Happy FAT Tuesday!!!

WOW....the weekend flew by and the parades were a blast. There are more parades today since it's FAT Tuesday but with the weather being overcast and the temp only at 39 (but feels like 34) we are just being couch potatoes today.

Yea....the mister even had the day off and I think he is enjoying just sitting and watching TV (even if it is through closed eyelids at times...hehe) and playing his solitaire game on his phone. The Chazman is still in that horizontal pause mode so that makes the house fairly quiet, which I'm taking full advantage of and working on some jewelry pieces. The first ones I did......earrings!!

 Cockle shells with aquamarine stone beads

 Cockle shells with bronze shell charms

 Moon Shells

 Dyed pearl, polished Jade stones, arc ribbed shells

Same pair as above but with shells turned around. Like having two different pairs in one. 

Once I start working on jewelry pieces I have a VERY hard time stopping. I blame it on my slave driver muse but to be honest....I just love making things. Therapy peoples....therapy!!!  After I finished with the earrings I made some more medallion shell necklaces.

 Three pretty scallop shells all in a row, coquina shell (butterfly), seed & bugle beads, rose quartz beads on a burgundy rope (20 inch) with stainless steel twist closure

 Three pretty scallop shells all in a row, coquina shell (butterfly) seed & bugle beads, glass beads and faerie glitter beads on a small twine brown rope (22 inch) with stainless steel closure.

 Pretty scallop with broken moon shell and two kitten paw shells on a black hemp rope (20 inch) with toggle closure.

 Pretty inverted scallop shell with natural coral and moon shell inside along with one of my wire bone fish on a natural twine rope (24 inch) with toggle closure.

Petrified mermaid tail (broken conch shell really) with two Swarovski crystals on a seed & bugle bead necklace (26 inch) with toggle closure.

As of this posting, these pieces are still available. It seems that I have some awesome friends that have been swooshing by and buying these before I can even get them in my Etsy shop or at Beach Reflections. That's a good thing though. ^_^  If you are interested in any of these please let me know by leaving a comment and your email address so that I can reply back. 

Now........I think since it's starting to sprinkle a bit and the house is so quiet that I'm going to put on a pot of tea and read for a bit. I might even sneak in a horizontal pause. 

Until next time..............HUGS,

Regi

Stars fell on Alabama!!!

No really....they did!! I kid ya not. Tons of stars have fallen on our Alabama coast and it caused me to have so many different emotions at once that I (looking around) sat down and cried.

As you have guessed by now and with the help of this image, I wasn't talking about those HUGE stars up in the heavens. No, I was talking about these precious li'l creatures.......sea stars.

I have been researching since last night trying to discover just what type of sea stars these are. I knew they were in the starfish family and did you know that starfish are NOT fish at all?  They are related to the sand dollar and sea urchin. I kid ya not!! (and my feeble mind is thinking that sometime in a past post I might have even told ya that already..hehe) They can move quite quick too by using the tiny little tube feet on their underside. These same little feet are what helps them hold onto their prey. Oh yes...they are hunters!! They even have eyes (that we can't really see though and they can't see well out of) on the ends of each arm. This particular star that is washing up here is in the banded family. Thier little legs don't curl up until they are dead. That is what caused one of the many emotions that ran through me when we found these. First I was sooo excited that Mother Nature had given us such an amazing treasure. Then right after that emotion, sadness hit me like a ton of bricks. These ancient creatures that have been around for what scientist believe is over half a billion years are dying and washing ashore in the hundreds. It's happening everywhere....not just here on our Alabama coast. They are, of course, doing research and several different theories are being bounced around
but the main cause is not known as of yet. I did sit and cry as I felt so sad for all these creatures but I was happy too that I was given a gift from the sea that I intend to preserve and they can continue to be remembered. Yea.....ya'll already know I'm a bit quirky...and now I really just proved it but HEY...it's just ME!!!

Now, in case YOU might have been walking on the beach and picked up a few I'm sure you discovered that they might not be fish but PEEEUUUUU they sure smell like dead fish. I did some research on taking care of that little problem plus asking a friend how she took care of it with hers. So here's two ways you can do it:

Friends way (which is popular on any search...so we know it works) Take sea star and place in 3 parts water to one part bleach for about 60 seconds. Take out of solution and place on top of equal parts salt and baking soda covering the bottom of a box. Place the legs in the position you want them to dry and then gently weigh them down with something. (Gently, because you don't want something so heavy it breaks the legs off) Sit in the sun to dry for at least 48 hours.

Here's my way after friends suggestion and doing some research. I love keeping the colors in anything that Mother Nature has designed so I didn't want to lose the brown bands in mine. So.....I found that instead of placing them in the bleach/water solution that I could soak them in a 70% alcohol bath for 48 hours which will kill the smell, remove any bateria (same as the bleach solution) and keep their natural color intact. After the bath solution it stated that I could take them out and place on newspaper, place legs in position, gently place something on top and let sit in the sun until dried out. After they are dried then I will seal them. Fingers crossed this works. My muse is singing up a storm in wanting to use these with some mermaid and sea horse sculpts.

Yesterday brought some shell treasures too. I love my shells but ya'll know that already too. ^_^

These are just a few of them. 

Some moon shells in all sizes. Some whelks and some slipper shells. 

Different colors of kitten paws. 

These broken ones are going to become mermaid tails of some ooaks I'm planning. 

Some barnacles and two types of coral. 

Pretty scallop shells...even a tiny one.

Now I need to plan some designs for some more jewelry pieces with these new treasures and patiently wait to be able to finish working with my sea stars.

Until next time...........Hugs,

Regi

Faerie muse inspired jewelry

I'm so blessed to have several muses that sing to me (blessed unless they all want to sing at the same time that is..hehe) My faerie muse came to visit with me and brought such inspiration along with her. I told ya'll yesterday in my post that I had found some gemstone beads while hunting for something else completely and it seems fae wanted to use them for her inspired designs. I'm very happy that she did!!!

I love these beads and taking a picture of them NEVER does them justice. (of course, it could be the camera and the photographer..just a wee bit) The dark ones are in the green hued family and are called green cube shell beads. They look like they have a rainbow inside when the light reflects off of them...so pretty. The pink ones are pink coral and the two green ones are dyed water pearls with a hand blown glass bead used as the focal bead. The other side of the focal bead has some coral color in it and it will turn around..when it wants to. ^_^   I made this using memory wire so it will fit any wrist.

I do believe this one is my most favorite bracelet I have ever made. I used jasper beads (the green flecked beads), bone beads (the tiny off white beads), goldstone (which is a manmade stone and is the brown with golden flecks) and the focal bead on this one is a river stone. Yes...it came from a river!!  A true earth faerie designed this one...can't ya tell? It is also made on memory wire and wraps several times around your wrist...like you have several different bangles on.

This was made on two strands of memory wire. The silver piece is one whole piece and very unique. I do believe my faerie found this one and decided to sneak it home. I don't really know where it came from but I like it. Don't you?? I used jasper beads, black acrylic beads and did the closure using green hemp rope and a twisted square knot. Would look very elegant with a dress or equally as good with a pair of jeans and a tshirt. (or shorts and a tshirt...it's getting fairly warm here)

These can be found in my Etsy shop and I hope you will come and shop sometimes when you are looking for that unique gift. (or just something special for yourself)

Until next time..........Hugs,
Regi