Tis The Season!

 Well hello my lovelies. Hope you are all well. I wish to thank all of you SO much for the get well wishes last week. I am finally pretty much over it outside of a bit of congestion and tiredness but thankfully that horrible coughing is gone. Which means that now I need to get in GO mode! Hubby brought out all the Christmas décor boxes from the attic so I can work on that. I made those house ornaments above today and hope to get more done as I do like to slip a little something into some of the cards that go out. I had a note written along with a little drawing from some years ago about these colorful whimsical houses and decided to make some of my own. I only wish I knew where the original idea came from. The images are from ARTchix Studio and though they are no longer in business Stampington sells some of the products.

 I also got started on my cards that need to go overseas to France as they are priority right now. I do hope to get them mailed by the end of this week. Here are two:

 The stamps are from Magenta. The first one uses ink and the second one was done with colored pencils. Linking this to the Simon Monday challenge for the theme this week of "Holly Jolly Stamping". I am also linking to the Moo Mania challenge of using your favorite stamps or images. I have always loved Magenta stamps and have QUITE a collection of them! In addition they were the only stamp company that had French stamps at the time and I was honored to be able to take classes from Nathalie and Helene back in the day:) I am entering these cards in Magenta's December challenge (winter theme). Images used: leafy stamp- 14443E, Joyeux Noel- 07280H, and holly branch- 07280H.

 In my last post I shared photos from a special exhibit we attended at one of our local art museums titled "Colors Of India".  You can see those here.

 This is the second exhibit we saw while there. It is titled "Cocoon Awakenings" and the glass blown art is by Steve Tobin-a world renowned local artist:

Sorry if you can't read it-I had to get a shot of it on the wall and the sun was reflecting. Here are some photos of his work:

 These vessels were at least 6 ft. tall and were just spectacular to see in person!! Each one was encased by an iron "gate" if you will in order to protect the piece. It truly was like our local paper stated - like walking through a forest of glass and steel. The artist had done these quite awhile ago. These are his new pieces:

 
The photos just don't do justice to these gorgeous spheres dangling from the ceiling and casting the colors on the walls! Wow!

 In my next post I will share photos from the third exhibit we saw on the same day :) After that we decided to go for a late lunch. Of course we ended up back down town to our very favorite Irish restaurant:):)  I made sure to get a pic for my T Stands For Tuesday gang:

 My choice that day was a boxty filled with chicken breast strips, mushrooms, leeks and a bit of blue cheese. It was heavenly!! And with that I had a glass of sauvignon blanc which complemented the meal perfectly. Hubby had a burger (what a surprise) and a beer. I had always wanted to try one of their boxtys. And last Tuesday Halle mentioned a Norwegian crepe - like food called a Lefse (also made with potato) and I guess it was on my mind since. Thanks Halle:) I cannot wait to take my Mom to have one of these boxtys because I know she will LOVE it too.

 That's all I have for today. Lots of work to get done for the ever so near Christmas holiday! How about you? Do you shop early? Do you make gifts and/or cards? Do you bake? Or do you skip out, hop on a plane and head somewhere warm, just you and your significant other? Ok , that last ? was a dream of mine-someday...

 See you Friday for Paint Party Friday!

" May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility."                      
                                                        Mary Anne Radmacher