Ladies Mens and Unisex Seashell Jewelry

I had so much fun over the weekend playing around with my shells. The latest hunt inspired me to dig into my stash, and do some creating!

I really love this simple copper sharks eye (moon snail) necklace! The sharks eye is soooooo smoooooth, old, and worn. I have some more of these, larger, and smaller. This is for a lady!
I just don't see a guy wearing something with a crystal dangle, but I could be wrong.

I went for a more rustic look using some broken fighting conchs. A guy could wear these, they are rugged, and manly.

This is a neat chunk of conch shell! It has been tossed and tumbled in the sand by the surf, and is worn down, and smooth.

This hunk of fighting conch is a little lighter in color, so I went with a white leather lace/cord.

Most of this guy is pretty smooth, but he does have a few rough edges. Not rough enough to cut, but not quite as worn down as the previous one. I finished them with a lobster clasp, not being quite long enough to fit over some guys big heads. But we don't want them to hang to the belly button, now do we?

These would be fun to wear to a beach party, luau, costume party, or even a simple and casual beach wedding. I can see my hunky man standing on the beach, wearing a stark white linen shirt that is billowing in the wind, with a chunk of shell suspended from a leather cord. We do plan on renewing our vows on the beach one of these days, and we will be costumed accordingly :D

I went back a few decades, the 70's to be precise, and did a little macrame. This slipper shell necklace can be worn by a man or a woman. They call that unisex.

Kind of hippie, kind of bohemian, and very simple. Earthy, natural, and organic. This macrame seashell necklace also has an old broken, and worn down smooth olive shell ending the necklace. A toggle made with an unfinished wooden bead completes this piece.

Slipper shells, also know as the Atlantic slipper shell, (although I found it on the Gulf side!) are very common shells in these parts. Slippers are found as far north as Nova Scotia, and into the Gulf of Mexico.

These are really cool shells, and resemble a house slipper on the underside. I have found these in colors ranging from white, to a dark thin veiny looking stripe, and in various sizes from quite large, to very tiny.
Some are kind of flat, and some are more curved and humped.

The macrame necklace was inspired by my aunts and uncles who were teens, and young adults in the early 70's. I was just a little girl then, and had so much fun with them.

To read the more elaborate descriptions (some more elaborate than others!), you can see these in my Etsy shop!

I'm already planning another trip to the beach! I really want to stay inspired!

I haven't forgotten about my jingle project, have you?
I do have several things I'm working on, and really hope to get some of them completed SOON. It will mean changing, or adding a new shop section :D
I really wish Etsy would let us have more than 10, cause I could use about 15 sections!

In other news.....
I'm taking it pretty easy right now, and foregoing FOOD, and liquids, only drinking enough to stay hydrated. I'm NOT dieting. I'm having a flare of my pancreas, and to avoid going to the hospital, I'm doing basically what they do to, or for me when I have pancreatitis. It is autoimmune related, and I've dealt with it many times. So many in fact, that I got myself through the last 4 or 5 on my own.

IF I were to get an Etsy order, and couldn't make it to the post office, I do have family members who could go for me. Laci also knows how to deal with an order completely, but I don't plan on being that ill!

I'll be okay in a few days :D

Seashore Treasures

My idea of treasure can be a beautiful and perfect shell, or an old time worn chunk of one. I pick up many bits and pieces because I like the color, the shape, and/or the texture.
When I returned home last weekend from Caladesi Island, I tossed (gently) my shells onto the table in the Florida Room, to be cleaned another day.

There's little bits of everything in there, some coral, a little piece of wood, even some pieces of sponges. I like to put those out by the fish pond.

After soaking and cleaning my sea treasures, I laid them out to dry on a towel, on the hot tub, beneath the sky light.

 Some bits, some pieces, and some whole shells.

This giant Atlantic cockle is going in my bathroom. I have a few of them in there.

But this beautiful Lightening Whelk will be on display for everyone to see.

So pretty! I know hubby was the first to see it laying there between the rocks, and left it there for me to find...although he says he has no idea what I'm talking about. Yeah right, un huh.
He's such a sweetie!

Clif Bar Crunch

A couple of weeks or so ago, Kim from Snug Harbor Bay had a giveaway for Clif Bars. I love granola so I entered. I am so glad I did because I was one of the winners! A big THANK YOU to Kim for hosting the giveaway, and to Clif Bar for sponsoring it!

I received the Peanut Butter Clif Bar Crunch, and they are as good as Kim said they were! I have not ever had a better peanut butter crunchy granola bar....EVER! They use real peanut butter, and you can see it as well as taste it. MMMMMMMM! I've always been a peanut butter fan anyway.

I also found some Clif Bars in the convenience store on our way to the beach last weekend (before I received my stash from Clif Bar) and thought I would try Kim's favorite, White Chocolate Macadamia.
OhMyGosh! They are better than I even imagined! This one is a chewy granola bar, and it is wonderful! I can't possibly put enough exclamation points in this post to let you know how excited I am that Kim turned me on to them! Seriously though, I will be taking Clif Bars along in my pack or beach bag whenever I go shelling. This is a perfect snack and will give me enough fuel to keep on shellin'!

Clif also makes other food products, and they use organic ingredients. This is an amazing company, giving to the community, as well as the planet. Go check out their website, and see what I'm talking about!

I will be recommending Clif Bars to everyone!

Thanks Kim, and Thanks Clif Bar! I have a new favorite granola bar!

A Little Beach Trip

I am so glad to be done with January. Seriously. January has winter written all over it. Even though we had an amazing January temperature wise, it's still all brown around here. All it takes is a freeze or two, and the flowers and grass are done for.

A quick cure for the January doldrums is a trip to the beach!

Looking off the balcony of our room at Clearwater Beach, we had quite a new experience this time. Usually we head down to Belleair Beach. It's very quiet and peaceful down there. Clearwater is different, at least it was where we stayed. We had wonderful tropical music coming from a live band down by the tiki bar.

 About 8pm they switched over to an 80's cover band, and it just got better! They did play until 2am, and people lingered and talked until 4am. A few young stragglers were on the beach till the sun came up. I didn't get any sleep, and that's why you haven't heard from me! I've been resting!

On Sunday we drove over to Honeymoon Island, through Dunedin, and took the ferry (a big pontoon) over to Caladesi Island. You can only get to Caladesi by boat, and it's something I had been wanting to do for years.

I really just needed to get my toes in some beach sand.

I found some shells, but my best two were found around the rocks over at Clearwater while we were picking up cans and bottles that had been left, or washed into them. People were looking at us like we were nuts or something. One lady even put her book down to watch. Silly people.

My bags of shells are sitting in the screenroom waiting for me to recuperate enough to clean them. I've pretty much done nothing but sleep since we got home.....oh, and I slept all the way home, too.

We will definitely have to go over to Caladesi again. Next time we are taking backpacks, and walking to the far end of the island.