Back Again!

I just got back from New Zealand! It was an amazing trip and we all had so much fun! I will write a small post and show some pictures in the next couple of days and then it's back to modelhorse posts.

After all, I have a NaMoPaiMo horse to get ready for painting and I need to sign up!

Picture from my trip to NZ

Plans for 2018

As usually I like to start the year by making plans for the coming year and many of the goals from last year will follow me through to 2018.

Old Picture from my trip to South Africa in 2015 as I didn't have any new interesting pics 😊

- Attend at least two liveshows.
I attended every show hosted in Sweden during 2017 and I don't plan to do that for 2018 but I'd at least like to make it to two shows.

- Paint at least 10 of my bodybox models.
This goal will be exactly as last year as 10 models in a year is a very fair goal to set and one that I can actually manage to achieve.

- Send at least 1 of my unpainted resins to be painted.
Last year all of the resins that got paint, I painted myself. This year I'd like to send at least one off to another artist as I love to have other people's work in my collection.

- Paint at least 1 of my unpainted resins.
Not only would I like to send a resin of for painting but I'd like to paint at least one myself as I really love to work with resins.

- Buy at least one of the models on my wishlist.
Last year I bought quite a lot of models and this year me and my boyfriend will hopefully find another place to live which means less money to spend on models. I still hope to add at least one model from my wishlist though.

- Keep blogging.
I set quite a big goal for my blogging last year and this year I would've loved to do the same but I don't think I'll be able to with a possible move and all so for this year I'll set a lower goal. I will try to post at least once a week, hopefully more but I'll set the goal at one post a week.

- Enter the Swedish Photo Show Series.
In the Swedish Model Horse Society we have a Photo Show Series (I believe it's 8 or 10 shows a year) and I plan to enter it for 2018 after been meaning to do so for at least 2 years.

- Host at least 1 photoshow.
I have been judging one show for the Photo Show Series mentioned above for two years in a row and I enjoy it a a lot so for 2018, I plan to host a photo show of my own.

- Register my models/pedigrees.
I managed to register a few of the breeds I have in 2017 but for 2018 my goal is to register the rest that are eligible for registering.

Another old picture from my South Africa trip.

2017 Review

Another year has come to an end and I can barely believe it. This last 6 months has been flying by at the speed of light! I have had a lot on my plate for quite some time now and I have had a bit of a slump as I just haven't had any inspiration or energy to do anything. I think that it's mostly because I haven't given myself enough time to rest and care for myself. But hopefully it'll be a bit better soon.

I have a lot to be thankful for and this year has been another good year for me. The Veterinary Hospital for horses were I work decided to hire me to be one of the regular staff instead of just being a temp for a few people who worked less to be home with their kids so now I have a more secure employment. My boyfriend and I have been living together for more than a year and in 2018 we will start looking for a house to buy and move in to. When you are reading this post, me, my boyfriend and four of our friends are actually in New Zealand traveling around, hiking and enjoying ourselves for a month. What an end to a good year!

Picture from our trip to London this May.

But enough about my personal life, I guess you're not here for my life story 😉

I did have a few goals for 2017 when it came to my models.

- Attend at least two liveshow.
I achieved this goal, by far, attending, not one, not two but 6 liveshows this year! To be honest I am pretty sure that that was every liveshow held in Sweden this year... I didn't intend for that to happen but they were in close enough proximity and greatly spaced so they didn't clash with anything else we had planned so it happened 😊. I had a blast at every show and it's so much fun meeting people who share the plastic pony obsession 😊.

- Paint at least 10 of my bodybox models.
I did quite well this year when it came to painting models. I manged to finish no less than 15 models this year. And I also finished a few that had been in the works for longer and therefore was not counted towards the goal. They were all fun to paint and I think I see an improvement in pretty much every model I make and I'm really pleased with the fact that I now dare to paint "nicer" models as well without being scared of ruining them.

- Try my hands at some more extensive resculpting.
I haven't done any extensive resculpting this year, actually, I've made very little resculpting at all this year. Hopefully I'll make up for that next year! 

- Get at least 1 of my unpainted resins painted.
I managed to get not one, but three of my unpainted resins painted. Although not as exciting as I've painted all of them myself. But at least they got some colour 😊.

- Try to get a hold of one of my holy grails.
In 2017 I didn't only manage to get a hold of a grail but I managed to get a hold of my grail of grails! I am extremely happy to have this gorgeous guy in my collection!

- Take photos for my website.
I have taken quite a few new pictures for photoshows but I have also published them on the website so even though I have quite some way to go before all of my models are pictured on the website I am happy to have gotten started.

- Keep blogging
I've almost managed to reach my goal of writing atleast 100 posts. I ended up with about 95 posts which I think is good enough. I did however reach my goal of getting to 35000 views! I am almost at 50 000 now! The giveaway will be slightly delayed due to the trip 

- Enter at least 10 photoshows
I didn't manage to achieve this goal as I only entered 5 photoshows this year (and unfortunately one of them was canceled) but 4 (technically 5) is definitely better than none so I'm quite happy anyway. It's been so much fun reading the results!

- Register my models/pedigrees
I didn't manage to register all my models/pedigrees (they are well over 500) but I did manage to register my Akhal-Tekes, American Saddlebreds and all of my Arabians so I'm working on it. 

I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2018 be a happy and healthy year for all of you! 😊

Blogging Hiatus

I just wanted to give you a heads up that I am having a blogging hiatus for a month to a month and a half as me, my boyfriend and some of our friends are going to New Zealand to travel and experience the country.

I will have wi-fi for most of the trip but don't expect me to post anything here as we will be quite busy. I will be back in mid-January and I might share some pictures from the trip then 😊.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas! See you in 2018!

Shy Immortal

I recently came across another gorgeous medallion, sculpted by Kylee of Studio Thornrose and decided to buy one. It came beautifully packaged with some extras.

Love the sticker!

The medallion was wrapped in bubble wrap then this pretty green coloured paper and then some more bubble wrap.

Beautiful packaging!

Here she is, unpacked. The medallion is called Shy Immortal and is quite a large and detailed medallion.

I think it's absolutely lovely and I can't wait until I can get he painted! I haven't figured out a colour for her yet but I imagine a galaxy background (at least for now 😊)

Ornaments

Christmas is getting closer and just as last year I found some beautiful ornaments sculpted and sold by Jennifer Read-Burton of Unicorn Farms. I admired these ornaments last year but was unable to buy any then. This year I was able to buy some so I did.

The fjord has an absolutely beautiful face and reminds me so much of our own fjord so of course I had to get that one.

Since the fjord looked so much like our Fjord, I wanted to have one similar to our Swedish Warmblood as well. The ornament above is actually sculpted as a Morgan but his face reminded me of our Warmblood so I bought that one too. 

I actually bought 2 of each as I wanted to paint a pair for my mother as well as she's the one caring for both of the horses. They are absolutely lovely sculpts and I can't wait to paint them. They won't be done for Christmas but I'm thinking of trying to have the pair for my mother finished for her birthday in June.

Itsy Bitsy...

...Teeny Weeny 

That's probably the most suitable way to describe my newest additions to the collection/showstring. I happened to stumble upon an ad for a Maggie Bennet Micro Sierra for sale with her foal Flicker as a "buyer chooses colour" commission. 

Sierra was painted an absolutely gorgeous bay roan with a lot of details and the sweetest face. I just had to put a bid in for the pair.

I was lucky enough to win the auction and after talking to seller (and painter) Lauren of Kingyo Stables I decided on a baby blue roan overo for Flicker.

Lauren sent over pictures and I was over the moon! They both arrived a few days ago and they are even more amazing in person! I can't get over how detailed and beautiful the paint job is on these tiny sculptures.

I'm so glad that I got the chance to add them to my collection and I can't wait to bring them out into the showring!