A Horse & Two Unicorns

Yesterday I sat down on a bench and found myself suddenly surrounded by unicorns.

They were cute, but still.... unicorns?? I don't like unicorns!

For my part, I was repping horses with my shoes, purse, and necklace, and the unicorns didn't seem to mind, so we sat together for a while. And while we sat, we had a debate.

Were we sitting in a giant horseshoe? Or was it an oversized Christmas ornament? 

We all were in agreement - our bench was under a giant horseshoe. (With me are Pony Pals Whitney and Corinne up from Florida for a Christmas visit.)

I've got more family with me this week so blog entries may be a little erratic the next couple of days.

Christmas Card of the Day

Shannon's Surprise

I was in Joann's last week and took a moment to wander through the clearance aisle. I was looking for small storage ideas for sewing notions, but since I had a few moments, decided to look at appliqués. 

 When I spied these large horseshoe appliqués, I snapped them up.  

I had a project in mind that needed large horseshoes and had been thinking about embroidering them since I have a variety of horseshoe designs in my digital files.

But those horseshoe appliqués were the perfect size and would save me a lot of time. Unfortunately, I needed four horseshoe appliqués, and there were only three available. I brought them home anyway and decided I would look for more online.

A day later, I got a nice card from my friend Shannon Rodgers. Guess what was tucked inside?

Three more of the horseshoe appliqués! Shannon had found them while shopping and thought I might be able to use them, even though she had no idea I was looking for more!

Shannon being Shannon (she is very generous), she'd found some other appliqués that she included in her surprise gift. 

Thanks, so much, Shannon! I will put these appliqués to go use and appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Necklaces that will Last

For years I have bought and discarded several horseshoe necklaces. All were inexpensive and the "diamonds" in the horseshoes either fell out or discolored in their settings. 

Recently I was taking off my horseshoe necklace and noticed that another "jewel" had fallen out bringing the loss for that necklace to three stones. I was so frustrated! Tired of buying necklace after necklace, I decided that I would contact my friend Joleen who owns a jewelry store in another part of the state and see if she could help me find something durable.

Joleen spent time with me finding out what I was looking for and what I liked. She sent me some links to things that she had in stock as well as necklaces that could be ordered. I had no idea how many options there were!

Joleen also insisted on giving me deep discounts, and so I was able to afford one in sterling silver with cubic zirconia,

and (my favorite of the two) a gold one with diamonds. 

I took these photos of myself wearing them so she could see how pleased I am with them. I wear one or the other every day and they are comfortable, durable, and just what I had always wanted.

I should have made that call to Joleen a long time ago!