Matchbox Swap--to My Partner

Well, this promises to be a hot weekend here in Wisconsin.  It has been very dry lately, so hopefully the storms the weatherman says will come will indeed come.  However....hopefully only during the evening/night.  Tomorrow is the start of a city-wide garage sale hop at one of my favorite local towns, and Saturday morning Mom and I are planning on going to the Princeton flea market.  Yes, the flea market is every Saturday...BUT the holiday weekends are supposed to be the best.  Hopefully neither will get rained out despite needing the rain!

Thought I show the matchbox I created for Karla in the Vintage Dragonfly's "Partner's Choice" altered matchbox swap.  Mine hasn't arrived yet (it isn't coming from Karla but from someone different), but I'm sure it will in time. ; )  Each person was to list what they liked--themes, colors, styles, etc., then we were to alter a matchbox and fill it with things that they especially would want.  I made Karla a box with an aqua, beachy theme complete with glitter "sand", sea glass, jewelry shells, and a shell button drawer pull.  I didn't take a picture of the contents...but it had plenty of bits and pieces and blings.  Karla is just the nicest person...she told me she was married at a lighthouse.  Now, how romantic is that?  Hop over to her blog when you get a moment and get to know her. 

Sea Glass Push Pins/Thumbtacks

As promised, here is what I've done with some of the beautiful pieces of sea glass that we found in Maine.  I made push pins out of them.  These pieces were a good size, in pretty colors, and had interesting patterns/shapes.  I like the ones that were part of the bottle's mouth, the faint purple one with the designs in it, and the brown one with part of the word "quart" on it.  Sea glass is getting harder to find--especially the pretty blues, turquoises, and light greens.  I noticed this especially on this past trip.  Anyway, these would be perfect for a beach cottage or ocean themed memory board, inspiration board, or bulletin board.  I've listed them in my Etsy shop.  Enjoy!

Press Kits for Artistic Affaire Les Sirenes

I've been neglecting my posting lately...but have finished and sent off my five-press-kits contribution to the Lollishops pool of press kits for the Artistic Affair Les Sirenes event coming up in California on July 15-17. You may read all about this even on Kim's lovely Weblog--Artistic Bliss. It certainly looks like a grand and enchanting event indeed! The theme has a Victorian beach, romantic ocean look and feel, so I wanted my press kits to carry on with that theme.
I found a beautiful vintage image of Victorian ladies strolling by the sea (loved the palm trees!) to make some pins out of (complete with a little glitter),
and I stitched some zipper clips on turquoise backgrounds with pearly light pink "star fish", an iridescent scallop shell, and, of course, "sand" made by stitching on sparkling golden brown beads.
The netting for these are actually hair nets. I saw a container full of them for sale at an Amish grocery store and was instantly inspired. They looked like old fishing nets to me. I thought the idea of having my things "captured" on the net would be a fun idea. Since I have plenty of sea glass from visits to Maine, I glued some pieces on for extra interest and color.
I glued a simple ivory backing onto the back of the light pink board used for the front to cover up the glue work and neaten up the back then put my business card in the baggie. I kept the bow on the top--a gold organza--simple so that they eye would be drawn to the work below and not onto the top.
I was thinking this would be a good idea for a romantic ocean themed invitation or place card...just something to keep in mind if you needed an idea. You could also put little shells onto the net too.

I'm Back...and with a New Mousepad and Lollishop Widget!

Well, we had a wonderful past week with my family in Maine. The weather was cool this year--not the hot, humid, almost-unbearable weather of Julys past, but I really didn't mind. We picked sea glass off beaches, went to little shops, sniffed coastal rose bushes that grow wild everywhere, went to antique shops and yard sales (more on the goodies I found in a later post), and visited with my parents, grandmother, and friends at the church back "home". I bought this new mousepad at a store in Bar Harbor. I've always wanted one of these little rugs... being drawn, as you know, to genuine things that aren't in their usual size (like the genuine, leather-bound, miniature Bible I have and did a post about many months back). Our old mousepad was just that--old and stained--and we needed a change. I'm delighted! No doubt I will click better now. One new thing on my blog that needed attention right away is the new Lollishops widget to the right. Do you like it? Sadie got these widgets up and running while we were away, and I new that adding my Lollishop shop widget had to be one of the first things I did upon our return. Thanks, Sadie!

Great Sea Glass Blog and Site

Check out Mary Beth's blog with beautiful pictures and great information on sea glass and other glass beach finds at http://seaglassblog.blogspot.com and her website at www.WestCoastSeaGlass.net. Her pictures are exquisite. Talk about gorgeous stuff! Enjoy!

Sea Glass in Romantic Country Magazine

By the way....the newest (summer 2008) issue of Romantic Country Magazine has a picture on page 16 featuring bath salts--"Bath Baubles", and what are the glass containers holding bath salts nestled in?? Sea glass, of course! How appropriate. As a side note, this season's issue of Romantic Country is just gorgeous. Every issue of this magazine is lovely. Kudos to the editors. Check it out!

Sea Glass Found in Maine

I just couldn't wait to post the picture of the sea glass I found in Maine this past time. It is so fun and relaxing to search beaches looking for the little gems. Sea glass is glass from bottles and other items that has been thrown into the ocean from years past, broken up by the motion of the waves over the sandy and rocky bottom of the sea, and thrown up onto land by the waves. The glass comes in all colors of course--some colors more rare than others. There is plenty of brown, white, and beautiful shades of green. It is exciting to find light to dark turquoise, blue in various hues, red, pink, yellow, and light to dark purple (my daughter found one as you can see in this picture--a definite deep amethyst color). To find a piece of glass all roughened by the sea and in a gorgeous color is most exciting! It actually feels as if you are finding a precious gemstone. Many beaches in Maine have sea glass--some more than others, and you really must be determined to look. Some pieces are sharp and should be left to roughen up more. The best pieces (other than those with gorgeous colors) are ones that are "gum drops" as my mom calls them--so pitted and roughened by the sea they look like they are sugared gum drops (like the brown piece at the bottom left of the picture)--and pieces that you can tell they were part of a bottle, like the curved white piece at the bottom left, the white piece in the picture with "PA" on it, or the green piece with the maple leaf imprint on it. I have one piece from a past trip with "TEA" on it--perfect for me! Though I did not find any on this trip, my parents have found in the past small bottles and complete tops of perfume bottles. Lovely! Also, you can see in this picture a few pieces of broken teacups were found. I thought I'd include a penny for size perspective. Enjoy looking at my cache--real treasures indeed!