Royal Highland Show 2017 - #1 Ridden Highlands and Broken Cameras

 As I said in my previous post, I travelled to the RHS this year with two companions, my friends, Tomás and Rory who had come up specially!

We rose early (well, for me anyway!) on Friday to go to the show. The bus into town was a little late, but the Edinburgh ones leaving the depot were very regular and after missing one as the baguette I'd chosen to buy for lunch later apparently had to be toasted first, another arrived a few minutes later.

The forecast was for rain until midday, then cloud and sunny spells for the rest of the day.

The rain showed itself within a few minutes of setting off but we hoped it'd pass over quickly.

Death and all her Friends

It's been a weird couple of weeks.

Warehouse Window Tutorial!

Here's a quick tutorial for you before we get back to holiday pictures! XD

I've been meaning to add an industrial style window to Max and Juno's living room for ages, as I think I've finally settled on their home being a fairly dilapidated old factory/warehouse that's been turned into apartments, and while I could find plenty of tutorials for making windows, or full scale privacy screens I drew a blank at doing the opaque and weathered glass you see so often in those kinds of buildings, so I had to come up with my own methods.

 I wanted it to be opaque to disguise the fact that I don't have a background behind the windows and to give it a bit of age and a distressed feel.

Kirrimuir, Cats and Cows

 This post is roughly three weeks late but never mind. XD

Barely a couple of days after returning from Clochan, I got on a train again, this time to Perth, where Heather would be picking me up to stay with her for a few days.

See my previous post for all the Magpie Model related shenanigans, and stick with this for shiny scenery and amusing anecdotes.

Tfw you see a whole field of cobs from the train but can't get
your phone camera out quick enough to catch them all. 😥 .

Behind the scenes at Magpie Model Horses!

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,  
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss.

I've been waiting a while to make this particular post!

The UK has produced a number of model horse companies over the years, only a scant couple of which are still on the go. Magpie Models (once known as 'Dream Ponies') was one such company, much beloved by collectors. I have a modest herd myself, almost all customs, but there are some folk I know that have loads!

 

The company has changed hands a few times over the years but production ceased a while back and its future was uncertain.When then owner, Becky Benfield of Utterly Horses (and now Copperfox) put Magpie Models up for sale a few years ago, speculation was buzzing. Just who would take the reins of this much loved stalwart of the UK hobby?

After the initial excitement when word got out that it had sold, all went quiet and a couple of years on, nobody knew anything about the new owner's identity or even whereabouts, and it was all rather mysterious. It was around about this time that my friend Heather Forrest, who I've travelled down to the Lake District Julip shows with the last few years, dropped a rather large bombshell when she was picking me up from the station at Perth, having very kindly invited me up to stay with her family for Thanksgiving last year...

Cold, Cats and Crafting

My cousin Ailsa was heading up Elgin way a couple of weeks ago to see her parents for a few days and as I hadn't visited in years, I tagged along too.

As our train was an early one and there wasn't one which would get me into town on time, I stayed over at her flat, passing this rather entertaining magic glowing cone/quest marker on the way.

The journey up was lovely, and we had a rather delicious brunch at Patisserie Valerie in Aberdeen upon arrival, then it was onto Clochan itself after my aunt picked us up.

Half the purpose of the visit, in all honesty, was for some much needed cat time, courtesy of the most handsome of tabbies - Miko, now aged 15!

An interlude...

I've got lots to post about in the next week or so (some scenic scenery and a sneaky behind the scenes look at the newly relaunched Magpie Model Horses!) but I haven't uploaded all my photos yet so you'll just have to put up with this instead; another brief look into the daily goings on at Max and Juno's place...

I made one of those fancy reclaimed wire spool tables that's all over Pinterest from a cardboard tube, some scrap balsa wood and more of the wood effect wallpaper. The delightfully carved wooden zebra by the stove was a lucky charity shop find by my dad - I've trained him well, he now actively searches for horse shaped objects for me!

As I knew the real flowers I'd used for my Easter photo session wouldn't last, I rummaged through my bag of plastic planty bits and dug out a couple of tiny terracotta plant pots I'd bought at a recent craft fair. The soil is just a chunk of blue foam to pad it out, then covered in a liberal dollop of PVA glue and dried coffee and tea grounds.

The anglepoise lamp on the desk was a £4 bargain from Flying Tiger Copenhagen, and is completely poseable as well as fully operational, which comes in very handy when Juno feels the urge to draw late at night...