Christmas Lights Tour

Here are some pictures of Christmas lights from our local area...  There is one house we try and see each time we do this where they have a TON of lights set to music.  It is a really neat show to see.  I took some stills here and also took a few videos.  I might have to see if I can share those somehow.

Reference Junkie (That's Me)

In the model horse world there is a term that some people call themselves... "Performance Junkie".  That would be someone who's really into performance showing, as one might imagine.  When we started the laser business and I decided to create a line of model horse themed items, I knew I had to make some Performance Junkie stuff - and we've sold several of them already!




Desktop tribute - English

Ornament - Western

I've come to realize that I would call myself a "Reference Junkie".  (though that might not be so catchy of a phrase to put on a laser-cut sign)  I have an obsession with collecting reference materials, namely pictures of horses.  For a while now I've planned to document my routine of reference picture collecting, storage, and usage.  I thought it would be fun to offer a glimpse into my creative process and maybe help others with some more ideas for how to start or manage their own reference library.

So here goes!

I have reference pictures in three main forms - digital, books, and cut outs.


Digital

For the digital files, I initially keep them in a "Horse Reference" folder in My Pictures.  Then every so often I sort them into folders by breed, color, pose, etc. 

Inside many of those folders, I have the pictures further divided into specific color patterns or poses.  For instance, inside the Color-Pintos folder, I have folders for Pinto Faces, Tobiano, Overo, and Tovero.

If I'm working on a specific custom horse, I might create a folder specifically for that project and sort pictures into there.

Some of the pictures are ones I have taken, others are from different sources and photographers.  Often, as is sadly the case with online pictures, I have no idea who or where they came from.  If I had any plans to sell or repost the pictures, I would try to find the original sources.  Since they are all part of my private collection and for my own use, I don't usually have an original source noted.  If I do know where the pictures originated, I often use that as part of the file name - something like the ranch name or photographer.

Moving on to hard copy pictures...


Books 

I have a ton of horse books, no really, a ton... (maybe even two tons?)  For the most part, I keep my horse books separated into two parts: reference and real horse use - training, care of, and so on.

Here's a glimpse of some of my hard copy reference materials, on a shelf in the Studio room:

 

 

(there are many other books scattered throughout the house, on other shelves, that fit in the reference category...)

For books, I flip through them and mark pages with pictures that interest me and that I'd like to come back to.

Jeff is amused by this.  He's watched me tagging pages in book and he says if I tag every page, why do I do it?  I don't tag EVERY page, but a lot I guess.  Case in point, one of my newest books, freshly tagged a few days ago:

I like looking through the books for the first time and getting ideas.  Then I figure I can go back when I'm feeling uninspired and look at the pictures that inspired me when I first saw them.  Sometimes I make a note on the tags (on the part that sticks out) as to what is marked, so that in the future if I'm looking for something specific, I can get back to it quickly.  I don't do that as often as I should!


Cut Outs

By far the most labor intensive part of my reference library would be the cut outs.  (but I do have a lot of fun doing them!)

I start with magazines and cut out any pictures that interest me.  The first step is to put all of the cut out pictures into some sort of container - I really like pencil cases (I have a ton of those too) for any picture that will fit in there.

For larger pictures, I either put them in a box, or load them into sheet protectors.

Then, much like the sorting of digital photos, I sort the cut outs by color, breed, pose, etc.  I use the pencil cases and sheet protectors for sorting too.  That way if I'm interrupted, I don't have piles of cut out pictures everywhere to get lost or messed up.

After sorting them, comes that part that I have the most fun with, making layouts.  I use sheets of white cardstock and three hole punch them.  Then I gather my cut outs and some glue sticks and go to work.  I make sheets based on how they were sorted.  For example:

Buckskin

Grulla



Roan

I then sort layout sheets into binders, again by color, breed, or pose.  Sometimes I use the divider tabs to separate out sections, particularly in larger binders.

As for actually using them, I have a few paperclips pinned to my desk that I can hang layout sheets from.  Here's a random one I grabbed for the picture, only one cut out on it so far:

A side note, I also have a bunch of magazines that I think are just too cool to cut up, whether they are old or just chock full of neat stuff that I don't want to cut them all apart.  I treat them like books and just tag the pages with pictures of immediate interest. 

Here's an example, this stunning Arabian magazine that I came across:

Whew!  Well, I think that about covers it.  I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my creative process and if you're a Reference Junkie too, maybe it will give you some ideas on adding to or managing your collection.  If you have any ideas for storing and using reference pictures and materials, I'd love to hear them!

Since I've finally returned to showing, I'd like to start a collection of reference materials for showing.  I'm big on unusual colors, breeds, and performance events and I'm sure I'll need to start building up some documentation for all of that. (Wheee, another reference junkie project!!)  All of the above is just for customizing... though in the case of the cut outs, if there is something unusual about the photo, I'll cut that out too and use it in the layout.

I'd love some ideas on collecting, storing, and using show documentation!

Games, Garage, and Lights

Today I played on the computer pretty much all day, trying out the WoW expansion that Jeff got for me.  It is a lot of fun, they added some really cool stuff to the game.

Jeff spent pretty much all day in the garage, working on his Jeep.

We just got home from dinner in town, followed by driving around, looking at Christmas lights.  We did a bit of that on Christmas Eve, but had gotten a late start so we didn't see too much before returning home.  I took the camera both times and was able to get pictures of some pretty houses.  I'll try and post them later on.

For now, it is time for bed! 

Wonderful White Christmas

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  For me, it snowed all day and Jeff was home.  That's about as perfect as it gets - I couldn't ask for more.

I did get a few great presents from Jeff, on top of an already wonderful day.

Yesterday, he brought home a huge, beautiful bouquet of flowers, the highlight of which is...  snapdragons!  I've never seen them in a flower arrangement before.  They are one of my all time favorite flowers, I always think of my Granddad making the flowers "talk" to me when I was little.

First up this morning, I found out that Jeff bought me a beautiful blue skit and coin bracelets for belly dancing.  I was taking lessons last winter, before hurting my shoulder and having to give up on dancing (and everything else for a while).  It's something I've always wanted to do and I was having a lot of fun with it.  I have some really neat outfits to dance in, thanks to Jeff.  He knew I'd been wanting a long skirt and the one he bought for me looks really neat.

Next up was a gorgeous book that I had seen at our local bookstore (while buying books for Jeff for Christmas).  I had mentioned it to him and then yesterday he tried to be all sneaky and go get it for me after he left work...  but he couldn't find it in the store.  He ended up calling me and asking where it was.  Despite me knowing that he bought it yesterday, he wrapped it up and made me wait until this morning.  It was worth the wait, this book is STUNNING.

I have loved Akhal-Teke horses ever since I was a little girl.  I am really wanting to work on some custom Akhal-Teke models now, with such an incredible reference book about them in my library!  (much more about this topic later, I'm sure)

My big present, the one he had me open last, was this:

Yes, I play World of Warcraft (WoW), and have for seven years now!  Though I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the game for a while now - several months at least.  The last several game expansions, I've gotten the Collector's Editions and I love them.  They come with the game content, but also an art book, soundtrack CD, mousepad with more artwork on it, and a Behind the Scenes/Making Of DVD.  Also, they have exclusive items to use in the game.  I love all of the extras.

It's been a wonderful day, I've carefully flipped through my beautiful new book (trying to keep it in perfect condition), watched the WoW Making of DVD, upgraded my game, and played a bit.  Jeff spent most of the day playing with the new things I got for him - a remote-controlled quad rotor and a few model kits.  I also got him a travel book for Japan and a picture book on abandoned sites in the world (an interest of his).


What a wonderful day, I don't want it to end...

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Eve Edition

A few pictures I took of our decorations.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Eve!

The front of the house, I had wanted to put lights up, but didn't get around to it. 
The snowflakes are still festive!

I made this paper wreath last year and it has been hanging on our coat closet
ever since.  I thought it was too pretty to pack away and, Hey! 
It's Christmas time again!

Had to put some snowflakes on the back door too. 
(they are scattered throughout the house as well)

Laser Shop and Calm Before The Storm

We had plans to do a separate blog for Cut By Light, our laser business, but so far we haven't gotten it set up yet.  I've been mentioning the "laser business" here off and on and I figure I might as well keep talking about it here.  After all, it is another creative endeavor that I am a part of... and I am always learning things with HTS that help out with CBL - and vice versa....


Today I've spent a few hours working on getting our seller accounts for the laser business set up on Etsy and ArtFire. 

Here is the link for our brand new Etsy shop!  So far all that I have listed are the dog ornaments that we have available. 

Greyhound ornament - a favorite of mine, of course.

I'm hoping to get other things, like all of the horse things, larger dog items, engraved photo pieces, and the options for personalized orders, up soon

I have SO much other "administrative" tasks to do, for both the laser business and for Horse Tender Studio.  On the Studio side I have, quite literally, hundreds of finished items that have not actually been listed for sale.  (bad me...)  For the laser, we also have a pile of finished items here and there are soon to be much, MUCH more available as I start ramping up production for the Stock Show.  I also need to get cracking on making more custom horses, as we included them in our application for another item we will be selling.  I'm SUPER excited about that, but I need to get busy sculpting and painting!!

(I should maybe insert a hair pulling out picture here - or someone running around like a chicken with their head cut off? - haha)

Everything has seemed to have been sidelined due to the typical Christmas madness - shopping, wrapping, shipping, decorating..  Ack!  I'm hoping to buckle down and get back to "work" now that all of that craziness should be done.  All that remains is Christmas day and for Jeff and I to open our presents - I can't wait for him to see the goodies I found for him!

Hike Pictures

Here are a handful of pictures from our hike yesterday!

Near the start of the trail.

I don't know what these are called, but we see them in the hills on most hikes.  They look just like miniature pumpkins!

I had to swap out the battery in the camera and I ha crouched down on the ground to do it.  Then I took a picture of Jeff and Stephanie checking over the dogs...

... Max noticed me on the ground and here he came!

No horses or bicycles on this part of the trail, but Jeffs are okay.

I love moss, always have.  Even in the winter when all else is drab and brown, the moss is still pretty and green

Jeff and Max test out the ice...  :/  (it was fine)

The trail includes a couple of short rocky sections

After the rocks, most of the trail is flat and level, with trees all around

There was snow on the ground in some spots

Getting close to the end, the sun finally came out!

Right near the end of the hike, a grove of birch trees in front of some pines