Meows and Minis, the story of Pixel

I have a small farm in Northwest Illnois. We have a bit of everything, and a small herd of farm cats. Sadly over the years, with shelters filled all around, so many have been dropped off left to fend for themselves. Last June, my husband and I were outside and we heard a car stopped in front of our house. Thinking nothing of it since many people like to stop and look at the horses, we kept working. Then our cats were freaking out at something in the tree. There was this tiny, terrified kitten. We brought her in the house and she was starved, ate great and went straight to the litter box. So we figured this was someones pet that they decided they couldn't kept. She was so sweet! After a couple of hours I could tell she was actually quite sick. So I took her to the vet and after days of treatment she was doing great and quickly became the house favorite. We named her Pixel because of her unique coloration being all little spots of color. She has grown into the sweetest, most loving pet.



I am sharing this story because I was given the special opportunity to help support the upcoming Meows and Minis show, which is a benefit for a local no kill shelter. Pixel so easily could have ended up fox or coyote food, hit by a car, or die of starvation and illness. We love her in our family, but too often stories like her's do NOT have happy endings. This medallion will be up for auction on the Meows and Minis website, along with another donation I am doing, so please, please donate to worthy cause.

Pixel is not a long hair, but she does have the most shiney, soft fur. I will take more pictures of this medallion in the sun so you can see all the details in her fur and eyes

Thank you again for your support!

Show Report

I know I still need to give a report on my Denver trip, which was AMAZING, but wanted to post pictures of the show I went to yesterday. Midwest Model Mania is a big all halter show that is help each year by Mary Lou Mol just outside of Galsburg, Illinois. Now what am I doing at an all halter show...simple, I only live an hour away and its a great chance to visit with my friends all day!
Here are some of the highlights from the day. These Purdy horses were division champs. I didn't paint the little Swaps, just customize him, but the coloring on this guy is something way beyond my ability!
Good Ol Mole Bait, he will be retired once I finish out his Merit Award, and will live in the case my husband made for him. He is the only model my husband has ever paid attention to, which earns him a forever home here.


What an awesome CM day! Sassy got overall champ, and Lady Liberty got reserve! The only kicker on that is Lady Liberty is at Linda's house now. She was always meant to Linda's horse since she came up with the original idea...BUT the whole plan is to have a family, and I get BIG DADDY. I am working on him now, so watch out for Freedom Generator, coming soon!

This is a Smarty Jones I redid into a QH cutting mare. My Oktopussy resin went home to Kathy (well it was her horse....) and I have lots of cool props for a horse in that position, so I did a CM to show, in the opposite direction. Next weekend I plan to show her in performance, and she will be for sale for anyone going to NAN next year, I would like to see her shown there.

A new favorite, this is a lady phase I did with a new head and neck. Zips Painted Chick....can you guess who painted her?

D'Arry did an amazing job on this color. No one else can paint that soft buckskin pinto like she can, I am just thrilled to have this mare to show, watch for her in performance coming soon!

This horse is a remade silver, and was designed to replace a stolen resin for a friend oversees. He has a cool open mouth and is bucking up a storm....and he flys to his new home next week, hope you like him Ann!

I need to win the flash argument with this new camera, sorry the pictures are a little dark.

I am back in school now, so I plan to start posting on a much more regular basis. Since I am not going to NAN next year I am hoping to have many more CMs for sale throughout the show season, so stay tuned!

Darcy Done!

I am so looking forward to this weekend! I finally get to meet Jen Buxton in person...it no fun to have a best bud that you never get to hang with! And I get to deliver Darcy to the "other" Jen, although I am sad I don't get to show her at all. I redid the head and ear set on her, and she is a rich dappled bay. I did something different on her, she has a velvet finish with a glossed up mane and tail to really look like a show ring star. Her hooves are "hoof blacked" so that why you can't see nail heads. I also added veins and muzzle bumbs to her. I didn't redo the hind leg, I wanted her to look like my mare often did when shown at halter, all stretch out and feeling full of herself!


Her head from the sise, you can see the neck details I put in

Her show ring "I am it!" look, I even wrinkled the skin around her ear.

Her off side

I think she will be a blast to show! For purchase details, please email me, I am not totally sure what Jen plans, but if you have an offer let me know and I will tell her this weekend. I assume she will be selling her, since this is the copy I finished in exchange for my own copy

Let me know what you think!

Training Barn WOW

More years ago than I care to admit, I went to my first model horse show in Champagne, Illinois. There I met D'arry and was amazed at the customs she had. I had been do my own customs growing up, and loved to make costumes for them, but had no idea how drastic customs could be. She had this awesome warmblood custom, Player, that I could not get out of my head. That show and D'arry's work really was the kick in the butt for me to expand on my remaking attempts.
So flash forward....turns out she only live a few hours from me, and we thought it would be cool to do some pieces together. So here is the first one "Dream of Me", a show stopping TB stallion! I took the Breyer Idocus, thinned down the legs, and but a whole new neck and Lonesome Glory head on it. Then D'arry did one of her amazing braid and paint jobs on him. He already is a live show champ in halter and workmanship, and is NANd for 2011 and 2012 in halter and workmanship. He is available for $900 postage paid, and I can continue to show him if the new owner wishes (including performance if you wanted him qualified in performance).
This is a stunning piece, with a soft chestnut color only D'arry can paint.



A cose up of him braids, they are super detailed!

What an expression, doesn't he look like he knows he is the shiznet?

Softly dappled on his barrel and hindquarters, with an awesome pinwheel tail braid

Sure to be a great show horse for years to come!

I have another piece we did, but you will have to wait a bit for that one, she needs some performance showing in my opinion....stock horse people watch out!

NAN 2010

I miss out on getting a lot of pictures, I showed in way too much performance (which I always do) and totally forgot my camera on the second day. But here are a couple I got. This one was a favorite. The model is a Zara that was missing a leg that I redid to look like my real morab mare, Jericho's Royal Secret (see real horses, this is Sassy).
This costume was made by my BFF Kathy Wiggins as a bit of a joke at my ridiculous leopard print and pink fetish. She took a Lisa Salamandick halter and breastcollar set and went crazy. Its so cool and sparkly! I did the doll. This was a huge class but a great example of how something a little different thats well documented can do well. The documentation has real "Hollywood" style half arab youth entrants pictured. If you want to see amazing though, check out the NAN website and see what won champ, that set up that won is a true piece of art. But I was so happy to have my "real" horse and something made by a dear friend do so well. To me silver was gold on this one! AND Sassy got reserve champ in breed! Turns out she is a great show mare just like her namesake!

Remember Anne Nicole? She won champ in parade last year (yes the flag in the wrong hand, the doll broke the right hand right before the class and the laminated reference pic had the flag in it, but it was a rodeo setup, not a formal parade class but still, I did know better, I just didn't know what to do with that reference sheet, that why I don't laminate them anymore, something you need to make last minute changes!)
But anyway, Anne Nicole lives with her new owner now, who shows her to death and does great with her, which to me is a great compliment! Shannon thought it was funny that I beat myself in this class (Lady Liberty top tenned) but really, Colette won this all on her own. This brown parade set looks amazing with her.

I love this set up! Kathy Wiggins made the tack, I made the bull (from the Herden steer) and the horse (remade Keltic Salinero), Joan Yount made the doll, and Kevin McFarland made the wall.

Lastly, a real highlight from the halter day. The American Gaited class was so crazy big, ASBs and TWH did NOT get split like in previous years, and there were over 40 horses listed for the class (not sure how many were there in the end). Champ was Lady Liberty, and reserve was Sultana Santana, a rejoice with a ruffian head I did four years ago now owned by Beth Lamm, whoo hooo!

Thanks to Karen Meekma for the pic, I didn't have my camera this day!

Showstring 2010

My model year goes from Breyerfest to Breyerfest, and I often sell much of my showstring at the end of the show year. But this one is just for me. Three years ago my oldest daughter wanted this poster book. While much of it was kinda corny, this one picture jumped out at me. I thought this was make a really neat model horse. When the Breyer Wintersong model came out, I knew I had my victim! It just took me a while to get to her


Many people ask how I do drastic repositions, the key is to know when to cut. If leg has to be moved drastically from the stifle/hip area, its usually easier to cut it off completely and replace with wire. If you don't, you end up with really bulky joints and my pet peeve, rubber band legs (legs without joints)

So here is the body minus the head, and you can see the one hind leg was okay to move, but the other had to be cut off. I use soft aluminum wire for this.

Here is a butt shot of the finished Cornelia Marie. Named in honor of the late Captain Phil from Deadliest Catch (a favorite show)

I added some cute flowers and butterflies to the base, I wanted her to look like a mare just out having fun in the pasture

Her face, I only did minor remaking of the nostrils and eye sockets to make her look feminine. She won her class at the Breyer show...still want to do some more details in her feathers but look forward to showing her for a long time!

I have very few pieces left that I am doing "on orders" and can't wait to have the time to do more pieces that I come up with. Some will be for sale, but some like her will stay at the Purdy Farm.

More NAN pics tomorrow!

NAN 2010

Well not to stick my tounge out...but several people have asked what I have still for sale, so here is Paint My Cash...a multi live show halter winner. This year at NAN he top tenned in breed, won the breyerfest paint halter class, and got reserve of his division! He has cards for 2011 in halter and western performance, and a new halter card for 2012-2013. He has a reference sheet that shows how racehorses often have their tounges tied to the side to aid in breathing.

The sun was a little bright, but I customized the bridle path area and forelock to make him tack friendly

A great show proven show horse, $550 plus postage. I can try for better light later on in the week.

Ok now on to NAN, those pictures were suppose to be last!

It is going to take a while to sort through all the pictures, and I didn't get any on halter day, but I can say NAN 2010 went great! Not only for my horses but for many horses I did that are now owned by others. This is the first one I found, little Docs Diana winning non speed games. This is a favorite set up, since the saddle is made by one BFF, Kathy Wiggins, and guess who made the super cute WESTERN bridle??? The goddess of English Tack herself, Jen Buxton! I get to go out to Denver in a couple weeks, so though since she is picking me up, I better put her pics up first! LOL

Here is Quiver, getting Top Ten in dressage with is Buxton set. This set has all gold hardware and is to DIE for stunning!

Now that the chaos is over I hope to begin regular postings. I didn't want to post the new breyer customs I did for the show since I wanted them to be a surprise, but really want to show up the latest drastic custom, Cornelia Marie!

Tune in tomorrow!