Hearts: Gifts from the Sea

Happy Valentines Day!

My gift of hearts for you.

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Driftwood...

Sea Glass...

Stones...

Love and beauty are found everywhere!

Have a wonderful day!

Fabric and Lace Collage: Memory is a Child Walking Along a Seashore

Hello to all.

Recently I told you about an Etsy shop that sells some gorgeous images, and you can see that post here.  I finally used one of the images that I had purchased in a piece of artwork and was hoping that you would like to see some photos of it.

The beautiful image of the children playing on

the beach was my inspiration...

The photo had been tinted with just the smallest 

hint of pale blue,

so I used some blue silk dupioni to frame

part of it... 

...along with some lovely vintage lace and

a shell fossil purchased in Florida...

...some buttons and rick rack

on the old doily at the bottom,

since the rick rack reminded me of waves...

...and of course, a beautiful quote,

accented with a vintage lace applique

to which an old rhinestone button has been added...

This piece hangs from a length of jute

that makes me think of fishnets.

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This piece is now listed in my Etsy shop.

Wishing you a peaceful and creative day!

"Live each Season" Fabric Collage

Hello! I hope that you're having a great weekend.

Today my hubby had an all-day class about something fun for him, so I decided that I would do a few chores this morning, and then spend a little time having some fun myself. Up to the studio I headed!

My studio also acts as a guest room if we

have a lot of company.

At the foot of this bed...

...is an old steamer trunk,

on which there sits these two boxes...

One box stores zip lock baggies that contain vintage photos

grouped in themes so that I can grab them quickly when I

have a particular project in mind...

...and the other box stores vintage lace, which I need to remove

from these little baggies that they came in and make them

easier to work with...

I have been longing to create some beach-themed art,

so this is one that I worked on today.

I love these ladies looking out to the sea with

their backs to the camera.

I wonder where they actually were

when this photo was taken, likely back

in the twenties ...

A shell found on the beach when we were at the shore

a few weeks ago,

along with lots of old lace, some bling, and

a piece of old brown velvet ribbon...

...and with a small piece of driftwood

purchased in a shop on our trip...

This time I opted for machine sewing and only the rhinestone button was sewn on by hand. The driftwood and shell were glued. An easy way to go!

Have a great evening.

A visit to The Outer Banks of North Carolina...

The Outer Banks (also known as OBX) is a 200-mile (320-km) long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina and a small portion of Virginia, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States. They cover most of the North Carolina coastline, separating the Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, and Pamilco Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. (credit: Wikipedia).

It is here that we were able to spend five days this past week. We camped at a KOA campground in Rodanthe (where the movie with Diane Lane and Richard Gere, "Nights in Rodanthe", took place), and our campsite was separated from the beach by only the dunes. Below is a picture of me standing in front of those dunes. Note, we did not come down that path behind me, as you are not allowed to do that since it breaks them down and reduces their ability to offer protection from bad storms and hurricanes. I am 5'4", so you can see how high they are.

Of course, I could not resist the opportunity to hunt some stuff on the beach to use in future art projects, so pictured below are a few of my finds.

Some whole and broken shells and an old branch.

I thought the broken shells would be nice to use

in some wire-wrapped jewelry some day...

During our stay, we ferried over to Ocracoke (at the southern end of The Outer Banks), visited Roanoke Island, where we went to the historical area of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, toured the Elizabethan Gardens, and ate lunch in the sweet little town of Manteo. We also spent some time on the northern end of The Outer Banks (my favorite spot, but that will be shared on a future post!).

Below are some finds from shops in those areas.

A beautiful white starfish and the most beautiful shell

I have ever seen, purchased in Ocracoke...

A close-up of the shell...

The outside of the same shell...

A sweet, jute-bound fabric book with craft paper

inside, also purchased in Ocracoke.

 I will further embellish this and use it

 to house some of the pictures we took...

Driftwood from a shop in Manteo...

And from the same shop, a rusty cast iron mermaid,

and pieces of netting in the most lovely browns

and taupes...

...and some other rusty pieces that I couldn't resist.

What a great place to visit!!!