Some vintage glass floats...with a little bit of this...and a little bit of that

I have glass cloches throughout my house.  And my favorite one is a tall, glass dome with a distressed turquoise base that I purchased - where else - on Etsy.   I change up the look each season - this was my Fall Cloche that I really loved...

And now it's time to create the sea inspired christmas cloche....

Selected my favorite coral, seashells, potpourri pieces....

Love the look and texture of the shell piece at the top of the photo.

Then I took the remainder of my vintage ornaments and little pine cones....

Gathered my small minty green and aqua vintage glass floats that I just purchased on Etsy....

And added in some moss balls, bulbs, little pieces of coral, white rock, sea glass, moss pieces and little seas shells, glittered starfish and seacookies....(basically all my leftovers)

I'm so pleased with how this came out.  

Hope your having fun with your 

holiday decorating. 

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

Tickled Pink

I never outgrew my little girl love of pink.  I remember when I was a child, I used to visit my Aunt Mary's home - and she had this most amazing shiny, spotless, flawless kitchen where there was not a speck of dust in it... it didn't even look like anyone ever cooked in it - let alone ate anything.  It was that neat.  And, best of all, her appliances were all perfect pink.  Refrigerator, stove and yes, even dishwasher which was a huge luxury in that era. I was mesmerized by that room and remember thinking this is what a princess' kitchen must look like. It looked alot like this...but shinier and her floor was gleaming white. No black or dark colors for Aunt Mary.

So fast forward forty years later and I still love this color. Especially pink flowers....such as roses and peonies.  I can't get enough. I even love pink deserts.  Cupcakes, strawberry ice cream, pink cake - if its pink...chances are I am going to like it. I prefer pale and soft pink the most.. but even like mauve and hot pink too.

My husband has been great over the years, looking other way while I've decorated here and there with pink. As long as it wasn't flowery - he was okay with it.  So I thought I'd share a collection of pink rooms from Country Living, House Beautiful and Better Homes & Gardens ..... as well as a few photos of my living room where I have snuck some pink in, here and there.

Love two of my favorite colors together - pink & blue

A few modern versions of my Aunt Mary's lovely pink kitchen...

What a cute little fridge....

Chocolate & pink - a yummy combination 

This bedroom is my favorite of all....WOW!!

Here are the little touches of pink... 

that I have spread through my living room area...

So pink plaid is not that feminine...well maybe a little bit with the pillows

pink dish on a pink book......

Pink Milk glass dish, with pink sea urchins on a pink coffee table...hmmm that's lots of pink!

Pink and white dogwood with a coral pink table...

Pink Coral

Love these sea urchins mixed in with little sea cookies....