A ride in the Hill Country…

Please enjoy this scroll through of my ride with friends and fellowship in the Hill Country along the Frio River! Not many words needed, I dare say! If you missed the reveal of my gifts, check out yesterday’s post.

I had a little bit of traffic on Friday, but it was OK, I had great music. Petunia thought she would help herself into the yard when I got there. The Sunrise on Saturday was just…just. Beautiful!

Loaded up and pulling out Saturday morning!

We were so blessed to have no incidents while hauling and no traffic, either way!!! We only had great conversation and music! Oh, and plenty of great Texas views and beef jerky. Hey, we did not want to get hungry!

We met at a friend’s place in Bandera for a couple of days along with some other friends before heading to the Frio. They were all going on the ride. We had great times, story telling, rest, and sunrise/sunset times. Yes, that is me with my nails done. I had to hide the horse ruined nails, but who cares when your horses are that cute!

We lost someone along the way!!! Ha! Just kidding…

Ike getting fancy in his stall! I then added more shavings. I like to really bed them down. I also documented his BMs. You horse people understand that.

Now time for the good stuff…Riding snaps!

Hydrating…

Such beauty! God’s beauty!

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Me before we headed home…Ha!

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I hope you enjoyed! Have you gone on any fun trips lately?! Share!

Lead with love, dear readers!

When you need perspective

OK, so I am still processing my last week…and am still tired! Tomorrow, be prepared for a picture book of my week riding in the hill country! For now though, we must all wait. I can not begin to process that just yet. Yawn. I am still recovering!

Oh!!! I can show you the gifts I gave! Looky looky!!! Remember I told you about a few gifts I made for some friends that were going to be on the ride this past week? Now that the gifts have been given, I can show you! I gave each a photo transfer of their horse on a block of wood with character (have a look at this post to learn how!) and a piece I found created by Alex Ladner, also on a block of wood. I think they are just exact. I really tried to work with the character within the wood and let it shine and compliment the photo. I gave a few more photo transfers to some others, but these two are my favorite. Do you like them??? I hope so.

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OK, back to perspective. The Friday before I left for my trip, I rediscovered an artist! I love when that happens. I started listening to Sean McConnell while in undergrad. He was getting some air time on a local Red Dirt station at the time. I loved his sound, but then somehow I did not keep up with him. Not sure why. Crazy how that happens. Anyway, while at work on Friday, I was listening so some shuffle mix that came up on YouTube. I was working away when I heard the song ‘Lie Baby Lie,’ but a different version than what used to be played in the flatland when I was in college. It intrigued me and I went to go look at who it was that was playing and singing. To my surprise, it was Sean! I immediately went to look up all of the material he has created since I stopped listening to him. I still dig his stuff and I am still listening to it this week! One song in particular really spoke to me that Friday. Have a listen, and when you need perspective, give it another listen. I have added it to my mental file of ‘when I need perspective.’ I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to the man himself, Sean McConnell, for posting this vid on YouTube. He also has several faith based songs. I have no doubt that I will be post on his songs again!

Have a blessed day, dear readers, and lead with love!

Tune back in tomorrow for the big recap!

Gettin’ crafty.

Does today feel like Friday to anyone else?! It sure feels like Friday to me, but alas, it is Thursday for all of you who have not figured that out yet. Happy Friday eve! Ike and I leave Saturday for my week long trail riding vaca! This is why it feels like Friday to me, I guess. I am so excited…and anxious, but it will be fun! It is getting real. Have to pack today so I can leave straight from work tomorrow to get to the farm and pack our stuff there.

Anyhoo, I got crafty yesterday and created some gifts to give my compadres who are going with me on the ride. If any of you are reading this, STOP. I mean it. OK, now back to business. I will not show what I actually made or bought in case they are not listening to me.

The crafty part that I created was a photo transfer to wood. I used The Saw Guy‘s method (there is even a video!). I have actually done this now three different times. There are a few different ways to do this apparently, but I have only used this one method with the recommended products. Mainly because I still have all said products and I like the way it works. In my research done previously, it appeared that there are a few different products that can be used to create the same or a different look. Here are some examples of her
finished work from the post.

I never seem to accomplish the level of antiquey look that she gets, but I am guessing she applied filters or edited the photos prior to printing. I have not watched the video or read the post in a while, so she might explain that there. I just really like the look of these! The next photo transfer I do will be of my dun duo and my Darcy dog on pecan wood from the farm. It will be big ;).

The second part of a couple of the gifts came from a local gift shop here in town. I do not know how I got lucky enough to find these! I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what to get to finish out my gifts. I kept coming up empty. Then I went into this shop figuring I would not find anything that I felt was good enough, and bam. There they were. There were only two, which is exactly the number I needed. They perfectly fit the bill. They practically spoke to me and told me to buy them for my friends. I just love when that happens. To me, the best part of gift giving is finding that little something that screams that person’s name and seeing the joy it brings the person when they get it. That feels like an AHAmoment. I love gift giving. I suppose it is one of my love languages. I take it very seriously. Anyway, I digress as usual…the pieces I bought were created by artist Alex Ladner. I hope the gift shop gets more of his work because I would like some pieces for myself. The pieces I got were no bigger than a 4×6 photo and have a block of wood as the canvas! Again, I am not going to show what I got or made until after I give the gifts, but here is a teaser of his other creations (his photos).

Does anyone know how to accomplish this look? Is it like a plaster? Clay? With glaze? I want to figure it out. I just love these! Alex, if you ever read this, I just love your work!

Tomorrow or Saturday morning will most likely be my last post until I return from my trip. Do not lose faith in me! I will return and with many photos!

I am excited to show you what I created and bought! Until then, walk in love, dear readers!