My Gifts All The Way From Scotland

Back in December I signed up for Julie Gibbons year long program Mandala Magic. Then I won her giveaway of the class and two books on Mandalas. I have felt blessed indeed. My package of books and other gifts arrived last week.

This first one has line drawn mandala that you can color in your own way.  Some of them are quite intricate and beautiful. I am going to have hours and hours of fun coloring in these beauties.

The Mandala Source Book is fabulous, with 150 mandalas and narrative about each I know I will perusing through this book for some time.

This is called Two Trees From One Root.  I call it the tree mandala, I think its just beautiful. Then I discovered several other tree inspired Mandalas in the book. The book is broken down into three categories of mandala; Healing Nature and Other.

This one is called the Salmon of Knowledge. When I first saw it I thought Pisces since that is my astrological sign.



















I also received a few extra's, this beautiful card of Julie's art.

This are small reproduction of her art I think they are about 2 X 2".  What fun.

Then there was more wrapped in tissue paper, At first I thought this was a yak but on closer look a Hairy Coo from Scotland. Also got a tiny plaque that will hang in my studio. It says "What would you do if you knew you could not fail" What a great treat all of this was. Thank you Julie.

Art From a Friend

I got this lovely piece of art for my birthday from my friend Janet. How cool is that. It was painted on an old book cover. Its going to hang in my studio.

I have been finishing up a journal, just a few more pages to go.

I just love this image, its all starlight and sparkles.

She seemed very sure of herself.

I could use some luxury time in the pool.


I ordered some things from Dick Blick and they came a couple days early.  Now that is exciting.



















I can't wait to plat with these. I saw Jane Davenport doing some video's with these markers and they look amazing and quite fun.  My other purchases were a couple of PanPastel colors and some colored pencils.

I recently got some of these babies and oh they are so much fun.  I'd love to have the whole set of colors but that is probably not going to happen any time soon.

This is one of my exercises in BIG, I loved working with these colors.

Visiting Jolene

I visited my friend Jolene the other day and she gave me these fun things.

This is a folder made out of Christmas themed paper and sewn together.  What a great idea.  I love it.



It was filled with papers and pictures and fun things that I will love to put into a Remains of the Day journal.  How perfect is that.

Plus this beauty, she is a plastic table cloth to use as a stencil.  I have been looking for one of these for ages.  Jolene is such the best kind of friend to have.  Thanks so much.

I took this page from the other day, addd some words and embellished with a brush pen, I like it now.

I was talking to a friend on Facebook all about oil pastels and so then I had to pull them out and use,  These are artist grade pastels made by Sennelier and they are really wonderful to work with.  The background was made earlier with WC crayons and the figure was drawn in pencil first and then I used the oil pastel.  These pastels are so creamy, I really like them.

Here is a collage I worked on over the last couple days. Sure is great to be doing some art again. I hope you ar finding time for it too.

Birthday Bash Redo

I had a great time at my birthday dinner. We all went to Johnny Carinos for dinner. The night was filled with fun laughter and great food.

My longtime friends Gari and Amy pose for the camera.










Phil and Jackie, my friends from game night.










Here are my friends Kay and Bob, I haven't seen them for a long time so it was great that they were able to come.

This is my good friend Diane and her 2 daughters and a friend










Then we have Ginger, Tom and Molly.

Then Dave and myself.

This is a pendant I received from Kate. Its a Lisa Leonard design. As you know I love birds so I really treasure this gift.

She also gave me this pot holder she had made. I had been admiring it at her house while it was in pieces and now its mine, how lucky can I be.










This is a tiny bag made by my sister Peggy.















She also made this tote bag. The bottom and middle are made from screen material.

My friend Kay gave me this book. I know I will use it in fact I had painted the flowers for my banner on this day and really could have used its advice. At least I am ready for the next time. It gives step by step instructions on painting all sorts of flowers.

I had a wonderful birthday celebration and am blessed to have so many wonderful friends.

My Birthday Bash

 I have just spent the day trying to get a post up with tons of pictures and lots of writing only to have lost the entire thing.  To say that I am annoyed would be an understatement. So tune in tomorrow when I will try again...

Some of my gifts

Here I am trying out my new trekking poles. Dave and I took Flynn out for a walk so I got to try them out. I thought I would be waiting to use them when we go hiking in the summer, but now I realize how valuable they could be in winter too.

















My sister Marianne was in Italy this summer and her gifts came from there. This Paisley shawl is one of them although it is more gold and purple than the picture shows. She also sent the bracelet and key chain below.














I was gifted with jewelry from several people. The beaded bracelet was made by my friend Kate and the fused glass pieces by my sister Peggy.

















This quilt was done by my friend Celeste, Its here own design and was stitched entirely by hand. It is only her second piece, take a look at the beautiful quilting.













This journal or portfolio cover was also made by my sister Peggy, its just beautiful. I am not sure how I will use it yet, it will hold a legal size pad so some sort of notebook will live in it someday.

















My daughter gave me this book, which I have been wanting. Its part of a series I talked about before.

What are your favorite gifts this year?