All things from the Sea....

I'm a little late to the Christmas Decorating this year - so right now, I'm in a big rush to get things organized and set up.  I am very excited as I thought I had four trips left before the end of the year...and two just got cancelled so now I'm jumping for joy.  Since I am staying with the same theme as last year, I'm trying or at least attempting to not buy very many ornaments or decorations since this will be my last Coastal Christmas for a while.  

But I could not resist these adorable sand dollar ornaments from the Etsy Shop tuttomare which means All things from the Sea. 

I fell in love with this little Santa

Love the little pink starfish

Had to get a snowman in there

Surfboard is a fun touch

So adorable

Love his little glasses

I just think these are so adorable...I could not resist them. Check out tuttomare as there are still a few left.  I didn't completely clean out the supply!  Hope your enjoying this holiday season. 

A little vintage sheet music, a few seashells and a touch of glitter

I recently purchased a couple home accessories....from The Shabby Chateau Etsy Shop.  Donna's shop is one of my favorites  and I love reading her blog because I get all kinds of creative repurposing ideas. So when I opened my box, I received a nice little surprise gift from Donna that I wanted to share.  Being that I'm crazy about seashells & starfish & sand dollars...and blue, green, turquoise and aqua....it was love at first sight.

I love the vibrant colors placed on top of the vintage sheet music.
Such a wonderful combination.

I love the Blue Starfish with the smaller green starfish in the background.

Such a beautiful collection.  Almost too 
pretty to use...so I will be  saving these 
for very special occasions. 

  
I asked Donna to share how she made them. So here are her instructions:


"Let's see, for your cards I started with pre-made brown cards, then used some vintage sheet music I applied with a glue stick. The shell and starfish motif papers, and other papers I used were purchased in Maui when we vacationed there this past February. I like bringing things back from trips that I can use in projects.  Then I used some "Diamond Glaze" dimensional glaze on the shells and starfish, and added some Martha Stewart coarse clear glitter".


So thank you Donna - for the lovely gift....once again reminding me why would I ever buy a store bought card again.  

Dressing up my favorite Giga.....

Linking up with Completely Coastal

I love decorating with clam shells.  And with that - I've always wanted an authentic, giant giga clam shell to be the centerpiece of my clam shell displays.  I recently stopped at this wonderful coastal decor and seashell shop in Key Largo - that was filled to the brim with gorgeous giga clam shells of all shapes and sizes.  I was mesmerized by the variety but really was quite shocked at the prices.

At first, I thought it was a mistake when I saw that the one I liked best was $1500 dollars.  So I moved on to the next one and after looking at about 15 different ones varying in price on the low end starting at $500 and the high end - $2000 - I realized these clams are crazy expensive.  So I asked the sales person - why are the clams so expensive - the first thing she said was "they never go on sale, either"...with an annoyed tone - because she obviously gets asked this question frequently.  So I asked again.  She said they are rare and very hard to come by - (based on the quantity at the store...it appears they must have the world's largest inventory because there were giant clams all over the place) and that the better the form and shape, the more expensive it will be.

Armed with that information, I clearly had to go in a different direction - but did not want to abandon my vision for a coastal clam centerpiece.  Determined to create my masterpiece - I ordered this resin one from ZGallerie for $59.99:

I was very pleased with the size - 12" by 20" and also the quality. As soon as it arrived, I began the process of collecting my favorite things to fill it.

Sea biscuits, sea cookies and sand dollars.....

Pink and Green Sea Urchins.....

Pink and Green Shells......

Starfish and seashells.....

Lovely white and blue coral....

Anchor pieces of coral & sponges

Moss from Michael's & "The Shell"

I set the anchor pieces first....

Mixed in the smaller coral pieces

Added the assorted shells....

And here is the finished piece.....what do you think?
 I call this my "coastal" flower arrangement.

I didn't dress this up for Fall - but I definitely plan on re-mixing the pieces for the holidays - so stay tuned  for future posts on "Dressing up my favorite Giga".  

I'm linking this up to:

Show and Tell Friday with My Romantic Home

Feathered Nest Fridays with French Country Cottage

Saturday Nite Special with Funky Junk Interiors
Motivate Me Monday with Keeping it Simple
Show Off your Cottage Monday with The House in the Roses

Make it for Monday with Cottage Instincts

Sanibel...A Shell-a-cious time

Linking up to Completely Coastal

Well - I had such a hard time selecting my favorite post of this year - to link up to Completely Coastal's "Everything Coastal" link party.  But I finally decided on this one - from August 2010.  So here goes....

What's the saying...a picture is worth a thousand words?  Well, I think in this case, it's best to let the photographs do most of the talking.  My husband I recently returned from an amazing weekend on Sanibel Island....which is just such a fabulous place, especially for a seashell fanatic like me.  


From the minute we arrived on the island, I was in heaven.  Everywhere I looked, the theme was seashells... from art galleries to restaurants to shops - I was like a kid in a candy store. 


Before we went, I did a little research on the island because I was really curious as to why so many seashells and sealife found their way there.  I have lived on the Florida coast most of my life and haven't seen any seashells...so I was curious as to why they showed up over on the Gulf Coast in such large quantities and not here in my own backyard.  Well now I know.

Sanibel Island is part of a large plateau that extends out into the Gulf of Mexico for miles and this plateau acts like a shelf for seashells to accumulate.  Due to the currents and tides, shells travel from all over the world which is why one of the best times for shelling, is after a major storm. When the tides pick up, the seashells move around and Sanibel's land configuration acts as a scoop to pick up all these lovely shells roaming around out there, and the tides deliver these lovelies right onto the beaches....for all of us to enjoy.  One of the best sites for Sanibel shelling is  I Love Shelling...check it out - its an awesome research for shelling and more...on Sanibel Island. 

 

This where we stayed on W. Gulf Drive.  Awesome location.

Our little beachfront cottage.  Very cute. 

The beach at the Island Inn.  Just gorgeous.

Sea turtle season.  A great blog to learn more

about the sea turtle nests on Sanibel is Sanibel Toots. 

It is a wonderful resource on everything

there is to love about Sanibel. 

One of the highlights of the weekend was booking a shelling excursion with Captain Mike Fuery to Cayo Costa

Island for the most amazing timeThe tour leaves out

of Tween Marina which in on the Captiva side...

but called Tween because Captain Mike

said that the marina was in-between Sanibel and Captiva.

 This is the restaurant that is at Tween Waters Inn. 

We ended up going back there for dinner

on Captain Mike's recommendation.  It was great.

Two of the cottages across the street from Tween Waters Inn. 

I loved this one cottage. It was so pretty.

Here's the marina.

Captain Mike's boat. The excursion is a maxmium of 4 people.

Here's the amazing view leaving the marina heading

towards Cayo Costa. And the rest of the photos are samples

 of the amazing shells I collected.  This beach was so beautiful.

It was deserted and is part of a protected national park. The shells were amazing, many of the larger ones were still alive so of course,

we spent a lot of time throwing them back in, hoping that they

would not washback up again.  My husband found a large shell,

about 10 inches long with what looked like a red large,

hairy tarantula peeking out of it.  It was a creatureous looking crab

and when I told Captain Mike about it,

he said that it could be at least 15 years old! 

We had placed it back in the ocean, hoping that it made it

back out to sea. 

The great part was there were a lot of shells, especially the ones I like

best - old vintagely looking shells.  I like the imperfect ones...that look like they have traveled far and wide.  The bad part was, I left my camera on the boat and it was too difficult to go back and get it!! 

The beach across the street from Tween Waters Inn.  The beauty is indescribable.

And one last lovely little pink beauty............