his 7 games and some of his ground work and he definitely has some sound advice, but I hate how much money he's making off of some techniques that you can find in books from several older trainers, Tom Dorrance, for example. The person touting the Parelli wisdom was discussing something he had said on his show or whatever, that if your horse gets anxious about a hanging girth you use your arm to add the feel of the girth all the way around. This, to me, is common sense.

I also found it funny because she walked up to a horse who was blocking the pathway by standing lopsided and looked her in the eye and said, "Move" and pointed at her butt. The horse blatantly ignored her. People for some reason think that because the Parelli's can do it, they probably can too. Right, because the Parelli's don't spend tons of time working with the horses they do their demonstrations with. Parelli even says, "If you take the time you need, you'll find it takes less time." Something of that sort anyway. I find that pretty true, but for some reason, many Parelli followers don't get it.

Look, I'm not just a Parelli hater, I got his level 1 dvds and I read his book. I'd say, I've done my research and I find him nothing more than a good horse trainer that has amazing marketing abilities.

OK, I will step off my soap box now. I hope I haven't offended anyone, honestly, I have no problem with people who like Parelli, as long as they're reasonable.

Alright, I have to go feed the bird, go to town, and probably head to the gym!

Happy Superbowl Sunday!

2009-02-01T12:36:00.000-08:00

I have nothing much to say, but if you watch football, or just like silly commercials, then today is a good day. I'm feeling kind of ill so, today will be mostly me sitting around and watching TV. Maybe some cleaning, but I'm going to rest!

Volunteer time!

2009-01-31T17:48:00.001-08:00

Today, I volunteered at C.A.N.T.E.R. and I’m going to start going every Monday (the image above is CANTER’s logo). CANTER is a NARHA member with certified NARHA instructors. I had a lot of fun today! I’ve done therapeutic riding before, but never with NARHA instructors, who to me seemed much safer than the Certified Horsemanship Association versions I have dealt with before. Part of me has always loved therapeutic riding and thought about becoming an instructor myself. Maybe one day. I’d like to get some other riding instructor accreditations first and then maybe move in that direction one day.

Photo from CANTER’s website.

The kids that rode today really enjoyed it! At one point I was handling a horse named Snowy who is near 30 and wanted nothing more than to trot and go fast. It was funny. The boy who was riding him was very independent and didn’t require any sidewalkers, just me to control Snowy in case of emergencies (or more likely, Snowy not stopping).

Anyway, I had a good time and recommend therapeutic riding as a great volunteer activity for anyone who enjoys horses and kids (and adults too!).

In other news, I rode both my boys today and worked with the baby. Needless to say, it was a horsey day and I’m tired! Thunder is still somewhat sore on the front feet. He’s just outside right now tied up with hay and ice boots on his front legs and hooves. I took Titan through both the barrel pattern and the pole pattern today. He did pretty well at each of them, and we’ve almost fixed the problem of him changing the lead in the hind end and crossfiring around the turns. He does it maybe 40% of the time now, but that’s far better than 100%! Part of it is that I have to lift the rein higher than I have ever needed to for Thunder as we turn. Keeping it lifted seems to keep his front end better elevated and doesn’t give him as much opportunity to swing his butt out of alignment and change leads. So, what I’ve been doing is working on my rein being in the right position, but when that doesn’t work and he still changes, we break to a trot and go back around that pole or barrel a couple times on the correct lead and move on. It’s tedious and involves so much repetition. However, it seems that Titan likes repetition. In fact, the more repetitive I make his workouts, the better he seems to do.

I got Orion out and we did lots and lots of rubbing with my training stick and whipping it in the air and getting him used to the sound and sight of that. He did pretty well at that part. Then we did some giving to pressure exercises. I ended with practice leading around obstacles. He still has a hard time not speeding up and getting way in front of me if I turn toward him. He also crowds, so we’re working on that too! He did scare me a bit, and I got really lucky. Being a brat-like baby, he suddenly struck out and managed to snatch the leadrope right out of my hand with his hoof. I felt the bottom of his hoof scrape across my hand, ever so lightly! All I can say, is good thing my hand was where it was! Goodness. Of course we did a little reprimand after that. Oh, and he didn’t go anywhere after snatching the leadrope, he just looked at me dumbfounded as if he was lost.

Anyway, enough horse talk for one entry! I need to save something to talk about tomorrow, since I’m going to try to post everyday this month!

I’m building a webpage!

2009-01-30T16:43:00.001-08:00

I’m working on building a webpage and here is the main page I made. Thanks to Microsoft FrontPage. I used to know HTML really well, but I forgot, alas.

You can check it out here, but its definitely under construction. So far the links page and the main page are the only pages that are up. I will probably ad more stuff too down the road. Perhaps tutorials and training tips and what not. There will also be info about my lessons when I start giving them again. I used to have a huge wealth of information on an old website, some of it may still be accessible. I had lists of poisonous plants with pictures, if I had them, and useful lists of items to bring to shows or on trail rides. I had information about vices and health care of horses, a lot of it was like I wrote little reports on the subjects based on all the books and articles I have read on the subjects. Anyway, hopefully, the page will kind of grow into that again.

In other news, I’m giving Project Wonderful a try. Both as a publisher and to place ads for my Etsy and Artfire shops. I need to get on my husband’s computer to use his Photoshop, since I don’t have it on my computer anymore :(. Anyway, I’ll make a few ads and see how it goes. I was going to put some on the blog perhaps, and maybe on the website when it grows up a bit and gets more hits.

I’m also giving this blog a makeover. I kind of want to move it back to one column of widgets and such as I don’t like how cramped it looks. Although, I saw someone with three columns and hers was wider. I’m not sure how to get that to work, but if I do, then I will keep all three. Do you have any suggestions for my new layout? I’m going to go more with a western look probably, but, I would love to get your input on what you think would look nice!

The other thing about building the website is, I’ll move a lot of my links and stuff off of the blog and on the website. That will declutter my sidebars quite a bit.

Blog Giveaway Winners

2009-01-30T11:19:00.000-08:00

Alright, the winners have been chosen and I am going to blog about it now, and try to contact them all later. Each winner will have 48 hours from the moment I attempt to contact them via email or blog, etc to respond. If they do not then someone else will get their prize!
Also, to thank ALL of you that participated you may take 20% off in my Etsy or Artfire shops up until 2/28/09. Just send me a convo or put "blog giveaway" in the notes to seller. This only applies to people who participated in the giveaway, and I know who participated and who didn't. i will also offer 10% off to all followers until 2/28/09. Just put "blog follower" in notes to seller.

OK, now lets get down to business.

Grand Prize horse shoe dreamcatcher goes to Angie.

Runner up gets any keychain of their choice - Twilight Knits

Second Runner up also gets any keychain of their choice - Mel

and the last prize of an amigurumi owl in their choice of color and expression - Digital Misfit

There will be more blog giveaways to come. If you're a winner and youread this before I contact you (because I'm going to have a nap!) feel free to comment about what you want. All items can be custom or already in my shops. It is up to you!

Apollo and horses and dogs, oh my!

2009-01-29T16:54:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos, as promised!

This is Apollo. I just named him last night, thanks to a suggestion by a friend! He is 5 1/2 weeks old and so cute!

I also thought I’d include some photos of my other animals. The kitties and the snake are the only ones I didn’t get.

Orion had his face in the camera so I tried to push his head away, and I snapped a photo. He tried to lip me!

Of course, this is what he looked like BEFORE I pushed him away.

You can really see how much he’s growing up in this picture. He is 10 months, working on 11, so he’s starting to get that yearling physique.

My Sid-dog! She’s put on some weight and looks so much more filled out. We got her from the shelter in November 2007 and it has taken us quite a while to really get her to not look greyhound thin in the flanks.

Dakota, impatiently waiting for me to catch up with her.

I love the look on Thunder’s face right here! He looks like he’s asking, “Oh, really?” I believe the shadow that looks pregnant is Titan behind him!

And finally,

my Titan looks pretty darn handsome in this picture. It isn’t often I get one of him with his ears forward!

Also, on an unrelated note, Windows Live Writer is the best little program for blog writing ever! I love the effects and stuff I can do wit it. So fun!

I will post the winners of my blog giveaway tomorrow or maybe later tonight (if you’re lucky), for the time being, let me rest after another tortuous day of work! I have tomorrow off and will be catching up on my internet duties but I also need to ride. Yesterday I only rode Titan, I hope to ride tonight, but we’ll see. I feel drained after work, it is hard to get up the gumption to ride. Plus, getting up at 4 am doesn’t help…anyone.

By the way, yesterday, someone totally trespassed up and down my property and had the dogs freaking out. It woke me out of a sound sleep (it was about 9am I was sleeping in)! I was so afraid to feed horses, I came out with a gun in hand and let the dogs go with me. The person was gone but their tracks went from my driveway all the way to the pasture and the dog runs, and then back toward the front of my property again. I’m definitely fencing in my property when I have some more money to spend on it! In the meantime, I’ll be nervous that they were scouting out the horses to steal them or something. I probably sound paranoid, but I don’t like when strange people trespass and walk right up to the dog run and horse pasture. They walked pretty much right by the house.

Animals Galore!

2009-01-28T09:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been kind of MIA. I like to try to post 6 days a week at least, but this week has been a rough one. On top of the animals requiring my time, I started working again this week.

My job sort of has large breaks, like the one we've been on since November. I worked a 12 hour day yesterday and was pretty exhausted (and emotional) by the time I got home. Then of course I had to feed horses, the bird, and the dogs. And during work I backed a rental car into a pole and had lots and lots of sarcastic fun.

Now, I work again tomorrow, and I'm determined to post pictures of the baby bird, but don't be completely assured that it will happen. I will post one way or another, as I know tomorrow will not be anywhere close to a 12 hour day.

Anyway, about the bird. We're hand feeding him (don't worry the pet store owner and the veterinarian showed us how to do it right and we haven't had any problems). He's already grown up a bit since we got him! And he's adorable! I need to name him (or her really) but I'm drawing a blank. It took me so long to name Orion! However, he should have a name soon so he can start to learn it as he ages.

All the other animals are well, and I have little to speak of in regards to the horses, dogs, cats, or the snake. I haven't made any crafts either in the past few days. I'm rather boring as of late, but I'm trying to fix that!

Pictures to come, I promise!!

By the way my blog giveaway closes today! It is your last chance to enter for a dreamcatcher, keychains, or a amigurumi owl! Go Here to Enter!

More rambling and goals

2009-01-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

The dogs are driving me nuts. We got a sun conure on Friday, and Dakota won't stop searching for the bird and staring at him intently. The cats are better than her!

I rode Thunder today with a neighbor and it was a great relaxing ride. Thunder's feet were less sore than normal (I don't think I mentioned that here before but Thunder's front feet have been incredibly sore lately).

I'm going to take pictures of the baby and such tomorrow, I promise! I've been so busy financing a motorcycle for my husband and grocery shopping and tending to animals.

101 things in 1001 goals plans for February-
Go to the gym everyday for a month, that will be fun to attempt.
Participate in NaBloPoMo! I will try to post every day!
AND
Volunteer 1 day a week for 3 months.

It will be fun to make some major progress on my list! Wooo!

Welcome to all my new followers! I love comments so feel free to introduce yourself if you haven't!

Meshing personalities

2009-01-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

I learned something, that I probably already knew, but I guess I only really learned the lesson recently.

Anxious people + Anxious horses = BAD

You see, my horse Titan, is highly fearful and anxious. I've never wanted to give him up because I trained him and I love him to death, but when we go to a barrel race together it is unpleasant. Now, this year I am going to try my hardest to work on relaxation at the shows and not being too nervous, however, I don't see myself improving 100%. This may mean that really, the best thing to do would be to sell him to a rider that is much more confident. I don't want this to be the outcome, as like I said, I love him and he's definitely got potential to be an amazing barrel horse. I'm going to try to figure out how, perhaps, I can decrease both of our anxieties at shows, we'll give it a whirl, but honestly, if I can't run him, then he will need to find a new home. I can't afford to feed a horse that I can't use for much of anything. Unfortunately, he is horrible on the trails, being spooky and anxious you know, and he doesn't much care for dressage (even though he looks beautiful doing it). I'm going to take him team penning, but we'll see how that goes, he's currently scared of cows. I hope to get him over that.

Anyway, it is another gloomy day in the desert. I didn't ride yesterday, but I guess I'm going to brave the wetness to ride today. I hate going too many days without riding, it can be like torture. When I broke my collarbone in March 2006 and had to wait until the end of April to ride, I went a little stir crazy (the vicodin didn't help). You know, speaking of Titan, he's the one that broke my collarbone! Although I blame myself. You see, he had a rib out of alignment and it was causing him some pain and I ignored the signs. When I was brushing the girth area he acted out and tried to nip me. Right there he was saying, "yes, that is what hurts, fix it!" However, my brain just thought, "Oh, he's being a brat today I see." duh. What ended up happening was I got off of him out on the trail and when I went to get back on the girth put some pressure on that rib and he shot forward. I, having only one foot in the stirrup, didn't stick with him and flung around and landed on my shoulder.

I did learn to pay attention to little things like that when grooming and saddling. I just learned the hard way.

So, I don't have much else to say today. I'm going to go to town with the husband and maybe get him a motorcycle. I also signed up to volunteer with the local therapeutic riding center (C.A.N.T.E.R.) on Tuesday morning.

The sun needs to come out so I can get some nice pictures of the horses! Oh, and they need to not be so wet and filthy. haha.

2009-01-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

So, an idea given to me in the last post was to make specific days to blog about specific things. I think that I will do that for sure! I also think I'm going to close the other blog, I don't know what I was thinking really. I'm going to talk about horses here, how can I not talk about something that makes me happy and motivates me? The crafts obviously will still be here too, maybe not the leather if I decide to sell off my supplies (which is looking more and more necessary as I need ice hock boots for the horses, hoof boots for Thunder's front feet, and preferably some more therapy machine and accessories to keep them sound). As I told my husband, I like decorating the leather, but cutting it out, sewing it, all that jazz, is tedious and I'm not fond of it. I have far more fun making dreamcatchers. I might try more jewelry making, which I know probably isn't the smartest thing since there are thousands of jewelry makers on Etsy and Artfire and at all the craft shows. Oh well, if I like it, it doesn't matter! I also like photography, so I might try to focus on that more. I have a nice camera, but I'd love to get a macro lense, and a telephoto lense!

Speaking of the horseshoe dreamcatchers, I finished two!

They will be available in my Etsy and Artfire in the next day or two.

I love rainy days in the desert. Its cloudy and gloomy out, which I'm not fond of, but the smell of rain on the desert soil is the best smell next to horses, ever! OK, maybe I'm just weird, but that's what I think. Hopefully, I can at least get Titan out and work him out, since Thunder is still really sore on his front feet. I need to get him those boots and pronto. I've been thinking about trying magnetic bell boots also. I've heard lots of people say they work wonders. I believe in the science of magnetic therapy, but most of the magnets sold for it are too low in strength to be any good. The ones in the bell boots I'm looking at are supposed to be pretty high, and they have great ratings. Have any of you tried magnetic therapy on your horse or yourself? Any results?

Oh, and one more thing! From now on, Mondays will be horse talk days and Tuesdays will be craft talk days. Wednesdays might be animal talk and my 101 things list combined. The rest of the days will be a crazy mixture. I will try to get some newer pictures of Orion up so people can see him! His tail is getting so long!

I'm a conundrum

2009-01-21T12:18:00.000-08:00

So I started that new blog about barrel racing and horses and I'm not sure I'm going to keep it. I keep thinking I'd rather stay here with that content as well. However, I'm not sure what the masses of my readers are here for, so there is a little poll off to the left, if you wouldn't mind taking it for me.

Essentially, I might start blogging much more often about the horses here, and mostly showing photos of my crafts when they are completed. I'm thinking about backing off a bit in the crafting department anyway. I want to spend more time with the horses. I want to take eventing lessons and take Titan to team penning as well as more barrel races. And, I have a baby to train! I've always loved horses, more than anything. All I've ever wanted to do is ride horses and train and give lessons. I started doing more crafting to pay for my hobbies. However, if I go to school soon and end up in a career, I'm not sure between the horses and the crafting that I'll have any time at all to relax! Honestly, I need to weigh what is most important in my life. Immediately, it is horses, and having fun with them. Needless to say, my craft volume is about to decrease dramatically (and it already has decreased dramatically). I'm starting to think more and more about closing the Etsy store, but I don't know what I want to do.

Essentially I have more hobbies than anyone should have time for and I feel stressed out, because of things I'm supposed to enjoy. This makes me want to declutter my life. And honestly, the leather is one thing that is going to go.

Anyway, if you could comment here as well as take the poll and tell me what you're here for and what you like to read. Let me know if you think this blog can be a catch all for my crazy life, or if I'm going to have to stay branched into two like I am trying out.

My first Artfire Sale!

2009-01-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

I made my first sale on my Artfire! I haven't got a payment yet, I think they elected to send a money order, but I'm not sure if Artfire is supposed to notify me of that (I didn't get a notification) or not, so I contacted the buyer to make sure. I know Artfire is beta and is buggy, I have patience and am convinced it will be an amazing site when it is fully grown.

Anyway, I have two horseshoe dreamcatchers pretty much finished up and ready to get photographed, but its cloudy and gloomy today, I will probably need to photograph them tomorrow. Then they will be listed. One will go on Artfire, one will go on both Artfire and Etsy. I have a few more shoes ready to paint up and decorate. I will get to that sometime soon. I want to get some different paint colors so I can have some different color shoes, not that I've even used all the colors I have laying around.

By the way, there is a wonderful yahoo group about trying to save the children's handmade community from the CPSIA, I wanted to recommend joining for anyone that makes anything that can be 'construed' as for 12 year olds and younger.

As far as application to grad school is going, everything is in except ONE reference letter, and I'm so nervous that the professor I asked to write it will not get it in on time. I asked him back in November, I've been reminding him pretty often too. He has already written me reference letters, so really he just needs to tweak one and send it. I asked him to please send it by yesterday at the latest so it had a week to get to the University of Arizona. However, things can take 7-10 business days in the mail so this is pushing it. If its not there by the day before the due date (the 28th) I'm going to have to ask if I can have him fax it to her.

I will be SO mad if I don't get into this program because he was too lazy to send the reference letter he said he would send. So, I'm nervous about that not showing up.

Also, we got the check from our insurance company deposited. We're using it to get a new dishwasher, since our old one broke. Most of the rest is going to our pole barn, although there are a few bills we might need it for.

Between working on planning a wedding, money, and trying to get into school, I'm kind of stressed. I need to go do some yoga or something!

Progress on 101 goals

2009-01-19T20:03:00.001-08:00

Alright, updates on my 101 goals for 1001 days. The original list can be found here.

Goal # 7 Knit a pair of socks. I have almost 2.5 inches of one started. It has taken me a while to get the hang of knitting with the double pointed needles. So far though, I'm rather liking it. So far I have just been doing 1k1p ribbing and I am excited to start the pattern stitches. Its a kind of lacey sock, but not very complicated (hopefully!).

Goal #15 Identify 100 Things that make me happy. I have identified three! My husband, my kitties, and my horses!

Goal #17 Learn a new word every month and use it. 'Vermiculate' is my word this month. It means 'wormlike.'

Goal #26 Make and send a post card to Postsecret. I have started to write down my ideas of what to send and I have my cardstock ready! I'm excited about this!

Goal #33 Read the Chronicles of Narnia. I have read the first book, The Magician's Nephew, and it was so helpful to understanding a bit more of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which I have read before, and seen the movie. I have started to reread the second one.

Goal #81. Give one million grains of rice on FreeRice.com. I have currently given 53,03o! I changed the goal to 1 million because they have now changed from 20 grains of rice per right answer to 10.

There are many other goals that are partially in progress, but I feel they will take so long that I do not want to italicize them yet as I'm afraid I'll focus too much on them for the time being.

I have also decided that my goals are slightly changeable. If I lose interest in a goal then I am going to change it, why keep outdated goals? They are for me, not for anyone else, so I will manipulate them if I choose. However, I will not do this lightly and I certainly won't do it just to make the list easier.

The next goal I will definitely work on is going to the gym everyday for a month (excluding if the gym is closed). I have realized that if I get into school in May, doing this may be problematic during that time, and afterward I hope to be employed, so now is the best time to get that one done!

I have 989 days left to go!

Google Analytics.

2009-01-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

OK, this is kind of a PSA, but honestly, I can't recommend using Google Analytics enough!

You can plug Google Analytics into your blog, your Artfire, and now, even your Etsy! It is so useful to see how long people stay on your blog or shop, where they came from, what they click on, and more. It is pretty easy to set up and once you figure out what everything means, it is great and helpful! Etsy has an article in the Storque that explains how to set it up on their website. Artfire is easy to set up as well and you can find it under your stats section.

A WIP, A WIP! And more

2009-01-16T10:44:00.001-08:00

I had to go grocery shopping today, which is of course, loads of fun. I was up too late last night and up too early this morning. I'm exhausted and think I'm going to take a nap, but first, I figured I'd update both blogs, as it is my MISSION.

I have cleaned up several of the shoes and these two are painted and ready to be adorned with beads and such.
Also, I started cutting out a leather purse, I'm thinking I'm going to at least use up the tooling leather I have and if I decide to quit after that, so be it. For now, I'll at least make something!

Maybe I should make that breastcollar that is on my 101 Things list.
I might try that.

Anyway, I am tired, so this is just a short entry with a photo of pink shoes!

Horses and leather.

2009-01-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

So, I'm thinking of getting out of leather craft. As much fun as I used to have with it, I've lost a lot of the enjoyment now. I will still keep my Etsy and Artfire shops if I decide to do this, but they will be crochet and knit focused. I would like to learn to cold process soap, maybe I'll get into that and sell those down the road, all I know is I'm rather burned out with leather.

If I stop the leather I will shift my focus to making way more dreamcatchers and horseshoe related stuff. I will also probably knit and crochet more.

I feel like I shouldn't stop doing the leather, because lots of people love it, but then again, I haven't had the best luck selling it, and its a lot to invest in if it doesn't sell. I got into leather to make horse equipment, and I'm not sure I'll have time to do that either, although I think I'm going to give it a whirl before giving up entirely.

In other news, I'm starting a new blog all about horses and barrel racing and training. Find it here. There will still be horse and animal pictures here, of course, but the new blog will give me a chance to blog about all things horse related.

the giveaway continued, and horseshoes!

2009-01-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

Crafting ruts are never fun.

I am working on knitting a pair of socks for me, but I'd like to make some stuff for the shops. I just got 8 horseshoes to make new dreamcatchers. I figure I'll make 7 and then the winner of my blog giveaway can pick a previously made one or request a custom one (within reason). So I guess that is something to do. I really need to work with my leather more but I'm not really sure what to make, I have a purse in progress that is all wrong and it makes it hard to want to start a new purse, I'd rather finish the messed up one. Except, I'm not sure how to fix the problems. Hmmm.

As for the giveaway, I will close it to entries on January 28th and you will know the winners no later than January 31st. There are currently 12 entries, so, if you haven't entered, enter the giveaway!

I think I will go to prep a few horseshoes. By prep, I mean clean them up. My farrier this time knocked all the nails out for me, which was very nice of him. He also said that if he comes back he will give me all his horseshoes, but since I was first and only on the list today, he didn't have any. My normal farrier got hurt, so I have a substitute from Oregon that worked with my normal farrier and his stepson. He also told me how I can get rusted on nails out!

Blog Giveaway

2009-01-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like free stuff?

I will be giving away a horseshoe dreamcatcher in your choice of colors and style as a grand prize.
I will also give away two keychains that are currently in my Etsy and Artfire shops as runner up prizes and a amigurumi owl with your choice of color (that is available) and whatever expression you want.

You can enter up to 3 times, but you will only be able to win one prize.

How to enter:
1. Follow this blog and comment here to let me know you're now following and want to enter the contest.
2. Write about this blog giveaway in your blog, link it to me in a comment on this entry.
3. Visit my Etsy and Artfire shop and write what you like the most in the shops.
4. Purchase something in either of my shops.

Good luck and feel free to leave any feedback as well!

More things that make me happy.

2009-01-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

When I mentioned that my cats were on here as something that made me happy, my husband was quite upset that he wasn't first. I explained that they were in no particular order but I can see where he is coming from. I feel strange talking about my husband on my blog so I'm making this one include two things that make me happy for good measure.

1-My husband, oh my! My husband has brought more sci fi into my life than I could imagine. He is a bit of a nerd for it. He's currently in the Army but will be out around March. My husband is so much calmer about little things in life than I am and it helps me learn to be calm as well. He's helpful with the horses, and honestly, I can't believe anyone would agree to marry me knowing that I came with college debt, two horses, a cat, and not the most employable degree.

Now you may be wondering why I'm saying husband when I said earlier I was getting married in May. Well, we are married in the eloping sort of way right now and we're having an actual ceremony and reception for our families and friends (and so I can have an actual wedding because I am still female and want one).

2- My horses. I'm adding older photos of both of them, ones I haven't put on this blog yet. Which unfortunately means I have no more of Orion (Deek) to show you, but there are plenty of Thunder and Titan.
The one with her hind end way in the air is Shasta, my mom's appy.

Doing this spam of pictures makes me miss one particular horse I've never mentioned on this blog. My very first horse, Blue. He's still around and he lives at my parents house. I didn't want to risk trailering a 25-30 y.o. horse to Arizona from Michigan and I couldn't afford to move him. He's a great old horse. He's probably Morgan x Quarter Horse cross.
He's so filthy in this picture! I'll show more of him later.And the whole horse family back in Michigan. Clockwise from back left to about 9 o'clock: Shasta (bay with star), Titan (Bay with T blaze), Thunder (sorrel), and Blue (grey).

Identifying things that make me happy!

2009-01-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

So, the first thing that made me happy (these are in no particular order by the way, just the order they come to mind) sort of just showed itself to me right after I published the list. My kitties! Banjo, the gray was cuddling with me and then he moved over and cuddle Ava. These are my shelter kitties and I love them so much!

In other news, that shed that blew over ( a few posts back ) is getting us $6000 from the insurance company. We're going to put it towards building a pole barn rather than putting that shed back up (it will just blow over again). I'm going to use the carport part of it without the walls as a shade for the horses when we build the 2nd pasture for them. It will be fenced on the sides with the support beams so they can't get themselves hurt somehow.

Caly's 101 Things in 1001 days

2009-01-08T09:52:00.000-08:00

This was such a difficult thing to do! Coming up with 101 goals seems quite daunting until you set into it and realize that 2.75 years is a long time.

From the 101 Thing in 1001 Days site:

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

I divided my list into several categories and will continue to edit this list as well as post about each goal as it is completed.

italics indicate a goal in progress
~~Strikeout indicates a goal that is completed.~~ I will place the date next to the goal and link to the post in which I talk about that goal.
All other goals are incomplete.

On to my list!

Arts & Crafts & Business

Learn a new weave for dreamcatchers (crazy new pattern)
Knit or crochet a blanket
Make a new item and list it in Etsy or Artfire once a week for a two months (0/9)
Spend at least 30 minutes advertising Etsy and Artfire shops 3 days a week for a month (0/12)
Draw once a week for a month (0/4)
Knit a pair of gloves
Knit a pair of socks
Sew my own skirt
Try drop spindle spinning my own yarn
Take a photograph everyday for a month (0/30)
Crochet an amigurumi horse
Organize all my craft supplies and keep them that way for 3 months (0/90)

Personal Betterment & Career

13. Develop confidence in making phone calls
14. Get a full time job
15. Identify 100 things that make me happy (3/100)
16. Meditate every morning once a month (0/30)
17. Learn a new word once a month a use it! (1/33)
18. Spend 15-30 minutes a day learning and practicing Spanish for 3 months (0/90)
19. Spend 3 days a week working on Polish for 3 months (0/32)
20. Practice guitar 1 hour a day, 3 days a week, for 2 months (0/24)
21. Get rid of 25 things I don't need in my life (0/25)
22. Make a new friend
23. Take flower's to my grandma's grave
24. Stop chewing on my cuticles/fingers
25. Stop cracking my knuckles
26. ~~Make and send a postcard to PostSecret~~
27. Do karaoke in a public place
28. Talk to 10 strangers (1/10) (1. Talked to a lady at Walmart about jeans)

Finances
29. Save $10-25 per paycheck depending on size (0/?)
30. Pay Credit Card down to $2000 or less, don't allow it to go above $3000 for remainder of 1001 days.
31. Put $10.01 in savings for each goal completed. (1/101)
32. Don't eat out for an entire month (0/30)

For Fun
33. Read the Chronicles of Narnia (3/7)
34. Go Skydiving
35. Get certified to scuba dive
36. Read War and Peace
37. Read 100 books from my goodreads list of to-reads (including Narnia and War and Peace) (3/100)
38. Travel to 3 states I've never been to before (0/3)
39. See a Broadway Musical (on or off Broadway)
40. Go rock climbing at Cochise Stronghold
41. Go to Mexico
42. Camp in the Grand Canyon
43. Participate in NaBloPoMo (1/28)
44. write a novel (with me, this will probably be a young adult novel)
45. Go to Canada
46. Learn to play 3 new songs on the guitar
47. Tour Kartchner Caverns
48. Go kayaking on Patagonia Lake
49. Take a Cruise!!
50. Go to Vegas
51. Be a SeaWorld Dolphin Trainer for a day.
52. Ride on a train
53. Try a Mudslide (what? I've never had one!)

Exercise & Health
54. Practice Yoga 30 minutes a day 3 times a week for 2 months (0/48)
55. Use my WiiFit to do body tests every morning for a month (0/30)
56. Maintain a food log everyday for a month (0/30)
57. Eat fish once a week for a month (0/4)
58. Go to the gym everyday for a month (0/30)
59. Work out everyday for a month (home or gym and not the same month as gym only) (0/30).
60. Reach 145lbs
61. Maintain 145 lbs or less for remainder of 1001 days
62. Do 10 push ups at once
63. Do 10 pull ups
64. Get a massage
65. Have a spa day once a month for a year (0/12)
66. Drink at least 4 glasses of water a day for 21 days (0/21)
67. Go jogging outdoors once a week for a month

Horses
68. Get Titan to run a consistent 1d to 2d time
69. Go out of state to a barrel race or rodeo
70. Ride in a Charmayne James clinic
71. Build an arena with good ground
72. Trail ride once a week for 3 months (0/12)
73. Saddle train Orion
74. Ride Orions
75. Get Orion to lead well and lunge well.
76. Save up for a barrel saddle that fits Titan (and get it!)
77. Ride everyday for a month (0/30)
78. Buy a truck so I can go to shows!

For Others (and my happiness)
79. Send out 101 cards/post cards (1/101)
80. Volunteer at least one day a week for 3 months (0/12).
81. Give one million grains of rice on FreeRice.com (57,180/1,000,000)
82. Visit Click-to-Give sites at least 4 days a week for a month (0/16)
83. Donate Blood
84. Knit or Crochet something for charity

House Renovations
85.Redecorate the master bathroom (new toilet, fix floor, tile floor, medicine cabinets etc)
86. Redecorate main bathroom
87. Redecorate kitchen
88. Create retaining wall and landscape front yard
89. Paint House Exterior
90. Add shutters to house windows
91. Add solar lighting to front yard and driveway
92. Paint other rooms of house
93. Replace or fix all fans in the house
94. Replace ugly mirror in living room
95. Replace front and back doors of house
96. Sew curtains for the windows (0/8)
97. New linoleum in laundry room

Ecofriendly Stuff

98. Unplug chargers when not in use for 3 months (0/90)
99. Recycle for 3 months (0/90)
100. No plastic bags for 3 months (0/90)
101. Go to the Farmer's Market for produce for two months

And there you have it! I'm working on the 100 things that make me happy and I have the first one, I will post about it later or tomorrow! I am starting today instead of Friday because I'm just so excited to do a couple of these things!
So my dates are:
January 8th 2009 until October 6th 2011

Those horseshoes I talked about

2009-01-07T17:42:00.001-08:00

These are both available in my Artfire shop.

I'm going to post a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days tomorrow. It officially starts for me on the 9th, so I'm going to post about the 101 things and then post what ones I -plan- on tackling first.

You'll see me tomorrow!

A new year for change.

2009-01-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a happy New Years and a great holiday!

Its 2009! YAY!

Here are some updates on my crafting. I have two horseshoe dreamcatchers made and I need to post them in the next day or two. I have also mostly finished a knitted scarflette for my Artfire shop. I just need to add a button! I'm currently also working on crocheted bags with leather pins. I have one crocheted bag done but need to add the leather pin. Luckily, I'm feeling much more ready to craft.

I am currently applying to grad school to get a teacher certification and teach high school. Once the application is all done, I'll have less to worry about. However, if I get into the program, it starts in May, which is also the time of my wedding. So, all I know is that it will be a busy year for me (hopefully).

2008 was an ok year, but it was tough. Good things were,
a)Graduating from college!
b)Moving from Michigan to Arizona

However, there were many things that were frustrating, like not having a truck and not being able to go to any barrel races at all.

2009 will be better, well, I'm going to make it better.
a)We're getting a truck! This will allow me to go to barrel races!
b)I'm getting married...guh!
c)If all goes as planned, I'll be going to grad school and actually investing in a career I LIKE!

Hopefully though, there will be a lot in store for my Etsy and Artfire shops. I tend to craft more when I'm busier, oddly enough. I guess I feel more inspired.

Pictures of the new items will come soon!

Product Review: The Walky-Dog

2008-12-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm reviewing a product that I love. It gives me something to blog about right?

The Walky-Dog is an amazing tool. I love this thing! Essentially it is a shock absorber so your dog can run along next to you while you ride the bike. Its super easy to install to the bike and easy to hook the dog up to!
I have an Alaskan Malamute, and not only is she big, she LOVES to pull, go figure. I could never take her with me because her pulling was disruptive and down right dangerous if the leash was on my arm or in my hands. The Walky-Dog works wonders for this. She still pulls but her forward pulling actually helps pull the bike forward. It is easier for me to get up hills with her attached, and she gets some extra work out too!
When she does yank out to the side, three heavy-duty springs inside absorb a lot of the shock and, while I can feel it pull on the bike, it is not hard to continue riding. Its sort of like running into a small rock and having your bike tire slip around it.

The three springs inside can be removed and by removing a spring it lengthens the cord that is available to the dog. Big dogs that can pull harder and are also closer to the Walky-Dog get three springs and less leash. Smaller dogs, like my Sid (pitbull mix) get two springs, and even smaller dogs can get the one. Thus, giving them enough leash so the Walky-Dog isn't lifting up on the tracheas.

Positives-

Keeps your dog at a safe distance from the bike for the most part
Its adjustable to use on different sized dogs!
It really does absorb the shock of the dog pulling
Easy to install on the bike
The arm comes off so you can unattach your dog from the bike but hang on to it for a temporary stop.
No training necessary
Dog can't accidentally detach and run around in the road
It's light
Doesn't get in the way
It keeps my hands free!!

Negatives

When I said "for the most part" about the safe distance, I had one instance where Dakota managed to almost get her paw run over by the back tire. But only when I was turning to the right (which is the side I have her on).
When the dog pulls harder the seat on the bike can turn a little bit. My bike is obviously partially to blame for this but the fact that it attaches under the seat can cause this problem. Depending on your bike you may be able to attache it to a different bar. I can't because of the thickness of the bars on my bike and also, I can't attach it much lower as Dakota isn't a short dog! But, I'll play with it and hopefully fix this problem
Its a little difficult to remove springs and put them back in.

Overall I think this product is worth getting if you want a way that you and your dog can exercise together.

An Amigurumi and some wreckage from high winds last night.

2008-12-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

This was my hay storage shed, and because it only had three walls the wind was quite capable of picking up the staked in shed and flipping it over. Also, busting up the whole shed.

Secondly, I made this little amigurumi octopus. He'll be in my artfire shop soon. when its less gloomy out, I'll get better pics of him. I also made an owl that is already in my artfire, but I'll post pics of him later :).

In the meantime, I'm a little sickly. Its either my allergies or a cold.

My review of Artfire

2008-12-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

Artfire is a new up and coming site to rival Etsy.

Here are some lists of pros and cons as I see it-

Pros
STATS! Oh my gosh, you know where your shop visitors have come from! this is a feature for a verified account
Verified accounts are $7.00 a month if you're one of the 1st 5000 to sign up, depending on how much you list this can be cheaper than Etsy.
Oh, I didn't mention that Artfire doesn't take any final value fees or listing fees. $7.00 a month is it if you're verified and if you're free, then its well...free!
Listing is simple, one page!
So far they've been listening to bug complaints and fixing things relatively quickly.
They are doing quite a lot of advertising!

Cons
They're still a baby website...this is kind of a big con. There are a lot of bugs, there are a lot of problems, but luckily as I said earlier, they seem to fix things pretty quickly and listen to the sellers!
It isn't quite as pretty as Etsy, the layout is a bit less polished.

Overall though, I LOVE Artfire and I'm positive it will be up there competing with Etsy soon.

The artfire mini viewer (like the Etsy mini) for your shop is cute, its a window! You can pick which items you want to go into it, not just your most recent (although you can have your most recent if you want). This is a cool feature. Right now you can only show 4 items but they will work on different customizations of the window.

I've never really liked any of the other Etsy alternatives, this one on the other hand, I am a fan of. I think though, you either need to have the patience to deal with the beta testing, or wait until later to join up.

If you're going to register please use the following link as I get benefits for referrals. I may do a give away for those of you that sign up under my referral. :) I'll post about that tomorrow!

Register on ArtFire.com

Etsy finds: TwilightKnits

2008-12-16T15:57:00.000-08:00

I have to pimp this wonderful woman and her beautiful handmade yarn! I purchased a skein of yarn from her to make my first pair of socks! Not only is the yarn BEAUTIFUL it is absolutely soft and will make amazing socks!
Seriously, if you want a caring and helpful seller with excellent yarn, check out Twilight Knits on Etsy!

I don't usually show off the sellers I buy from, but I can't help it when everything is so awesome! She does custom yarn too! Just ask!

Both photos are from Twilight Knit's shop.

Here's the yarn I purchased
I'm going to try to blog more, I know I keep saying this, but I have stuff to blog about, sellers to feature, and more! SO, with material should come more typing! I also really need to make another vlog, but I'm SUCH a chicken.

Check out my artfire! I just started it and will be listing my crochet and knitted objects there rather than Etsy.

Twitter!

2008-12-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

I got twitter a while ago, but I didn't really start using it until today. Its so much fun! Plus people say its a great way to advertise sales to your followers!

Advice: Don't just post links to your Etsy shop and talk about sales. Talk about your life! Its like mini-blogging! Its really annoying when people ONLY advertise, and I don't follow those people.

My link is http://twitter.com/goneriding24_7
I'd love to have some new followers!

Obligatory baby horse pic! Sorry for the quality, its from my phone.

Buy Handmade, particularly if its from me!

2008-11-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

What is better than free gift wrap?
Could it be free shipping?

How about 20% off?

What about all of them together! That's right! My etsy shop, will be having free shipping and 20% off Black Friday through Cyber Monday (12/1) as well as free gift wrap if requested! This is a great time to buy handmade!

I know I just totally did some shameless self promotion, but really, buying handmade this Christmas is the best way to go! Think about it. If you spend $50 on a necklace at the mall, that money goes to the store thats carrying it, the place that made it, their employees, as well as any distributors or middle men that are in the way! Your $50 becomes small when split into so many pockets! However, if you buy handmade $50 goes directly into the hands of an artisan, that will in turn hopefully purchase Christmas presents themselves! Doesn't this seem more economically beneficial?

hmmm?

OK, Etsy.com it up for Christmas people!

The vlog!

2008-11-26T09:46:00.000-08:00

Here's my vlog, if you're interested.

Youtube!

2008-11-25T08:27:00.000-08:00

Long time no post! Yikes. I need to start posting in this blog more. Today or tomorrow I'm going to post a vlog on my youtube channel. It will be about horses and crafts. I will hopefully start doing how-to videos and show some of how I work.

My youtube channel is here.

I'm also working on building a website, I will post it when it is ready to be viewed!

So I come bearing more pictures of Deek and a photo of my recent Etsy listing!

Deek meeting Dakota
I made a leather cuff to match a knitted scarf. They are for sale as a bundle in my Etsy shop!

Baby ponies!

2008-11-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy! Work and horses and working on fences. I haven't been crafting much, BUT I am getting a new horse! A BABY one! The first picture is him now with his darker coat, but the bottom one is him as shortly after he was born. He is currently seven months old. His name right now is Deeksha, but I'm probably going to change it, I just haven't figured out what to change it to.

Anyway, I don't have long to post I have to go work on the pasture and I'm going to get a website started!

If you haven't yet, you must check out the Handmade Product Directory!

Its and awesome website with tons of great information and advertising ideas and opportunities!

Barrette in the desert

2008-10-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

I need to work on my edge skills. I've gotten much better than I used to be when I started. But a bit more polished would be nice. Also, isn't the hair stick neat? I got it at the Tucson Bead and Gem Show in September. Its carved bone and I think its so cool.

In other news I've become addicted to Starbucks. Starbucks is commercialization, tasty tasty commercialization. I can't drink coffee if its not very very sweet and milky, so thats where frappachino's come in.

I'm also going to go get a sewing machine today! I'm very excited about having a sewing machine so I can make different bags! I'm in the process of knitting a new bag and I'm going to crochet a bag as well, with leather handles. I'm also thinking about making a new leather bag. I just listed that dragonfly one, so now I should work on a new one, right? I have to be ready for my second craft show on the the 1st of November. I got new business cards too from Vistaprint. I got free ones, and they almost look like they have nightshades on them (its not quite the right plant, but close enough). I had to get the 7 day shipping, but it cost about $13 total for 250 cards and a free pen!

Purses and silly dogs

2008-10-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

First off, here is my newest bag. Isn't it lovely? It took me forever to get it done right! I hand tooled the dragonflies and leaves and dyed the leather. Then handsewed it together and crocheted the straps and closure.
Its now available in my shop!

And here is Dakota. I gave her a treat thing and she was too lazy to lay down to chew it. I was very amused by this. So I snapped a photo!

I've been BUSY

2008-10-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

I've been mighty busy. My mother came to visit for a week.

I finished a purse (FINALLY, its a long story!). And I made another hair-stick.

There will be pictures of both soon! I just haven't had a chance to get out and take pictures.

Hurricane Norbert has been making Arizona a bit stormy (well, down here).

Also, I did my first craft show on the 4th. It wasn't the best sales day ever, but it was a neat experience, and I GOT some cool stuff (pictures of that too come too probably).

Ideas and a couple of products

2008-10-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Work is making me too busy. I don't get enough hours, but the pay is good so it makes up for it a little. I could use a heck of a lot more money coming in though! Argh. Its not like I work that many days, so I don't know why I don't do much crafting now a days. I've been crocheting a scarf. I think I'm going to start including crochet with leather items and making "leather and lace packages" or maybe "leather and fiber" but to me lace just sounds cooler, even if its not really lacy. I don't know. I think a crocheted scarf or bag with a matching leather cuff or belt would be really neat!

I need to advertise more for my shop. Its not easy when you're paying off debt to do some advertising and some craft fairs.
I have one fair coming up on the 4th of October, and one in November. I made a new horseshoe dreamcatcher today for the show and I also made a belt and two hair pieces.

Here is a photo of the belt and one of the hair pieces.

These aren't going to be in my shop unless they don't sell Saturday. No point in paying 20 cents when I might just sell them in a few days!

Time for Project Runway!

Once in a while I post

2008-09-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't been a very active blogger lately.

I was working the past two weeks and it was a tad bit busy. I have a craft show in a week and I need to make more stuff. I'm just a bit down as I want to go to some horse shows. Its driving me nuts to be stuck here and I am having a hard time crafting.

I worked on finishing a belt and its almost done, I can have some photos of it up soon.

I'm starting to think about making some videos for the blog. I can vlog with my crafting stuff and horses and who knows what. Hmm, it could be entertaining. I don't know.

Leave a comment with suggestions of something you would like to see, whether it be a vlog or photos, or something else.

My dear friend Dani, from Fantastic By Accident sent me two gifts for my birthday. The first one is a novel called "A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore, which I am definitely excited to read. However, the other gift was "Stitch N' Bitch: The Happy Hooker"! So now I have some fun awesome crochet patterns, so look forward to me playing around with that!

I'm in the Etsy Challenge!!!

2008-09-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Please vote for me in the Etsy Challenge!

I am in the purses/bags/clothing/acc category.

I have started Needle Felting! Here are my first two projects. They're cute aren't they?He's a giraffaloosa!
Snail!

Leather and my first needlefelt!

2008-09-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

A recent keychain I listed on my etsy yesterday. I currently am up to 41 items in my store!

I've been having a leather rut lately, which is also why I haven't been posting much. I've been wanting to go to a horse show and I'm sort of going insane. But I have listed something new every day this week so far. Except, I haven't listed one yet today, YET.

Here is my first 3-D needlefelt that isn't a bead. He's a cute little snaily guy. :)

EFA Birthday Bash!

2008-08-31T18:46:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let you know that there are 137 shops participating in the 20% coupon for EFA's 1st b-day party.
A list of them is here.

My code is "night" so if you shop, THAT is your coupon. Convo the seller the word "Night" to get your 20% off. Try to use the code of the person that tipped you off and not switch codes, as there are awards for the code that gets used the most!

Both of my shops are participating. So visit nightshadesart.etsy.com and craftyequine.etsy.com and buy between the 15th and the 30th!

Treasuries and Cuffs a-plenty!

2008-08-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

I got in TWO treasuries last night! The first one is by MissKnits and can be found here.
Its an absolutely gorgeous treasury isn't it?

The other one is an EFA August Challenge Treasury. My little cow magnet is in the bottom left hand corner. This treasury is by DogonWear and is here.

And here are three leather cuffs I made recently. The bottom two are in the shop, the top one will be eventually.
In other news, I'm ill with a respiratory infection of some kind. I get to go to the doctor tomorrow..yay.
I haven't been doing a lot of leatherwork lately. Last week I was busy working and this week I'm sick and for me, making leather items just doesn't fly when I'm this ill. I have been working on repairing an old saddle. Thats new uncharted territory for me!

Rain Rain go away

2008-08-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

First off, with Monsoon season upon us in Arizona, the bugs and plants are going crazy. Oh, so are the toads.

I knitted a dishcloth that is available at my craftyequine shop here
This patten is something I found on Ravelry. It is from Amy-lynne Mitchell and can be found here, if you know, you're on Ravelry.

Ah, and here is a shot I took of my flooded road and the truck going down it. My road is apparently a drainage ditch.

I've been busy with lessons and hanging out with other Etsians, but I have a few new leather items I will blog about soon as well!

In other news I snagged a treasury. You can see it here!

Enough images and crazy for the day, I'll be back with not one, not two, but THREE leather cuffs!

More treasuries!

2008-08-07T14:58:00.001-07:00

I made it into two more treasuries.

The first is the closest to expiration (5 hours) but it is quite lovely.

This leathery and interior design treasury is here and it was made by the talented leathersculpture!

The second on is right up my alley! Horse inspired items! This one was made by midnightcoiler and is here.

I love treasuries and I keep trying to snag one for myself. I got one in Treasury West once, just by chance. I'm hoping to get one today in the main treasury, it looks like enough of them will expire. :)

If I do, of course it will be posted here.

As for the artist features, I have picked the first artist and I just have to get around to making questions for her to answer. Hopefully, I will have the first feature up next week sometime!

A couple creations

2008-08-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

First off, I made a new horseshoe dreamcatcher. Its called "Fire and Brimstone".

I also made a new leather cuff. Its a dragonfly and some flowers. This one is a large size.

I'm in the process of making a large purse. Hopefully it'll be done by the end of the week and ready for posting on my Etsy!

Some horse photography of mine

2008-08-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about offering prints of some of my horse photography as ACEOs (Artist Cards Editions and Originals). These cards are always 3.5" by 2.5".

I will also be doing this with a lot of my photography I think. It seems to sell better, probably because they are cheaper than full size prints. I certainly can't afford a lot of expensive art, but ACEO's are just handy and make great little sequences.

I've also decided that I'm going to try to do a weekly feature (maybe biweekly) or horse artisans. I would love to showcase anyone who draws or crafts horse related items as well as people who make horse equipment. Usable items as well as art are desired. So, if you'd like to be considered, post a comment with your link to your gallery or Etsy Shop and anything else you'd like me to look at.

If you're chosen, I will send you some questions and post your horse art for the world to see! All I ask is that you link to my blog and tell people you were featured! Publicity for both of us!

Honeybees!

2008-07-31T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is my honeybee bracelet.
I made this for the bee challenge over at Etsy Honeybee Helpers
it is currently featured in their blog.

I'm in the process of making a purse, a larger one than the past two I've made. The two leather side panels are tooled dyed, and ready to go! I just need to make the bottom and sides and straps, which I'm knitting!

I also knitted a dishcloth. It will be listed for sale in my other shop, Craftyequine!

Also, I'm looking at creating a website. :)

Etsy for Animals Birthday Bash Extravaganza!

2008-07-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

OK, Etsy for Animals will be having the 1st birthday of their shop in September. They will be offering 20% off coupons that you can use in any participating EFA member's shop as well as the EFA store. You can use the same coupon in different shops, but its one discount per seller, you may not reuse the coupon at the same shop, but you can use it at many shops!

Both of my shops will be participating, so you can get 20% off of my stuff as well as many other great sellers. Yes, that includes Crafty Equine and Nightshade's Art. Crafty Equine is relatively empty at the moment, but hopefully I can get it filled up a bit more.

My contest is still also running here!

Read the EFA blog entry here, that explains more about the coupons! Keep your eyes pealed for the coupons!

Caption Contest!

2008-07-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

I opened a second shop! It has nothing in it at the moment, but its going to have cards, photography, knit, crochet (including amigurumi!) and needle felted objects. If I learn to make lampwork beads, it may even have those down the road.

I made new banners for my shops as well. The new shop is CraftyEquine

Meanwhile. I'm having a contest. I want to have funny captions on some of my pictures for the inside of some of the cards. I'm sort of in a rut with some, so I'm having a caption contest. Winner will get a feature in my blog (if you're not an Etsian it can be a Flickr photos feature, DeviantART, Blog feature, whatever you want featured).

Rules:
1. I know it looks like it, but it is not an LOLCAT! Therefore captions submitted with horrible spelling, webspeak, and bad grammar will be ignored!
2. Only funny captions will be considered
3. Keep it politically correct (Please don't use "retarded" in the captions or anything else like that)
4. Swearing to a minimum.
5. Submitting your caption gives me the right to print it on my cards

I will pick anywhere from one winner to four winners. Each one will get a blog feature and credit for the quote will go to you on the etsy listing and it will display a link to you (however, you wil not receive a royalty :)) Its free publicity, nothing wrong with that!

Comment your entries here please and thank you! Contest will close August 31st

I am also having an on Etsy contest right now. Check that out here

I've been a-featured in a treasury!

2008-07-24T12:45:00.001-07:00

I've been featured in this treasury by safarilee! Thanks so much! I even have the first spot! Show some love, see if we can get it on the front page for me, safarilee and everyone else in the treasury!

Hey, you! Get into my car!

2008-07-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hey blog readers!! I'm having a sale some of my items are 50 to 75% off!

You know you're tempted!

I will blog some more stuff later.

Necklaces and other fun stuff

2008-07-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

I made a new necklace, I call it "Oh Inverted World" and if you get the Shins reference, you're just plain awesome!
Our foster mare is here! She's just a pony, but so sweet and cute! There will be more pictures, I'm sure!

In other news, I got a book on leather purses and totes and its got some awesome ideas. I think I may make a purse or two out of it! Its called Making Leather Purses and Totes.

Great book! If you're into making leather stuff at all, check it out for some great ideas.

Check out some of my favorites at Etsy, I'd love to buy some of these items, if only I had money!
I have a job interview on Thursday, so we'll see!

Horses are too much work sometimes.

2008-07-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Punk Stars necklace
I had quite a long day. I came up with an idea for the current EFA challenge. Check out EFA blog for more info on that. I'm making a magnet from an old milk gallon cap.
Anyway, my back and neck are so sore from cleaning the horse pasture and working around the property trying to get ready for the foster mare.

I also mowed the weeds in the front yard. Its great to be able to see the house again, but it was nice to take a shower and relax.

Sows Ear to Silk Purse Contest on DA

2008-07-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

So, there was this contest on DeviantArt in a group, Craftcycle that I belong to there. The contest involved taking junk and making it into something new and pretty. Thats what I came upwith. Knitted baling twine on huge needles and turquoise leather horse silhouettes. I matte sealed this and I'm going to hang it on the front porch. What do you think of it?

I may make some more items with baling twine, shopping bags, floor mats, and more wall hangings. Some of them may end up being in my shop.

In other news we have a foster horse coming to live with us that is in her mid 30s!
Meet Stormy. She will be treated like family here in permanent foster care. She is amazingly healthy for her age. She is coming to us because her owner has health problems and can no longer keep her and Care for the Horses is helping her find a place for the horse.

Its been my dream for quite some time to offer a horse sanctuary and shelter one day and fostering this mare is just my first step toward learning more about caring for these horses.

I made a necklace with 50% of the cost benefiting CFH, if you'd like to help them out they do not currently have an online donation (although she's working on adding a Paypal donation button) but I will be posting more items that will directly benefit CFH. I will let my readers know when they have a donation button. With the price of hay and fuel a lot of shelters are closing, help to keep this one open! CFH has done a great job in the past few years of placing horses into new and caring homes. Horses can be a 30+ year commitment, but many people discard them like trash when they become too old to compete or trail ride or what have you. Its understandable as its hard to afford extra horses but please consider this before breeding a mare. There are so many foals born each year that end up in bad situations. Check out this blog article by Tom LaMarra for more information on the overbreeding of horses. Of course, if you like funny, you can always check out Fugly Horse of the Day to see what happens to overbred conformationally challenged horses.

New uncharted ground

2008-07-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

I made my first bridle, I'm very excited about this.
Oh, and I found a fat lizard, he was drowning and I saved him, and he clung to me for dear life.

Rescuing horses and nature

2008-07-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

My newest craft items. The first is a recycled leather bag. It is upholstery leather from an old chair and I used all scrap leather to add the decoration collage.

Obviously the second is another keyfob.

I'm working on a horse bridle and a new bracelet. Again, I'm trying hard to post more.

I will be donating a portion of my proceeds to Care for the Horses, a local horse rescue.

Also, Blog readers, if you'd like to purchase anything from my shop, I will be running a sale until the end of July for anyone who reads my blog. Convo me with the words "Blog Reader" and I will take an additional 15% off of your purchase!

A compulsive person, I am!

2008-06-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

My new leather supplies came in today! I'm very excited. I have new patterns and plenty of leather to last me a while! So, expect to see more crafting!

This is my newest keychain. Mostly dyed for color, but a little bit of acrylics to make it pop a bit.

Also, we got a new cat in the family! Her name is Ava and she was adopted from a shelter, after having five kittens of her own and being a foster mom for 4 more. She really hates the dogs at the moment though, so I'm working hard to get her used to them. Her and Banjo are on occasional sniffing terms, but if I get close to them he hisses and chases her away. She's really sweet though, I hope they'll be friends, and hopefully she'll get used to the dogs quicker than Banjo did.

I've been doing a lot of horseback riding with my husband, but monsoon season is bringing lots of storms, which will give me some photography practice, but may cut back my riding a bit. Hopefully, I can craft it up. I'm knitting a scarf that I think I may list on my Etsy. I'm feeling just that adventurous.

Some crafting, some photos, some stuff

2008-06-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

The sunset was gorgeous, and I took this while I was horseback riding :)

The newest bit of leather craft. I ordered new leather, so expect to see some purses and tots!

Also, I crocheted my first scarf. Its for my little cousins birthday.

I found crocheting to be easier than knitting. And quicker. Even though it was a lot harder to learn. Regardless, it turned out great. I'm going to try felting up some bags to and using my leather crafting to add leather trim and straps.

Meanwhile, I have a lot of animals running around here and so much to do. Especially find a job. I'm going to work on posting in this blog more than once a week! I can make the time.

Not to much to update.

2008-06-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

I made another sale. I'm not too busy lately, but I haven't been doing much crafting. I'm low on leather and I just want to be able to buy some supplies! I did get a new pet to add to my menagerie of animals, he's a banded California Kingsnake. I joined Ravelry.com and I have been crocheting a scarf and I'm going to be knitting a purse. I might make some small leather items in the next few days.

Keychains and features!

2008-06-10T13:31:00.001-07:00

Team Ecoetsy featured me on their blog.

I find that cool.

Also I finished some custom keychains. That are going to Gemsformom on Etsy.

The Thunder Horse

2008-06-02T14:41:00.001-07:00

Thunder looked la-gorgeous
Originally uploaded by nightshadesart

Apparently this photo has been kicking arse on Flickr. Go ahead, stare :)

I'm really impressed, I didn't know people would like it so much!

In the crafts world, I'm busy making a few keychains and coming up with an idea to make matching tack and jewelry that is...well, crazy, and I would post a picture, but I totally broke the piece I was working on, so I'm going to have to start over, but I need more leather cord. One of these days, I'll have money again...I hope.

Show the photo some Flickr love!

Dream dream dream, dre-e-e-eam!

2008-05-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

Alright, first off, crafting has been going really well! I got an Alchemy request on Etsy, so I'm making two father's day keychains and they're really pushing my limits a little, as I had to draw mermaids and now I get to carve and paint them! I'm excited to see how it turns out. Hopefully I won't disappoint!

I made a necklace based on the Mourning Cloak butterfly. :)

I also made another horse shoe.

So, I'm up for a ton of link exchanging! If you have blog links or myspace, facebook, shops, whatever, I'd be willing to exchange links, just comment here! My links are all on the side of this blog, check them out.

Two new dreamcatchers

2008-05-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well I made a "SouthWest Turquoise" dreamcatcher with a vintage totem pole pin. Then, from my old jewelry from highschool I made a punk rock horse shoe!
I was apparently very creative.

Oh, and I've included an obligatory picture of my two ponies being cute together.

I think I may do a craft show in October, and I've joined two new Etsy teams, Etsy for Animals
and Etsy Honeybee Helpers (for Colony Collapse Disorder in the honeybee populations). Check out http://pollinators.org for more information on Colony Collapse. So, I will be raising money to help with animals and bees :). I'm also working to start a South East Arizona street team for Etsy.

If you want to search for Ecoetsy or Etsy for Animals items on Etsy.com just type in 'teamecoetsy' or 'team efa' into the search!

Jewelry, dreamcatchers and Knitting

2008-05-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

I made a pair of celtic knotwork leather earrings, up above. I also made one more dreamcatcher with an old reused bolo tie for decoration. Montana Silversmith ;).

I also taught myself to cable!!!

I'm very excited about this.

Well, I have a hurt horse with an infected wound to take care of, so, I'm off.

More dreamcatchers

2008-05-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

I need supplies...Mostly leather.
I've still been making the dreamcatchers.

Here are the two newest ones. The first one is a kid's theme.

The second one I did using old clip on earrings (the silver leaves)

My first horse shoe dreamcatcher

2008-05-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

The newest dreamcatcher that I made. I also taught myself to crochet yesterday!

I don't have much to update on except some crafting here. I will have more pictures when I make more dreamcatchers.

Waiting until the move.

2008-05-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

More nature photography. Again, all my crafting stuff is gone away.

I can't wait until I get employed, then I'm going to get a bunch of leather and supplies and make stuff!

An obligatory post

2008-04-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm busy with moving so I figured I'd be awesome and pimp one of my favorite ecoetsy things I've found. First off, I recently joined Ecoetsy.

This amazing chicken is made on a recycled circuit board. I find this fantastic. He was made by DebbyAremDesigns on Etsy. Check out her shop!

Anyway, I'm moving to Arizona Saturday at 4 am EST. So, I'm probably not going to be around this blog or my etsy much for a bit. So, I leave you with this until further notice.

Today I ventured through the yard and took some plant photos

2008-04-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Really, thats all I have for a while. I'm going to be packing and moving during the next two weeks, so I probably won't have much time to craft.

In case you're wondering...

2008-04-18T13:22:00.001-07:00

So, if you were wondering how that dreamcatcher turned out, you now shall see.So the floral beads became embellishments on the side of the shoe, it is still really random looking on the inside, I like the look of it instead of the always perfectly symmetrical dreamcatchers.

Anyway, I used green wire for the "stems" of the purple flowers.

Then it was adding the feathers and stringing on some beads in the center. This is available in my Etsy shop, if you are interested. Also, I'd like feedback, if you have any comments on how I could improve these or what other variations I could do, let me know, I'd love to hear from you!

Step 1...Add silly.

2008-04-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

Since I should be studying for a lab final, but I'm having a much better time singing songs from Across the Universe, I've decided to blog! Woot.

First off, I made an Etsy sale! Its my third one!
It was this lovely bookmark seen on the right. The colors are gorgeous, I'm happy that someone else liked it.

Anyway, I figured I'd show one of my dreamcatcher shoes in progress. Here are the first stages below.

First off, I cleaned and painted this shoe black with acrylics. Then there was the artificial sinew-ing, which I did more randomly so it wasn't such an even spiral this time. I added a few random beads that are purple. There are reasons for that!

The next step will be adding some other things to it, to dress it up a bit. Heres two of the things I'm going to add to it on the left. Now, I will post pictures of the progress tomorrow. I've almost got the darned thing finished!

I've got a lovely bunch of kazoos.

2008-04-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering if I should sort of melt this blog in with my other one. Meaning that I'd move my horse talk over here, since I like "craftyequine" best as a name. I don't have a lot of readers here yet, at least I'm assuming by the comment numbers, so I think this may be acceptable. I'd post more this way. In reality my blog could be about my crafts and my many animals and wildlife experiences.
Its MY blog and I'll do what I want to!

That said, let me introduce my photography shop and talk about me some more.

I also like photography. I'm kind of addicted to nature and horse photography, so you'll see that kind of stuff on my blog too. I have a photography etsy that I just started. My username is Nightlightphotos and you can find a link in my...links!

Anyway, I'm a 21 year old who is about to graduate with a Biology degree in a week. I love nature, I love horses, I love my dogs and reptiles and fish and all the animals I have crawling around my home, including my insane CAT. His name in Banjo, and he makes INSANE faces. He's a shelter cat. Let me tell you, I will never get a cat that isn't from a shelter. This poor little guy had a grub living in his cheek and was all sickly when they found him. To think someone would abandon that adorable face!

Ok, maybe not that face. How about this one? Ha!

I'm also going to take this opportunity to pimp out my Flickr.

Purses and Bags oh my!

2008-04-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

I know this isn't really horse related, but I wanted to show my blue floral purse. Its available on my Etsy. I've been exploring my leatherwork and this was the first purse I made. Its just a small one, but I'm thinking this will be what I make the most, purses and handbags. I really enjoyed putting it together.

Mostly I'd like to get to making horse equipment down the road, but for the time being I can't afford the leather to do it. So, I'm busying myself with smaller projects.

Thats all for now, I'll hopefully update again soon. I'm moving to Arizona in two weeks and finishing up my last semester of college, so forgive me if I'm busy!

A horse shoe dreamcatcher

2008-04-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

So, being an environmentally friendly person, I like to look for ways to recycle. This was my newest idea. Horse shoes make interesting dreamcatchers. It was a little difficult at first (if you make dreamcatchers you could imagine how its a bit hard to cope with the missing area).

Essentially, I cleaned and painted the shoe, then did the weaving with artificial sinew. I followed that with the beads on wire. Of course, I attached feathers on leather strands so that I could give it that authentic dreamcatcher look.

Personally, I think this is a good use for horse shoes. :)

There are more pictures of it on my etsy!