1:9 Scale Barn/Mellisa and Doug Folding Barn Review

One of my favorite Christmas presents this year was my barn. This year I got four medium gifts and two small things instead of several different gifts. If you are interested, the things were a new drawing tablet, an Echo Dot, the barn, and a new saddle. :)

The barn I received was the Mellisa and Doug two stall folding barn. It runs about $60 - and holy cow, is it worth the price.

I was a bit afraid it would be too small... But on the label, it even said it was scaled to 1:9 horses!

As said in the name, the barn can fold. You can keep it folded together and it stays pretty small. However, you can't access the small loft when it is in this configuration.

The stall on the left is pretty small. There is enough room for the horse to fit straight in, but they can't turn. The only door accessible when folded are the dutch doors.

The other stall is a different story. It's a good size - more than enough room for a large horse to fully turn around.

I wasn't totally satisfied keeping it folded up so decided to go with the other configuration, which is a corner shape!

This gives a large area for photography and gives access to all the doors. The small stall has a hinged door on the side to give more access. It makes me think it might have been intended to be a tack room...?

You can also see the loft in the photo. It's very small. Very. I just have a few random things and some blankets to fill up the space. It's not very practical, a rider can't even fit up there.

Of course after I set it up I had to decorate! :P First I laid down some grass scrapbook paper to give the footing a bit more realism.

Then I made a simple sign in Picmonkey. I really recommend Picmonkey for basic edits. I use it instead of photoshop if it's a small thing!

I also made a corkboard. It's a printout with some paperboard on the back with some volume, then separate printout for flyers!

I was watching barn tours on Youtube and found that a lot of barns had giant rule lists... So I had to make mine to opposite! Just don't be an idiot! :P

There's a liability sign, a horse sale thing, and a show flyer as well.

In the large stall I hung up a feed bucket with some 'baling twine' ;)

On each stall I used a pictureframe hanger as a halter rack as well as made a nameplate. 

In the next couple days, I'll post some barn photography. Hope everyone had a great Christmas or holiday! 

1:18 Scale Barn

First off... I apologize for being absent for such a time. I've been super busy with school and personal stuff and have been just focusing on me and my mental health.

I've also been swamped with Etsy orders! I've made over 20 feed bag sets... Thank you guys so much!

I'm back, though! I have some super exciting stuff coming up I can't wait to share with you guys!

Onto the post! About a year ago my dad and I made this Schleich scale barn. I haven't done much with it recently so I decided to reset it up (practice for a traditional scale barn? ;).

I set it up and had tons of fun taking photos. Enjoy!

First, an overview. My barn currently resides on a shelf. It has four stalls and a large tack room. Because the shelf was big enough, I decided to add a little paddock.

The paddock is made out of some spare Balsa wood. I also added a sign.

Inside the barn, there are two signs. Each horse has nameplates and a halter/lead set. It was a pain finding ribbon tiny enough to be in scale!

I made this Jollyball out of salt dough when I was about 10. It still looks OK!

Here's an overview of the tack room! I have some spare water buckets, some feed bags, and tack. Most of it was made by my friend Becky of Flying B Saddlery.

Also a lil doggo. :3

Another paddock shot...

And a picture of Rocko with his nameplate, halter, and grooming kit.

Thank you for reading. Please stay tuned for more! :)

Hungry Hungry Horses

First of all, sorry for the silence the last week! I've been in general kind of avoiding social media and the internet since Tuesday. It's not the end of the world, people... -_-

Anyway, I felt inspired by being at a feed store (inspiration comes from the weirdest places, doesn't it?) to make some food for the horses. I don't have a traditional scale barn but I want one in the future. When I was about nine I had a 'barn' made of the wooden orange boxes and cardboard, complete with hand-drawn feed bags and nameplates.

All I've made so far is two supplement containers and a feed bag.

The supplement containers have a detailed front and back. On the back, there is a nutrition fact area and a serving calculator. The container is a plastic paint storage cup. I also filled them with rice for some weight. 

I made a smaller container with senior feed. Honestly, it took longer to make the labels in Photoshop then to assemble them. It took around 45 minutes to make the label and less then 15 to assemble. >.<

My favorite is the feed bag. It is custom made and I am looking forward to making several different types for all the different ponies.

On one side there is a nutrition label and on the other there is an ingredient list. 

On the very back there is a serving chart. I also used a

 gloss mod podge to give it that 'feed bag shine.'

These will be up on my Etsy and Facebook shops in the next couple days. I haven't completely decided on a price yet, but it will probably be $8 for all three. Custom prices will be case-by-case.

Week two of the photo challenge will be posted tomorrow. :) 

Fun With Props

One of my New Year's resolutions was to make more props. I've seen a lot that I liked, but most of it was out of my price range. I decided I needed to make it myself. More prop food, more horse stuff, clothes, etcetera.

The first thing I made was this barrel. It's super simple, just a soup can with a few coats of acrylic paint! Mine is looking a bit rough, probably because the paint didn't stick too well, but how often do you see a perfect new barrel at a barn or rodeo?

Next, I made a mounting block. My dad and I made it from some scrap wood he had left over. It is also super simple, but it does the job!

Now my poor Breyer people don't have to mount from the ground...

Just walk up... 

And hop on! Ignore that they are riding bareback with a halter and gaming reins, my tack box is still a mess from my last show...

This is the most recent stuff I've made. First I made this little vet check/ride sign up sheet. The pencil is a toothpick with some Sharpie and I just found an image online for the card.

I've also been working on this grooming/vet set as a gift for a friend. The original was shipped months ago and never arrived, so I'm just making another set. The book, wormers, and gloves are from Desktop Stables and I made everything else. I also made a check so that the vet can be paid. ;)

On another note I took photos of my newest completed resin, Starving Artist, in tack!

The blue in this set really brings out his eyes!

He's a bit big for the junior/classic riders. I'd say he'd be around 16hh?

I really enjoyed taking all the pictures today. It's gonna be great seeing what this blog becomes, I've already had so much fun!