Check out this year's Breyer Valentines Day plushie!
I preferred last years but still he is super cute. Should I spend $125 on a Breyer order just to get him? Probably not. Will I? Well that is going to depend on whether I get VIP tickets tomorrow or not!
If like me you missed out on the chance to get a VIP ticket you are probably eagerly (and nervously) awaiting Monday so that you can *try* and get your paws on one (if I don't manage to get one I'll genuinely cry).
One of my biggest concerns was that I'll be at work all day Monday and I can hardly refresh the Breyer website every two seconds and teach a load of students about duty of care under negligence law! So I was going to have to get Brendon to sit and do it for me, and as we know, he is less than reliable when it comes to these things.
Yesterday Breyer answered some FAQs on their website and it comes with good news!
Firstly the tickets will go on sale at around 1pm Eastern Standard Time. If, like me you are in GMT that is about 6pm, so long after I finish work. That means I can finish for the day, get my marking done and then get my laptop reading for NINJA REFRESH.
All these updates can be found here:
https://www.breyerhorses.com/blogs/breyerfest-blog/answers-to-faqs-about-the-ticket-on-sale
A lot of people were also concerned about people who already had VIP tickets buying more. Thankfully Breyer have clarified that you cannot do that and it is one per household, so that is also a relief for those of us worried that we may miss out!
My final concern is PayPal double authentication. This is a fun new thing they've implemented whereby EVERY SINGLE TIME I try to access my PayPal account they send me a code that takes about 10 minutes to arrive by text message. Such fun. So to deal with this I've just saved my card on Google Chrome and then will just need to type the CVC number! That should hopefully speed things up.
I am going to be super anxious on Monday, I'm desperate for a VIP ticket and really hope I don't miss out due to dodgy internet!
Good luck to the rest of you who are trying to get tickets on Monday. May the model horse gods forever be in your favour.
I've had lots of emails and messages asking me when we are getting in the Breyer 2021 range. As always we are at the mercy of the distributor and, of course, numerous other forces (Covid, Brexit, Sea Monsters) that stand in the way of shipments getting into the country.
I contacted the UK distributor last week to ask for an update and was given one this week.
The next Breyer shipment is due mid-March.
What will this contain?
The short answer is I don't know.
I do know that it *should* contain the 70th Anniversary Stablemates and Peptoboonsmal from the 2020 range.
It *should* also contain some 2021 products but we don't know what these will be yet.
When will items actually arrive?
If we assume that the container actually docks in Felixstowe on time it then needs to proceed through customs. There are currently delays of a few weeks through customs and at the docks (at one point they stopped working entirely).
Then it needs to be shipped to the distributor.
Then it needs to be shipped to us.
Then we need to ship it to you.
Add all that up and I think that if you have something on pre-order (e.g. Peptoboonsmal) then you will be looking at around mid-April delivery.
Important Note: Delivery will the same for ALL UK Breyer stockists. That means you won't get your item any quicker if you order from us over any other dealer, or any other dealer over us. Everyone will get their items at the same time :)
Can I pre-order 2021 models?
No. I don't want to take pre-orders this year as things are not stable enough for me to guarantee stock. I would rather you shopped elsewhere or patiently waited than I have to disappoint you or make you wait for things you've paid for.
Once we have the 2021 models in hand we will open up for orders.
We will of course sell out of box models as well as in box ones as always.
I've placed a pre-order and want to cancel, what do I do?
If you have the 70th anniversary Stablemates or Peptoboonsmal on pre-order and wish to cancel this all you need to do is email me at catriona@chestnutridge.co.uk
I normally refund any requests within 24 hours. Please note that although learning is online I do work full time as a teacher! Brendon is around to also help with requests and general queries. To make the process quicker tell me the email with which you paid on PayPal - that way Brendon can find your transaction and refund without me having to intervene!
I hope that helps provide some clarity on the situation and answer some questions. In the meantime we still have some beautiful 2020 items left over and I am also in the process of adding a new job lot to the website so do check out www.chestnutridge.co.uk if you need a pony fix!
Due to the whole all my models are in boxes and I can't find the wire for the LED light tent situation (and where is the actual light tent, who knows?) I haven't really had the chance to share a lot of my new horses with you.
This is definitely made worse by the fact that half of them were shipped to my mum's house! She just received another shipment containing my BreyerFest glossies, I can't wait to get to hers and unbox all of these models!
But that is a long way off so let's have a look at my two new RubberNedz. The unicorn is actually still boxed somewhere but I photographed him before packing him, as for elf I got him like two days before I moved so I just took a picture on a shelf I'm afraid! Glamour shots will come at some point I'm sure :)
First up is my AMAZING rainbow unicorn Shetland. Donna really outdid herself with this one. I requested purple hooves and horn and got just what I wanted :D
So say hello to CRS Cithaerias Merolina aka Merolina
This is the first time in so long that I've been able to actually enjoy the snow! No having to go to work, no having to go and do horses, no shovelling to get out, just SNOW!!!
And what is more fun on a snow day than heading out and getting some snow pics of your models? NOTHING. So I unpacked two boxes of random models and headed out to get some snow pics.
I'm really lucky that my garden is on a hill. Because of this there are lots of steps and levels. This means that I can pop a model horse on a step and then kneel on a plastic bag to get a decent shot, I don't have to lie in the snow (that is not fun).
The key for decent snow pics is to get the snow reasonably flat without having foot prints (or boot tread) making it look unrealistic. My technique to solve that was to use the base from Poltergeist to squash the snow down. It worked quite well!
Here are some of my favourites. I did have a few hiccups, like the sun coming out and being super bright, my camera lens steaming up and having to go inside for cleaning and one model doing a front flip and chipping the paint off her ear *cries*
CRS Stromboli (Dead Heat)
BreyerFest Special Run - Dead Heat
I can't believe it is nearly February already and with just over a week to go I have finally started work prepping my 2021 Namopaimo model.
Don't know what Namopaimo is? Check out the Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/234123470349077
I was feeling really indecisive this year so instead of choosing my own model and colour I let the wise people of Facebook choose. And actually I think they made a pretty good choice!
I presented them with a choice of ten different models. The most popular one was this beautiful Edgar Allen resin:
I just realised that I've never updated you guys with the 'single day' Stablemates. This year there are no single day tickets this year however, the little Stablemates are still available. You get the full set as part of your VIP ticket and there are also various options to purchase them as well (although they are very limited).
Did you get picked for a VIP ticket? Let me know below!
I absolutely LOVE decorators as you guys know so you can imagine my excitement at receiving news that ALL the single day Stablemates this year are decorators! My favourite has to be the purple Fjord, Avant Garde, I desperately need him in my life.
So here they are in all their glory:
Dada:
Nouveau:
Rococo:
Avant Garde:
Which is your favourite? Make sure to let me know below!
More information about BreyerFest and the different ticket options can be found here: https://www.breyerhorses.com/pages/what-is-breyerfest-2021-new
