Heart Seashell Bracelet

YES! I have been working....or playing!

With Valentine's Day coming up, I am in the mood to play with hearts....and RED.

Red 'beach glass' which is faux sea glass, really sets this little heart off in perfect Valentine's colors!

It is really a darling lil bracelet, even if my pics suck....and believe me THEY DO! I'm a little "out of practice" in the photo taking and editing part of my life. That's what happens when you don't do it enough!

When mom and I were at the bead shop, they had a trunk show going on, and I bought a few strands in different colors of this faux sea glass. They were labeled Sea Glass, but WE know they aren't the real thing... don't we?!

I'm not usually a RED person, but I do love this very dark red! It's so pretty, and Valentiny! hehe Valentiny!

This bracelet is wire wrapped together with jump rings connecting the heart shell, to keep it from twisting and breaking the shell. The toggle is also j' ringed to the bracelet for better movement. Normally I would have just wire wrapped them directly into the design....but this is a delicate lil shell, and we want this to last a loooooooong time. Although I did drill some perfect holes in this pretty baby! Just look at them!

Baby faux pearls and silver daisy spacers highlight the red matte glass beautifully :D

I had 4 pieces of this red beach glass left over, and with 2 of them I made earrings....and will probably make another pair. Well....maybe I could do a guy bracelet with them???? Hmmm.

Sand Dollars are so very delicate and fragile, but with care really do make a nice pair of earrings!
Seashell Hearts Cockles and Sand Dollars aren't something you would want to play sports in :)
I'm thinking more of dining and dancing, and normal daily wear. No rough housing allowed!

I'll be doing retakes of these today....even though I would rather PLAY!

Have you started thinking of your Valentine?

Let's Hit the Beach!

I never knew my mother in law was a beach bum. We've never been near the water together until this year. How crazy is that? Very I say! (that I didn't know)

I knew that they always went to Long Beach when they lived in Washington. Dad fished, and dug for razor clams. They had a boat back in the old days. I just didn't know that my very proper mom in law enjoyed the beach. And boating. And shelling! WooHoo!

Right before they came to Florida, they had been in Mexico, and mom had her feet in the Pacific ocean. Her goal was all 3 bodies of salt water this year....and I helped her accomplish that goal :)

I took them over to Daytona, cause you HAVE to go to the world's most famous beach while in Florida. It's only 69 miles from my house! Mom was disappointed that this wasn't the beach where I found my shells, but we did find a few, and I found some pieces of angel wings and a tulip. I have never found anything like that at Daytona before. So, this is when I learned of mom's desire to get her feet in the Atlantic....and the Gulf. So I promised her a trip to the Gulf again before they left. So she could find some shells. She wanted to find her OWN shells. We know just how she feels, huh?

Dad's a pretty beachy fella, too!

I missed getting pics of mom walking in the water  :(

It was overcast that day, and the tide was coming IN, so after a couple of hours, we loaded up and headed for home. It sure was fun to hear about their trips to Long Beach, and dad deep see fishing off the coast of Washington.

On their last day here, before we took them to the airport, we headed down just past Belleair, to Indian Rocks Beach.

I brought my sand toys, and shelling tools :)

Mom found the most perfect BIG Scotch Bonnet!

FROM HER CHAIR!!!! I wish I had thought to take a pic of it.

See mom's cool shoes? They are called Skeletoes by Fila. She loved mine and tried them on, so we went and bought her a pair....and she wore them everywhere everyday! They are really comfortable.

Simple (and old) gardening tools make great shelling implements!

I found a few pieces of Junonia! They aren't all brown and white, but some are more of a rusty orange dotted white/cream.

It sure was a beautiful day on the Gulf Coast!

And I have some new photos to make frames for!

I love this pic of mom and dad....

It looks like they are tee hee'ing over a shared secret :D
I can tell mom is grinning!

I think they had a pretty good vacation...

Winter on the Silver River

The last time mom and dad were here, way back in '04, I took them to Silver Springs Park to go on the glass bottom boats. This time we took them up the Silver River on our pontoon. I love the river in the spring and summer, and it's really beautiful in the fall, too. During the winter it's kinda drab with most of the trees being without leaves. But you can really see the wildlife!

It was a long way up the river before we saw the 1st gator, but after that, they were everywhere.

This is a big momma gator. Her babies are on the log behind her.

There was a momma and 8 babies here! I couldn't fit them all in and still be close enough to see them.

Gator babies are babies you DON'T want to play with hahaha!
I didn't take pics of every gator we saw, but dad did!

Dad took lots of pictures!

Mom took lots of pics and posted them to FaceBook :)

There were so many birds out, too. I didn't take pics of many of the birds, because I have so many already.

I also have tons of pics of turtles on logs, but one or two more is ok, right?

I never tire of taking pics of the monkeys!

They are so fun to watch! And the babies are adorable!

I love being able to see the bottom of the river through the clear, clean water :)

So pretty! This is in about 17 feet of water!

It's still as mesmerizing now as it was when I was a little kid.

Ha! MORE monkeys!

There's a little one in the palmetto.

Oh, I love the monkeys!

and Cypress knees!

They just look so very cool! Cypress trees use these "knees" to breathe.

I thought this tree made an interesting picture, too.

I love the Silver River! And I love sharing it with my loved one's and visitors!
Would you like to take a trip up the river?