Mandala Monday ~ Christmas Gifts

Happy Mandala Monday!  I just thought I would share a few photos of the lovely mandala coasters and set of magnets I got this past Christmas from my nephew and my sister. They’re so delightful and they make me happy – (the gifts and my fam 😉)!

I had both of these things on my Amazon wishlist and was so excited to receive them!  One of my love languages is gifts, so I always feel extra loved when people give me gifts.  Granted, it is a common tradition to exchange gifts at Christmas time – especially with family, but it still makes me feel extra special whenever I receive a gift!

Here is a stock photo I stole off of the Amazon listing so you can see all the great mandala designs on the coasters.  They’re all so pretty, it’s hard to chose a favorite…

And those coasters will come in handy while I’m drinking all of the fruit-infused water concoctions that I’ve set my mind to making in the new year.  The color of this one looks especially yummy doesn’t it?  Strawberry, blackberry and pineapple. Mmm so refreshing…

🍹

The magnets are such darling little things!  They were tricky to photograph because they’re only about the size of a quarter and have a glossy finish, so these are a bit blurry…

These will come in handy too, as my sweet Granddaughter loves to draw, color and paint pictures for me to display on my refrigerator.  Maybe I’ll have some to display from my Grandson one day too.  We’ll have to wait and see if he enjoys art, as he is only one year old, but he seems to like being involved in anything and everything that his big sister is doing.

Speaking of my Grandchildren…

I could share hundreds of photos I snapped of them over the holidays, but I’ll spare you from all the scrolling.  I do love these ones of the two of them though, because of the warm, loving memories I have of them helping me decorate my tree…

My Granddaughter always insists on wearing her ‘strawberry dress’ (which is too small), whenever she comes over.  But it makes her happy, so we just let her. Even though it’s winter. 🙃

🎄❤

And I’ll share this one too, because of the pure and simple joy of it…

Oh, how I love my Daughter and my Grandchildren! 💕

And while we are on the subject of children (and this looks like it’s for children), and it’s Mandala Monday, one other mandala-themed gift I received this Christmas was this mandala sidewalk chalk stencil kit from my mom…

Another stock photo, but that can’t be helped – it’s winter right now and everything is covered with snow, so I can’t exactly take it out and play with it just yet.  Maybe for a future mandala Monday…

I hope your Monday is off to a good start!  Wishing you beauty and inspiration today and in the coming week!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Mandala Monday ~ Christmas Ornaments

I’ve been back in painting mandalas mode over the past couple of weeks making Christmas ornaments as gifts for friends and family.  I’ve had a lot of fun painting them and I really hope they like them.  Here are a few of the designs I created.  They’re all a bit similar, especially color-wise (red, green and white), but each one is different…

The ornaments I used were clear glass, so they pick up whatever is in the background.  It really affects the look of the design and I’m not sure if I like that or not.  I tried using an etching cream on one of them to create a frosted glass look, but omygosh that was a complete fail.

The lighting wasn’t the greatest trying to photograph them indoors, so I brought them outside and snapped a few photos of them hanging from the branches of my arborvitae…

I don’t know if you can tell in the photo, but I put fake snow in the bottom of this next one.  I thought it’d be a whimsical way of providing ‘snow’ for loved ones who don’t get snow where they live…

I also put rhinestones in the center of some of them for those who might like a bit more bling, but at the time of this post, I’ve already wrapped them up for giving and don’t have a good picture to share.  Oh wait, here’s one…

It’s not very sparkly in the photo, a real crystal would look prettier, but I couldn’t find any flat-backed ones in the proper size.

I made them in two different sizes and the details got a bit muddled up trying to paint the tiny dots on the smaller ones, so they don’t look as nice blown up in a photo, but they’re pretty and dainty in person.

Due to the same color scheme, they all started feeling like they looked too much alike, so I tried to create different patterns, at the same time as keeping the person I was making them for in mind.  This one turned out be sort of a star burst design…

A few of the recipients of these ornaments follow my blog and I’m hoping they don’t see this post before they receive their ornaments, but I wanted to share because it’s one of the things I’ve been up to lately.

I know I’ve been a bit absent from my WordPress community this December (posting and reading) and I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to stop by your blogs as much, but please know this… I’ve still thought of a great many of you quite often during this time, truly I have, and I’ve been sending love and good vibes your way as you’ve come to mind.

Please be well my friends.  Sincerely wishing you all that is good and lovely in this world, a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and lots of love to you and yours…

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

 

Holiday Lights

 

Holiday lights

glow warmer 

on a wintry morning

when there’s snow

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2016

 

We put up our Christmas lights the other day, and although it looked quite festive when we turned them on that evening, I was feeling a bit disappointed about our lack of snow here.  But when I awoke the next morning, I found to my inner child’s delight that it had snowed during the night!  There’s something extra magical about snow at Christmas time! ❄

And the lights do glow warmer…

😊

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

When It’s Time

 

Weary of feeling numb and void of creativity, I asked my sister

“When am I going to get my inspiration back?”

“When it’s time.  She answered  Perhaps tomorrow.”

My sister is so wise.

 

That must be why I try to be just like her…

Matching shirts for Christmas!  😉

 

 

Thanks for the inspiration, sis!  ❤

And thank you to all of you for being on this journey with me…

 

Here’s to inspiration, and to tomorrow ~ Happy New Year!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Things I Love About December

 

The invigorating scent of fresh pine

Peppermint flavored everything

Swirling snowflakes dancing on the wintry winds

and on my blog

Christmas music ringing out on the airways

The color red

Frosty windows

Animal tracks in the snow

Hot cocoa

A crackling fire on a cozy hearth

Warm winter clothes – mittens!  🙂

The extra sense of wonder and excitement in children

and in my pets

and in me

The increased spirit of giving and goodwill people have toward one another

Pretty packages containing special gifts for loved ones

Celebrating the greatest gift of all – the birth of Jesus ❤

Holiday lights sparkling everywhere

The warm glow of candlelight

Spending extra time with family and friends

Baking festive holiday treats

Clear crisp wintry night skies filled with bright stars

Frost on my windows

oh wait, I already mentioned that  😉

~

 

I’m experiencing a slight bit of overwhelm here in my little world at the moment, so I made this list to remind myself of everything I love about this time of year.

What do you love today?

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow

 

We went over to my sister’s new house yesterday where I snapped this photo of one of her Star Trek ornaments hanging on her tree.  It’s not anything spectacular, but with the yellow Christmas light shinning there next to it, I thought it would be fitting for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow.

Christmas trees, the final frontier.  These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise…

😀

As a bona fide Trekkie, over half of my sister’s Christmas tree ornaments are Star Trek themed ornaments, and some of them are pretty darn cool.  My favorite one is the Borg cube, where when you press it a recording says: “We are the Borg, enjoy your holidays, resistance is futile.”  Hahaha gotta love it!  (Only other Star Trek fans will get that).

 

With just a few more days to go until Christmas, my hope is that your holiday would be ‘assimilated into the collective’ of the beauty, the wonder, and the joy of the True meaning of season.  Many blessings to you and yours.  Merry Christmas!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Please Sir, I Want Some More

 

I don’t ask for much, I’m pretty easy please

but I want enough snow to at least cover the leaves…

 

~

 

It hasn’t snowed here nearly enough for me, and it’s almost Christmas.  We had some “warmer” weather recently and although it was nice to have the milder temps, it melted all the lovely snow we had.  Then the other day it rained.  Rained, in December, in Minnesnowta.  Sigh… if all that rain had been snow, it would have been a beautiful, magical, amazing winter wonderland around here.  And I for one, want that.  At least for Christmas, then it can melt if it wants to.

I was out running errands the other day in that rain.  There’s nothing more unpleasant than running errands in the rain.  Now don’t get me wrong, I actually love the rain, and it was foggy out too, and I adore fog, but not in the winter, in the winter I want SNOW, especially at Christmas time.  And even as potentially hazardous as the driving might have been, I would have much rather been running those errands driving around in the snow.  Heck… isn’t that what 4-wheel drive is for?  And besides, if you’re gonna get all wet while out running errands, it may as well be from some festive, pretty, white, wet snow.  😉

I was wishing so much that all that rain was snow, and guess what happened… after that long day of running errands in the rain, I awoke the next morning to find snow on the ground!  It was so lovely, and how fun is it that I got my wish!?  Hey, wishes can be powerful things!

But I think I need to wish just a little bit harder, because it wasn’t quite enough snow for a true white Christmas ~ as you can see above, it barely covered the leaves.  There isn’t any snow in the forecast between now and Christmas either, so I may need to have a talk with the weatherman…

  “Please Sir, I want some more.”    😀

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

No Electricity Required

 

Let the light shine through you

and illuminate the world with beautiful color

No electricity required.

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2014

 

We decided to hang some green Christmas lights on our rhododendron bush out on the corner in the front of the house, and the other morning as I was pulling up to the house after dropping my Mom off at an appointment, I noticed they were all lit up.  No, we hadn’t left them on from the night before, we weren’t even planning to turn them on until after Thanksgiving.  They were being lit up by the sunlight!  And gosh it was pretty!  I tried to take a picture of the entire sparkly spectacle, but I couldn’t quite catch them from the right angle unless I got up close.

As I was snapping, I was thinking of how fun it was to see them lit in the daytime, and that I didn’t have rely on electricity to enjoy their beautiful color, all it took was looking at them from the proper angle and perspective to see their colorful light.

Much like the light in our own lives, sometimes we can’t see it unless we’re looking at it from the proper perspective.

And of course, having a little bit of sunlight beaming on you helps a great deal too.  😉

 ~

I hope life is bright and sunny wherever you are, and filled with beautiful color!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Reindeer Sighting

I was trying to take some pictures of our snow out my window yesterday morning; they weren’t really turning out, but then I spotted Rudolph…

Okay… so I added the red nose, but it still resembles him don’t you think?  No?  Oh, well maybe I’m just seeing things.  😉

I guess our recent snow just has me feeling a bit festive over here.  It may be a little early yet, but there’s nothing like some fresh snow to get you into the holiday mood.

😀

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

May Your Christmas…

 

May your Christmas be filled with warmth and Light

with Peace and Love and all that is bright.

May your heart taste Joy with childlike delight

and shine with the Hope of that blessed night.

© Julie Rehnelt 2013

~

Peace & Love…

and Merry Christmas!  ♥