Winterthur Part 2

I took so many photos of Winterthur on Wednesday, I thought the outside photos needed their own blog post. Du Pont's woods were still beautiful despite the trees loosing most of their leaves and the slowly setting sun added a bit of magic to our late afternoon stroll. The photo above with the quote was the idea of my husband who wanted to make sure I gave him credit for the composition:)

A view of the mansion and pool. There are some 175 rooms in that big house!

 Beauty berry, I really need one of these bushes!

 Frog fountain in the Enchanted Woods.

 Beautiful koi still quite active despite the falling temps.

 My Zoe exiting the toadstool house.

What child wouldn't want one of these in their yard?



 I've loved this hippocampus sculpture since I was a child! I have a photo of me sitting on it when I was around 5 years old. My Aunt Frances has worked at Winterthur for over 25 years.

 Colorful leaves litter the forest floor.

Thought I would take a photo of this giant in black and white.

 

 This is the view du Pont wanted to 'keep open forever'.

One of my favorite sites in all the world!

My daughter finds herself a walking stick.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have a few porcelain ornaments that I will be hand painting horses on and selling through Ebay. Keep checking my auctions to see what's listed. they make excellent gifts and no two are ever the same.

Printed porcelain ornaments are available through Cafepress for only $8.50!

Click here to see my designs.

I'm a Lucky Girl :^)

I'm in a magazine! Woo hoo!
I received a nice package from The Trail Rider magazine with several copies of their latest issue and a nice letter from them. I was so excited to see a little write up and picture of my Cafepress holiday horse ornaments!! It's the first time I've been in a magazine so you can imagine my excitement.


Thank you Trail Rider!


I have a little time to work today and I'm trying to get some holiday horse pendants painted. I should have them finished in a day or so. Also working on a folk art cat sculpture I started a few weeks ago. He's turned into a winter kitty and will have lots of glitter and whimsy. And, I will finally have some new blank signs coming in to start my holiday horse signs. Please check back soon for pictures and details! Some pieces I will be offering for sale on my blog before Etsy and Ebay.

Thanks for visiting my blog. If I don't get back to you right away it's because I am swamped in the studio!

O Christmas Tree & GIVEAWAY TIME!

We finally got our tree today. I found a place just down the road. Literally, 1/2 mile down our street that sells them cut or you can cut one yourself. I am a stickler for freshness and my husband was still in his work clothes and didn't want to get dirty so I cut our tree. I am very happy with our choice this year. It's so full and smells wonderful. I think it's a Douglas fir.
Most of our ornaments are old. Some we've had since we were kids. Some are antiques. Some I even made. There is nothing more fun that hanging each special ornament on the tree and remembering when you got it and Christmases past.
Since I can never find a topper that I like, I just hang a large ornament up there. Last year my husband's step mom gave me this cute one with kittens riding a rocking horse. My two favorite animals, how perfect! So I'm going to make you look at my tree pictures before I get to what you probably came here for, the giveaway:)






Okay, time for the giveaway!
I just painted this fun winter windswept tree pendant. I love bonsai and that is what it reminds me of (I had one once and I killed it -very sad). I added glass beads in white and cobalt blue and it has a silver plated toggle clasp. Here's the deal, to be eligible to win this pendant you have to leave a comment on this post. Not just any old comment, mind you. You must tell me what your favorite ornament is on your tree at home. If you don't celebrate Christmas please let me know what your favorite winter time activity is.
Contest will last ONE week. I will have my little Zoe draw a name on Friday, December 12th around noon. I will try to contact you through blogger. If I don't contact you I will leave a post and ask you contact me with your shipping info.
So good luck everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, if you don't win the pendant and still want one, I have one in my etsy shop.