Fun Things in the Mail *aka* Projects Coming Together

I love when I get fun things in the mail. I also love when projects that require many pieces finally start to come together. And this post is about both those things. I guess we can start with Bold Endeavor, my grail horse. I had the opportunity to buy a Bold Endeavor (for an AMAZINGLY good price!) years ago and I passed it up because I didn't want to get into time payments and couldn't quite cover the total in one chunk. Grr. After I let him go I really regretted it and have been searching for another ever since. As most people who know me know, I am a total performance junkie. I love tack, props, dolls (everybody needs dolls...) and horses that are good at lots of things. Bold Endeavor would be such an amazing horse for performance! He is standing squarely so is a perfect showmanship horse, western pleasure, he can do trail, I am sure I can pull off cow classes (team penning anyone?) and so much more. And that's just in Western! So since I let him go I have been searching for another. But I had to like it AND have the money all at the same time. Well I found him.This is Traveller. Or it is unless I come up with another name for him. But that was the name he came with and it seems at least a little fitting so it will probably stay with him. Not only is he a Bold Endeavor resin but he has a lovely color. So I am super pleased with him. He wasn't super expensive but he was a good amount more than the one I let go. But now he is here so we can move on. Well a horse I have searched for for so long NEEDS to have his own tack (something I have resisted since I started performance showing) and his own doll(s) and of course a matching saddle pad. So one day while I was hanging out with my friend Joan Fauteux and playing with horses (see, grown ups can have play dates too!) we decided to find a great color match for Traveller. So Joan pulled out a stack of saddle pads and this one (the one in the above photo) really seemed to pop with him. So then I decided I needed to make a doll to match the pad (something I also resist doing because it seems backwards to me).

Well awhile back I asked my good friend, Joan Yount, if she could sculpt a "me" doll. I am super new to sculpting (I have so far done one good head and that was for a dancing horse handler doll for Jennifer Buxton). I knew I couldn't sculpt "me". Joan agreed and finally decided to make me a whole doll to go with the head. It's not exactly me, but I think this is a great doll and one I know I won't sell. I can't sell "me" that would just be wrong! So after the doll head was sculpted and the body altered to sit well and look human Joan asked if I wanted her to dress the doll as well. And I said I would LOVE that! So I got this wonderful "me" doll from Joan as a Christmas gift! Yay for fun things in the mail!

Then today I got this lovely western tack set in the mail. Keeping with my new idea to have specific tack for each of my performance horses this set is to belong to Poker Face my Smokin' Hot Chic resin customized and painted by Corrie McDermott. This wonderful new tack set was made by Jennifer Buxton. She is so talented! Well Poker Face needed to try on her tack and I needed a doll to make sure everything was OK so I grabbed my "me" doll. Today I also got in the mail my new saddle pad made to match my "me" doll (as it should be) by Elise Partanen. She is a very talented maker of miniature saddle pads and has such reasonable prices I ordered 2 just to have one to match a doll I plan on making. How cool is that?

Now I didn't set up the photo cube so I don't have totally complete photos of my new western performance set-up but I will give you the run-down. I have my Bold Endeavor Traveller, my new "me" western pleasure doll made by Joan Yount, a matching saddle pad made by Elise Partanen to go with a tack set made by Pam Perkins. And the set is complete. Now I just need to make myself a casual doll to go with the whole set, lol.

And for more fun projects it's time to work on a doll and pad to go with my new Jennifer Buxton western set. I will never get bored☺