My Music Monday

As I've been selecting songs to share with you, this one has been playing through my head for weeks. This goes back to my childhood, and is such a sad song, but very appropriate for today.


Thank you to those who fight for us, and to those who have died for us.

New Seashell Earrings

I promised ya some new seashell earrings, and although I didn't get as many done as I planned.... how often DO things go as planned?

These lady in waiting seashell earrings match my lady in waiting seashell pendant.

I think I'll leave it up to the buyer which side they would like as the front side. I think the pearls showing looks really nice. I did give these shells a coat or 3 of gloss finish inside and out.

Since I have limpet everything else in my shop, why not a pair on gold plated posts as well?!

The other post/stud earrings in my shop are surgical steel.
But now for the "new" part!

Clip on earring! I haven't ever liked clip on earrings because years ago they were so uncomfortable and pinched your ears. I tried a pair of these on and they are awesome. No pinching, and so comfy. It's about time someone made a decent style clip on!

and I made a pair of frog shell (maple leaf shell) earrings in the silver clips.

These are the pierced look clip ons and I also have them in gold plated. I sure could have hung them a bit more straight. Retakes! Bummer :( Is it that bad of a pic??? Hmmmm.

These new earrings are all listed, and you can find them in my Etsy shop!

I also made a couple more barrettes.

These are some of the bubble shells Lace and I found at Clearwater last year. I love these little shells.
These shells have NOT been hit with a coat of gloss. They have a natural sheen to them. Not glossy shiny, just a light little shine to them.

Remember that necklace I've been looking for the sterling or gold vermeil bail for? I can't find the size I need...at least not for a decent price. I don't want to spend $20 on just the bail and have it be too small... so I am going to go with the silver plated bail :( I'm not real happy about it because the rest of the components are A+++ quality. I'll have it done real quick now that I've decided to just go with it. It's just waiting for the ends to be finished :D

I just hope I don't kick myself for not looking longer.

I have a bunch of new pearls to play with, and some semiprecious gemstones too!

Yesterday when I mentioned that I needed a few things, some of you emailed me offering to send me those things and this really touched me. I sat at my computer crying reading the emails. I was totally overcome with emotion. I am so fortunate to have made the friends I have through my blog, and through your blogs. I appreciate each of you!

Thank you so much for your generosity!

Love ya's, and I'll "see" you tomorrow!
Del

Exciting Times!

I planned on posting some new earrings, but decided to shift gears and tell you what is up and coming.

#1 My daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids will be here in just a bit less than a week! YEAH!
Kandi and Jake are going on a cruise, and we get the kids!

G'Pa will be bringing an air compressor home from the shop to blow up all of these pool toys!
Let the fun begin! They have also arranged for Brady to practice with our local wrestling team, and to compete in Kissimmee while they are here. He has a meet, or competition, shortly after they return home, and needs to stay focused and on track for his upcoming event! We get to watch him wrestle for the first time!!! His dad was Utah State Champ in high school, and I think we have another state champ in the making ;)
We will be taking the grandkids to the beach for a weekend, and Gwyn has assured me that she is up for some 3am shelling! I would love to have her as my shelling buddy all summer ;)

#2 The reason I have been so steadfastly stocking my shop is.....
last October I was contacted by UCF to come and do a demonstration on making my seashell jewelry at an Agriculture event for people from all over the United States in October of 2012! I will also be able to sell! I still have so much to do to prepare for this event, but I think I am right on schedule. I still need to purchase some earring cards, and price hang tags. That's the easiest part! I am a little nervous...okay I am a little terrified. But I always over think everything, and I'm sure it will go just fine!


#3 I have a big custom order for a wedding next year! I mean BIG! I am so excited for it, and am going to have to do some serious shelling to get what I need for it. I'm on the hunt for more orange scallops in various sizes. I means LOTS of orange scallops!!! Let the beach excursions and shelling begin!


#4 is still a big secret. I can't tell yet as it may not come to fruition, but if it does, you will know! I'll even tell you if it doesn't go through, but have to wait until July or August until I am contacted again. My fingers and toes are crossed!!!

I'll be back tomorrow with some new seashell jewelry!

Beach in a Bottle Birthstone Pendants

I hope you all had a terrific weekend!
I sure did!
I didn't make anything jewelry or shell related, but I somehow still managed to have fun.

The wee hours of Monday morning rolled around, and I had had enough sleep, so it was time to break out my supplies and get busy.

I started with some new pendants for my shop. My supply is very low, I was down to 1. One single lonely little pendant in my shop :(

I decided to make some beach in a bottle seashell birthstone pendants...ready to put on a chain. I used some sand I had collected from Daytona and Ormond Beach a few years ago, and I started with the summer months birthstones.

June birthstone beach in a bottle seashell pendant

July birthstone beach in a bottle seashell pendant

August birthstone beach in a bottle seashell pendant

These are fun little pendants, and I love the different coquina shells.

I have a bunch of lady in waiting venus shells...which are nothing like the sun ray venus. I actually had to use Google to find out what they were.

This is a good size shell for a pendant.

Earrings to match will be coming soon! These will be in my Etsy shop soon!

I have some more earrings in the works, and several things that will be totally new accessories to add to my shop. I'm really excited for these new things, and am just waiting on a few new shells to arrive. You know, the kind I don't find. I hope they are here before the end of the week! I tried using some of my shells, but they just aren't the right shape to work.

The necklace I've been looking for the bail for....still haven't found the right one. I want to finish it so very badly, but until I have just what I want, it isn't happening.

My jingle project is in my beach bag. It's the perfect thing to while away the time while hubby is sleeping. Now, to just get TO the beach to work on it. We will be going the 2nd weekend in June, and we will be taking guests with us.

More about that later!

My Music Monday

Good Monday morning to you!

When I chose my artist for the day, I had a really tough time choosing one song. He's one of those singers that you want to sing along with, as well as just listen to, and he has the most amazing voice. My jr high and high school music teacher would have appreciated the way he enunciates his words. Mr. Anderson couldn't stand it when singers ran their words together and "want you" sounded like wantchu, or "need you" sounded like needju.

I couldn't pick just one song by Leo Sayer. There are three I really love!

When I Need You
You Make me Feel Like Dancing
More Than I Can Say

Now, I'm betting that some of you are Leo Sayer fans as well. I can't be the only one!
Without further ado and chit chat...
here's Leo....






That really takes me back! How about you?
Are you a Leo Sayer fan?

Heart Cockle Necklace Giveaway Winners!

Hello!
Are you as glad it's finally Friday as I am?
I've had to keep myself busy as a bee to get through this week!

There were 10 comments, but one was from the same person :D

So I used 9 of them.

The winner of this necklace

was comment #4....Kim from Snug Harbor Bay! Yay!


 and the winner of this necklace

 was comment #3.....Roxanne from Always Dreaming! Yay!

Congrats ladies! I'll get these out to you ASAP!

I truly wish you could all win! Eventually you just might cause I plan on doing this again, and again!

It was fun!

Have a great weekend everyone!

I "HEART" YOU ALL!

Little Seashells

I had one of those nights when I sleep for 2 hours, and then wake up all bright eyed and bushy tailed at 2am. (I do this often)
I'm only telling you because it goes with what I made during the wee hours.

My brother's room is right next to my crafty space, and not wanting to disturb him with my drill, I searched my shell stash for some nature drilled shells, and naturally hollow type shells to play with. I did find one shell that I had drilled sometime ago, and hadn't used it, and 3 others that fit the bill for what I was looking for.

Anyway! I've been wanting to add to my now meager selection of bracelets, and keep them in a low price range. This is what I came up with!

This periwinkle shell is the one I had drilled some time ago. I can't remember what for.
I love how this turned out.

The gunmetal and pearls make this a very modern style bracelet.

This is the shell sitting on a quarter. What do you think? Cute?

This olive shell was abused at sea, and lost it's tip. It's just hollow enough to get a wire through it.

The pink coral is dahling, daaarlin'. I couldn't resist that one after Kim's comment yesterday!

I totally love the little pink coral beads.

and the shell sitting next to a quarter. So little!

This next one was a real booger to work with.

A teeny tiny moon snail shell, aka sharks eye, aka whales eye.

It was the beads that were difficult to work with. They are soooo tiny!

This shell next to a dime. Seeeeee how TINY the beads are?! I used opaque crystals for color and contrast.

And last but not least! This may be my fave. It's hard for me to choose!

A small sharks eye shell!

Shell beads accent this shell quite nicely.

This shell next to a dime! Ohmygosh I adore this!

These will be in my Etsy shop soon!

Sorry it took me so long to get my post up today, but I had to take a nap this morning. Between picking out my shells, beads, and metals it took me about 4 hours to complete these 4 bracelets. Of course the tiny seed bead bracelet took the longest.

Tomorrow is the big day! If you haven't left a comment here to be entered into the Heart Cockle Necklace giveaway please do so! I'll announce the winner tomorrow!!!!!

Good luck to everyone! I wish I had one for each of you. There will be more giveaways, and I WON'T wait for another 100 followers!

SEE YOU TOMORROW!

Seashells and Coral

I have been on a real limpet kick lately!
They are just so pretty, I can't help but to keep dreaming up things to do with them.

I'm also needing more bracelets in my Etsy shop, and of course, I made a limpet charm bracelet.

This one is simply darling. Not too much, but just right.

Teal, in it's various shades from light to dark, has been a favorite of mine for over 20 years. So of course, I'm lovin' these limpets and freshwater pearls!

You can find more pictures, and the description here in my Etsy shop.

I also added a new set of limpet barrettes. I know you are thinking...How much more can she possibly DO with limpets on barrettes???

Well....

I used a smaller barrette, and added these darling little mother of pearl seahorse dangles on the ends.
I think I'm on a darling kick, too. Everything is just darling!

The metal part of the barrette doesn't really show as much as my pics portray. I'm in macro mode when I shoot my pics, and it highlights and accentuates what can't be seen to the naked eye. Which is good in most cases, but bad when you can't get a good angle. It's hard to prop a barrette on it's side on a flat surface and get the best detail of it. They tend to fall over.

Another new item in my shop, is this coral ring.

This is a piece of coral I found on Honeymoon Island. It was the perfect size for this ring. It has taken me what, almost 3 months to talk myself into using it. Since I did find other equally cool pieces of coral that weekend, I decided not be selfish, and share the pretties.

It comes with two thin bands, to be worn whichever way you desire. This ring set is a size 7.
Visit my Etsy shop for more rings made by nature, and put together by me!

If you missed it, go back and leave a comment here to be entered to win one of two heart cockle necklaces in my giveaway!

My bracelet supply is still quite low, so I'm off to see what I can come up with!

And maybe get some more beaded necklaces started!

I hope you have a fun and busy day, too!

Natural Seashell Flower

Nature has a way of making the most simple of things beautiful.

What was once a full shell has been made into a flower by the sea.

It looks like it has been tossed by all 7 of the seas.

True beauty sometimes goes unseen....

and sometimes all is revealed.

In a beautiful ocean tossed shell.

It's the beauty from within.

Music Monday

Hello!
I hope you all had a terrific weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day!

When I was a kid, one of the weekend highlights, believe it or not, was The Lawrence Welk Show.

I think it came on Sunday evenings.
Typically, big band music is boring to most kids, but my absolute favorite was Baby Elephant Walk. You just can't help but to get a spring in your step while listening to it.

If you've never heard it, you are in for a treat. If you have, then you will enjoy reminiscing with me.



Love that tune! 

And of course, the closing song of every show~



Did you watch Lawrence Welk?

Happy Mother's Day

For all of our Mom's out there in blogland....

Happy Mother's Day!

Heart Cockles for You Giveaway

Hello!

This is it!

Because I "heart" you all so much, my giveaway will have 2 lucky winners!!!

Yep, that's right. I made 2 heart cockle necklaces :D

It's also fitting to have 2 because Diane is a two time follower. In this case, a two timer is a good thing :)
Diane was my 100th follower, and sealed the deal for this giveaway! (clicking Diane's name will take you to her blog, and her shop blog!)

Thanks again, Diane ;)

The criteria for this giveaway is that you

1. Be a blog follower

2. Leave a comment

3. Have a way for me to reply to you if you win!

One of you will WIN

this heart cockle on a copper coated brass chain, very fine link, with a teal freshwater pearl and crystal ab finish drop. This shell is very close to white.

One of you will WIN this heart cockle on a fine brass chain with brass balls about every inch or so. A pretty white freshwater pearl with blue zircon crystal drop dangles just above a brass ball. This shell has some yellowing to it, which seems to make it a perfect fit for the brass.

I will announce the winners on Friday May 18th!

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!!!!

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!