Ooo! Shiny!!

Except... they're not. But they were made by the mid century ornament company, Shiny Brite.

These new pieces could be in several different collections within my collection:

~ circus ponies

~ flockies 

~ ornaments

~ models with molded on tack

Aren't they cute? I was actually doing research for another blog post, and these two popped up. They were being sold as a pair on eBay and I was the lucky winner.

Both are still in their original packages although one has a small tear in the plastic. At this point I have no plans to open either one of them. Shiny Brite ornaments are collectibles in and of themselves and can be valuable.

I did some looking and cannot find mention of flocked Shiny Brite ornaments. However, these have never been opened and still have their original cardboard closure identifying them as a product of Shiny Brite.

My search turned up these pieces on Etsy.

Using a flocked item as a stopper inside a bottle? Not unless you don't mind particles of flock in whatever was in the bottle!

I think I found this pair on Ruby Lane. They were priced at $24 for the pair. No manufacturer was listed but I don't think they were made by Shiny Brite.

Other than those, I have not found anything else that is comparable.

I am looking for more information on these as well as an identification guide. Any help is appreciated. TIA!

Stay 'tooned

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

Heart Horses Giveaway Winners

The names of the winners of the Heart Horses ornaments have been chosen!

 Winners may chose one from among these.

First Winner: Beth Rappleyea (Sorry for the crummy photo.)

Second Winner: Kati Lou

Third Winner: Heather Malone

If you didn't win, those ornaments that are not chosen by our three winners will be up for sale at Horsiemama's Haversacks & Mercantile very soon. I'll announce that here as well as on the Mercantile when that happens.

Here are some close ups of the ornaments.

The green ones look Celtic to me. I may make one for myself to use for St. Patrick's Day.

The black and red one on the left is made with sparkly felt - it doesn't photograph well.

I was thinking of all my Pony Pals when I made the purple ones. How they love that color!

I really like the black and red ones.

Experimenting with ribbon on the pink ones. The left one is sheer in the middle while the one on the right has a silvery border.

Both of these are made from sparkly felt. Again, it doesn't photograph well.

Stay 'tooned for more information if you are interested in purchasing one of these!

Me? Buying Unicorns?

Me? Buying unicorns?? Believe it or not, I did.

Not only did I buy two boxed sets of Breyer's Unicorn Gift Collection, I also bought three of Breyer's unicorn Christmas ornaments.

Every Thanksgiving, I give each one of my grandchildren a Christmas ornament to hang on their Christmas trees. My mother did this for our kids, and I love to visit them in their homes and see all those old, treasured ornaments hanging up. Clearly, they have a lot of meaning to my children and are a fond memory of their grandmother. I chose to carry on the tradition with my own grandchildren.

The unicorn ornament is much nicer in hand than it is in photos - even Breyer's promotional pictures do not show how pretty the ornament is. Pony Pals Cambria, Mila, and Julie will all get one of these.

And in light of Pony Pal Mila's recent Pandora's box moment, I thought she would like the boxed set of unicorns.  (Look closely and you can see her playing with four of my brightly colored Horse Crazy Stablemates in the video.) The other will go to either Pony Pal Cambria (although she REALLY wants cowboy boots, a hat, or a belt buckle for mutton busting) or to Julie, maybe even Corinne or Whitney, although those two are more into ballet than they are unicorns at the moment.

Who'd ever have thought that, of all people, I would actually be buying unicorns?? The things you do for your family...

Ornament from Belle Meade

Sarah and her family visited Cole and his family in Nashville this fall. One of the things they did was to visit Belle Meade Plantation, a very old (established in 1807) horse farm.

They brought me back a Christmas ornament as a souvenir.

Horsey Holiday Tree

Not only do I have a horsehead wreath on my front door, I also have a horsey ornament tree!

I debated putting it out - only one of our six children will be here for the holidays, so our celebration will be on a much smaller scale. On the other hand, with no grandchildren dancing about with sugarplums on their minds, I can put some breakables out and not worry.

I still have a crate of horsey ornaments that I left in the closet, and I am hoping to find the Breyer American Pharaoh ornament under my Christmas tree December 25.

I need a bigger ornament tree for 2016!

Horsey Tree

I decorated the upstairs landing this year, a first for us. And one of the things I put up there was a revived tradition - the horse tree.

 Absolutely nothing about these ornaments suggests Christmas or the Savior. Still, I love them and wanted to put them out to enjoy.

I dug Flurry, the stuffed snowman Curt won from our dentist when he was about four years old, out of his place in the closet and put him out with a second, smaller snowman as decoration.

Next year I may put a second Christmas tree up on the landing. Either that, or get the 12+ foot tree Curt has suggested for a couple of years now.