Tag Archives: Sweetbird Studio

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Let’s do some shopping!

I started out today looking for something online to purchase for Hubby for Valentine’s Day. After about an hour of frustration – due to Hubby’s hobbies being quite expensive – I got kinda sidetracked… I made a few JibJab cards (Ice skating and Fromance), messed around on the Internet and finally gave up and did the unthinkable. Gift Card. I resorted to a Gift Card from one of his favorite places. Bad me.

The good news is that along the way towards the boring Gift Card purchase, I stumbled upon several Valentine’s gifts that I’d like. And, I figured I would share them with you because I bet a few of you might like them as well. If you are lucky, you can give your sweetie (or yourself) a not-so-subtle hint.

GIFTS, IN NO SPECIAL ORDER (no affiliation)

1) Gusterman Sisters Jewelry

I had never heard of these Swedish sisters before. Had you? I fell upon them because they are represented at Sorrel Sky Gallery which I looked up because of an ad in Cowboys and Indians Magazine. Anyway, I liked this jewelry better than the jewelry I had gone there originally to see.

For me, I liked this particular design because it looks organic yet sophisticated. It is something I’ve never seen before (Yay!) and I think it would look great on my right hand middle finger (a not so subtle hint of my own if Hubby is reading…).

They also had unique earrings so I put them in here as well. Here is the link.

This one was my favorite.

This could be a very unique wedding band - or any finger - very cool!

Unique earrings

Smaller unique earrings!

2) Mice shaped Chocolates

I wasn’t sure if this was cute or odd. I mean, Ratatouille was my favorite movie for a long time… And, biting into a tiny white mouse could be disturbing. Then again, if the chocolate is as good as they say it is – well, I’m sure I’d get over the shape…

You can get just one mouse to give as a gift. Or, you can get a whole barn full of mice. Yup, they make a wood box that houses the mice so it feels more Westerny. I think all of the wrapping is nice. So, there’s that, too. Oh, and you can also order chocolate penguins.

For me, I would have made a barn cat to go with the barn mice. If you added hay into the barn box and put the mice in the hay and the cat on top of the hay it would be more complete for me…

Anyway, here is the link and you can see what they have that might float yur boat.

Single mouse.

I wonder if the tail is edible?

These can come in a wooden "barn" box

3) Cool Dog Collars

OK, well, I love my dogs almost as much as I love my Hubby. Unfortunately, they are Mastiffs and other bigguns that have necks the size if buildings. Consequently, I can never find unique collars for them. Sigh.

When I saw these, I was sad that I couldn’t decorate my lovlies with gems and exotic (replica) skins.

I liked several of these but I’ll only list a few here. They said if you called them, they could do a special design of your choosing.

Here is a link!

I liked this one the best.

Maybe I like this one the best...

Or maybe this one... there are so many to choose from!

4) Saddle Ring

I’m not sure if I would wear this ring, but I was fascinated by it. It is so huge! Maybe my pony could wear it when I’m not… Anyway, I am listing it here so you can marvel over it as well.

Here is a link to the ring and you also might like looking around on this site…

Wow. I don't know whether to wear this or throw it over my pony!

5) Cowboy Boot Bracelets

OK, well, if your boots don’t jingle jangle enough, or if they don’t feel quite complete or maybe if you just like to add instead of subtract, you might like these boot bracelets.

Yup, who says your boots can’t express themselves even more! Go all out and buy several that may match your purses or blouses. Personally, I don’t wear Cowboy boots because they never, ever feel right on my feet. However, I might try a pair if I could get these folks to make a noisy boot bracelet. I love the sweet melody of jingle jangle. It is kinda like stepping into the world of Jesse James or Wyatt Earp at the OK Corral… Spurs tinkling along the boardwalks.

Then again, if I was a quick-draw person or an outlaw or a lawman, I probably wouldn’t want jinglejangly boot bracelets. But I’m not, so I do…

Here is the link. There are several pages devoted to boot bracelets so make sure to look at the left-hand side bar of the linked page to see them all!

There were so many on the site, I just chose this one...

6) Sweet Bird Studio Anything.

OK, well, I love her stuff. Any and all of it. Finn has one of her “Bless this Horse” tags on his saddle. I love watching it as we ride…

Bags: Anyway, today I’m enamored with the purses and bags. Actually, it isn’t the bag or the purses that impress me. It is the decorations. I love the imagery and the short, simple, life verses. I’ve listed a few of them here. But, there are many, many more! Here is the link to check them out.

Here is an example of the bags... Viva la Vida

Nature is my Church.

A variation...

In Riding a Horse We Borrow Freedom... mmmmmm

This is the bag...

And this is the detail... She has so many! Go to the site!

Wherever you go, there you are... with St.Christopher in the middle!

The Grass is Always Greener...

Rings: I’m also quite taken with a few of her rings. I have rather small fingers so I am afraid these rings might make me look like I’m wearing sterling knuckles, but I like them anyway. I picked one I liked the best but there are many more on her site. Here is that link.

Perfect.

7) Skode’s Horse Cookies

Since I love my horses and always like to share gifts and holidays with them (I don’t think they feel left out but I like the excuse to fawn over them…) – but I want them to eat healthy stuff – I’m delighted that Skode’s is having a sale on on their famous Ultra-Low Sugar/Starch Carrot Snips Cookies! You get 66-70 cookies for $16.50! I could give each of my 11 Sweethearts 6 cookies apiece!

Or, I could give them each 1 cookie and save the rest to spread over a week. I’m not too good at holding back treats because they nicker at me and I’m done for… I guess you don’t have to wonder why Norma is a bit portly…

Anyway, my horses and dogs looooove Skode’s cookies so I’m delighted to let you know that she is having a sale! Click here for the sale.

Skode's. My horses and dogs have tried 5 flavors so far and they went nuts over all of them! And, I don't have to feel quilty - all great ingredients!

Thanks for following me on my present journey! I hope you enjoyed some of my picks!

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

February Drop in the Bucket Fund: LEROY, THE WONDERPONY
He was found in a Home Depot parking lot with a huge leg wound. To learn all about the Bucket Fund and to donate towards the care of LeRoy, please click on the photo (photo credit, Trish Lowe)

Click to read about poor LeRoy!

Your purchase with Riding Warehouse through this link helps the Bucket Fund!

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth... if you like this, please pass it around!

More Holiday Gift ideas and just cool stuff! (And a Norma update…)

First up, NORMA update!

NORMA!

In earlier posts, I spoke of my donkey, Norma Jean, who was suffering a severe bout of laminitis recently. (You can read the story here) Let me tell you that I was overwhelmed with the amount of support from you readers. Wow. THANK YOU. I swear, your kind words really helped me stay focused.

You can see her poultice wrapped abscessed foot. She is standing square on the other foot - yippee!

She is recovering! Wahoo! I can now safely say (veterinarian stamped) that she is on the other side of the worst of it. She is still sore, but she will make it – unless something untoward happens.

She is standing square and babying the abscessed foot.

The success of the clinical trial with the experimental drug couldn’t be determined because Norma has a huge abscess (we discovered yesterday) which rendered the trial indeterminable. Bummer. We think the trial drug helped her because her right foot healed very quickly. But, her left foot was still very sore after using the drug. So, now that we know it was an abscess, we have no way of determining if the drug helped the left foot or not. However, the fact that the right foot got better rapidly and the left foot had no severe laminitis aftereffects even though she could not use her foot, makes us think the drug could have been working in spite of the abscess. Dunno. We will never know. I would try the experimental drug again, if one of my horses had a laminitis episode. My vet agrees.

All we know for sure is that the drug didn’t hurt her.

She is bright eyed and much happier. Thank you all for caring.

She won't look at me because I just changed her wrap. But, you can see that she is standing square on both.

MORE HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS!

OK, I’ve got a bunch more today! Some are deals and some are just cool. Here we go!

RAINBOW HAIR EXTENSIONS

How much fun is this?!

Did you see this in HORSE AND RIDER magazine? It stopped me in my tracks! I thought it was hysterical and so full of whimsy! I am sure Finn would be totally embarrassed by these, but Beautiful Girl might kinda like them.

I also think some tweenage girl might loooove to put these into her horse’s mane. Hours of fun! Or, maybe girls could trade colors and have manes in all one color like pink or blue… Fun! Here is the link.

YUM-MEE!

I am not a Western Wear person. But, I keep loving Western stuff. And, I love this jacket – mainly because it has Sweet Bird Studio adornments. How cool is this?! You get a fitted and designed jacket that also has wonderful accents. OKOK, so it isn’t cheap or a deal, but it is fabulous and I wanted you to know about it. Here is the link.

Yum-Mee. Click to enlarge.

SKODE’S COOKIE SPECIAL DEAL!

I shared earlier how much my horses loved these ‘good for your horse’ cookies. Well, Skode’s is having a special sale on Mint Rose Brownies, Pumpkin Spice cookies and Ginger Snaps (Only $22 for a pound of fresh baked cookies in a lovely gift tin!) ! I’m all over these treats because they are homemade, are wonderfully fragrant, have all natural and organic ingredients, are for IR (Insulin Resistant) horses — which I think is great for all horses — and my horses loved them! So, click on the photo or this link and check out the Holiday deal.

Bargain Homemade Organic IR Horse Treats!

EQUI-SPA SPECIAL HOLIDAY DEAL!

You all know how much I love the Equi-Spa products that I’ve tried. The natural fly spray is now my only fly spray. And, the BALM is the bomb! I swear, I put the Balm on owies or bug bitten areas and my horses heal without flies or pain. I also used the Balm on their faces and the flies left. The best part is that my horses don’t run away from the spray or the Balm. In fact, they try to eat it! I’m now using the Balm to help chafed areas from winter blankets (I don’t blanket my horses but I’ve shared with some of my friends who do and they love this stuff!).

Anyway, the Equi-Spa Holiday Deal is the Balm (Yay!) and Lavender/Witch Hazel Spray. I haven’t used this spray but it sounds yummy and I know that lavender is a natural calming herb and witch hazel is a natural infection fighter. I would get this and gift two people with the items! A great deal! So, click the photo or click this link

I LOVE THE BALM! Great special offer (A $26 value for $19.99!)!

POP-UP BARRELS

Have you seen this? (I saw this in COWBOYS AND INDIANS magazine.) I’m not a barrel racer, but I have friends who are. They always tell me that they go to other venues and just hope that there are barrels set up (which there usually are…). But, what if they wanted to spend time with me? I have no barrels. Or, what if they wanted to go to a horse camp that had no barrels? Now they can bring their own traveling barrels! I thought this was ingenious! Here is the link.

Bring your barrels with you!

NAG NOSE SHADE

OK, when I first saw this, I burst out laughing. How embarrassing for your horse! Even the horse in the photo seems to be pleading, “Please Don’t take my picture in this!”

HOWEVER, when I read what it does, I reconsidered. So what if you make your pale horse look foolish?! This contraption would really cut down on skin cancer and sunburn! After all, you make your kid wear zinc oxide… why not use this for your pale skinned horse? Here is the link.

Looks funny but it probably works well...

MMMMM. WOOD STUFF.

I love anything made out of wood. Well, almost anything… Well, maybe not almost anything but almost anything that is made like this stuff. I saw this wood makers ad in C&I magazine (again) so I went to his website and saw luscious things. I decided to put up the boot jack and the hat boxes here. There are many, many more beautiful handmade wood items on the site. Here is the link.

Very Cool, handmade boot jack.

I don't even wear hats and I like this box!

Inside of the hat box.

WAR HORSE AND CAVALRY HORSE BOOKS

So many of you wrote to me telling me how much you enjoyed my post on COMANCHE. So, I thought I would research books about famous Cavalry horses. I looked for books that were rated with 5 stars (the highest). I came up with three. Here they are. If you click on the image, it will take you to that particular Amazon page.

Judging by the huge response to the Comanche post, I think any of these books would be great presents!

Click to go to the Amazon page

SALE STUFF AND STOCKING STUFFERS!

I am always afraid to go to the deal pages or cheap stuff pages in horsey websites because I end up spending more than I ever thought I needed to… kinda like Costco. But, I wanted to bring two “deal” pages to you.

1) I’m a grab bag, ‘love a surprise’ kinda person. So, when I went to Jeffers Equine, my excitement was peaked! They now have a 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS sale page! A different thing for sale each day! How fun! It is a great marketing ploy because it makes us continue to go to the site every day. But, it is fun so why not?!

They also have a SURPRISE DEAL of the day during the holidays. You can choose from the Surprise Deal if your 12 Days deal wasn’t tickling your fancy!

2) Chicks Saddlery has STOCKING STUFFERS UNDER $5.99. Wow! This oughta get your engines running! You could go crazy buying little inexpensive things! Wahoo!

REINDEER HATS

Am I crazy or are these worth demoralizing your horse over? They light up and fit over the halter. OMG. I love Xmas cards that have horses wearing these. Am I cruel? Well, anyway, they are on sale for $4. What a deal on something to torture our poor horses… ;) Here is the link.

Hee Hee

This always makes me giggle!

BUCKET OF INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED COOKIES WITH A CLUE!

I spoke of these before. They are made by Gabrielle Sutton who is an equine nutritionist guru. Because of my previous experience with Gabrielle, I’m pretty much on board with anything she makes. She wouldn’t create anything if it wasn’t thoroughly tested. So, if something is worthwhile enough to get her full attention, then it must be good.

I like this idea because it is one bucket full of individually holiday wrapped samples of all of her cookies. What a great way to ‘share the wealth’ for a barn party or party favors or just to pass around to all of your friends! The names alone are great fun! Belly Bites, Stress Busters, Booster Bites, Chubbies and Owchees. I’ve tried the Belly Bites and the Owchees. My horses gobble them up!

Indivudually wrapped baggies of love...

LASTLY, OUR BUCKET FUND GIFT CERTIFICATES

You all know about the donor gift certificates… If you donate to any of our 4 Bucket Fund horses this month: Tullie (the burned horse), Gump (the ‘different’ horse), Dixie (the old and forgotten horse) or the Wild Horses and Burros (gathered horses) you get a gift certificate made out to anyone you choose which you can use as a gift. I make them here in the HORSE AND MAN Santa factory so I put in any name or do whatever you like with the certificates. Click here.