Every Gift has a Story

Mermaid Lures


I have been collecting shells along the New Jersey coastline since I was about 5 or 6 years old. In the seventies, it was pretty easy to amass a collection of whole, large scallop and snail shells to commemorate your summer stay at the beach. Several times my mother was lucky enough to find 6-8” whelk or conch shells.

Over the years, these larger pieces slowly disappeared. Now during beach visits, you mostly find fragments of shells. It is difficult to find larger, intact shells…except maybe a clam shell recently cleaned by a seagull. Many beachgoers don’t even look down anymore.

I still collect, regardless, because I think even the small pieces are worth looking at and treasuring for their beautiful color and shape. What if, someday, we do not even have these?

Each trip is an endless search through thousands of shell fragments, sea glass and beach stones, sadly weeding out all of the pieces too fragile to use. At the end of my trip, I am usually left with a few dozen shells that carry enough color and texture to become the focal point of one of my designs. I do not drill the shells or stones. I prefer to find pieces that already have the holes pounded into them by the surf and sea creatures.

I am always grateful when customers enjoy these little bit of the sea as much as I do.

Swimming Against the Currents

It's the middle of fall already?!

Things have been quite hectic here, and as usual I ended my summer with deciding, once again, that this fall would NOT be a good time for me to go back to school. I am more tired and my time is stretched thinner than I was last year when I made the same decision...and the year before that as well. After 5 years (because I was supposed to start when my youngest went to first grade)...I am noticing a definite pattern. I went ahead and enrolled in MICA's continuing studies program because evidently next year will be worse than this year!

So it's been quite busy, and very frustrating juggling all of it (did I mention that I ripped my kitchen out?) BUT I am really excited about where my work will be going in the next year..and here's a sneak peek...

THEY MIGHT BE GIANT

If you have an electric range...I really, really feel sorry for you. S'mores are a year round treat here at our house thanks to that pretty blue flame coming out of the cooktop. While I certainly believe charcoal cooks everything much better than gas, it just doesn't apply to s'mores.

So we were at the grocer's when I spied four lonely bags of marshmallows on the shelf. Giant bags. With GIANT marshmallows inside. And half of them were strawberry flavored. Did I say they were giant?? About a four-to-one ratio to what you normally find in our cabinet.

So humongous that you literally have to eat them right over the sink. And then get a bath. Because you will be covered in sticky mess from fingers to hair and everywhere in between.... but THEY ARE TOTALLY AWESOME!

Graffiti Alley

If you meander around the Station North district in Baltimore, you just might find this almost magical hiding spot!

It's an L-shaped alley near the intersection of North and Howard full of vibrant artwork done by a number of locals with the property owner's permission. It was hard to capture to totality of it...you really have to roam around it yourself. Even the the ground underfoot and the dumpster are tagged, and its gated entrance is an incredible piece of ironwork itself!




(Please note - if you're not Baltimore street-wise, you want to bring a couple friends...it's not a tourist area.)

HOUSEWORK

Boycotting the final week of school was a fabulous idea, I must say! Without spending 4 hours a day chauffeuring, I found a lot of time to do some much needed things around the house in between making lovely flowers for once.

After what looks like 40 years of being painted shut, we carefully opened one of the side windows in the boys room. It's so very old school European! It opens out like a door on hinges, and lets me do my favorite thing ever which is hang my head out and daydream...especially lovely in the Baltimore rain.

Chelsea Market trip

Each trek into the city traditionally ends with picking up goodies from the Chelsea Market . This time around, the sugar cookies from Eleni's proved way too difficult to pass up. Naturally, as I am preoccupied with the dazzling pink sprinkles, the boys are finding more constructive things to do. The wishing well at the market's center is usually where I can find them...

Ants on my Spoon!

I bought this sweet little spoon from bailey doesn't bark because ants love love to visit my kitchen in the warmer half of the year. I am sure it's for the tea and cookies. I came into the kitchen to get my teacup for a break from the studio yesterday morning and was surprised to find that the ants on my spoon grew from two to three!

SNOWED IN!

When the whole world is snowed in - the best place to be is in the city!

We take amazing walks down the middle of streets normally stuffed with automobiles. My favorite method is leaving in daylight and coming back in darkness. And I am very partial to my Mount Vernon, with its snow and ice covered statues...people sledding down the steps in the square...and wonderful snowmen lining the park benches. All of the colors and lights are so vivid against the velvet blue sky.

Magic Lantern

Strolling around NYC at nighttime is magical! The crowds and the noise vanish when the sky turns velvet and you spot so many things you might pass without notice in daylight hours.

I just loved this quaint little shop, with its Marrakesh arch, the warm interior bricks and endless sparkling lanterns hanging from its ceiling.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What a way to start 2010...

Thanks to Etsy for featuring one of my favorite rings on the first Front Page of the new year, and thanks to all of my customers for making 2009 a dream come true.