Christmas Horsey

With my teaching schedule I didn't get to make as many gifts this year as i hoped to, and ended up buying some here and there. I did get to make some woolly hats for my nephew and niece, and some soap for family and friends.

One crafty piece i'm particularly pleased with was a surprise find over the summer. I was staying at Jenny and Doug's while they were on the East coast and saw a yard sale a street over from them one day. As I drove by I saw a little wooden horse for sale, so stopped and took a look. $5 and it was in good condition (all be it poo brown), so I picked it up for little Hannah, thinking i'd refinish it. Doug and Jenny had all the right tools to sand it down too, so I took advantage while I was staying there, then painted it slowly over the last few months. It didn't come out quite as I first envisioned, but I still think it came out great! I wish I lived closer to by nephew and niece to do things like this for them, so thank you Hannah for being my substitute niece!

I forgot to take a photo of the initial - it was a thick (thick!) all over coat of poo brown! Here it is after an initial power sanding. The paint was so thick you could barely see the carved out eyes. There were some holes to fill too, but it was mostly in really good shape.

Starting the (many) primer coats.

Primers done and ready for some colour. This took me the longest time, as I couldn't decide what colours to do! All the colours were water based acryllic with a water based varnish, so, although not the toughest, all very kiddie safe and I did enough coats, it should last a pretty long while.

The finished product! The dapple wasn't initially planned, but I thought cute, and Jenny likes red, which is a great neutral colour to be passed down to subsequent children too.