
I hope to have it completely done and online by the end of March.

I hope to have it completely done and online by the end of March.

I just love making butterflies out of coquina shells! I used 20 gauge wire to make the antennae. The cockle shell backing of the pendant is the same square shape that I found on the beach, but I did drill two holes in it to attach it to the chain.
but I really prefer all the things I can find the in the Rock Shop - like these polished amethyst pieces, crystal points,
the large stone hearts,
small jars of stone chips,
stone starfish,
and pieces of argonite.
I can't wait to begin playing with these!
I'm glad that decision was taken away from me or else I might have wavered until it was no longer available. Now I just need to figure out how I want it framed and put it up on my wall!
This fits in my house perfectly! The bottom is a basketweave design and shells/sea life decorate the sides.
When I turned it over, I even found it has the artist's name: Karin Villaroman. Now, hopefully the artist isn't too offended that I paid only $1 for this bowl, but it is definitely going to the home of someone who will love it, cherish it, and use it regularly for the beautiful piece that it is. 
I had lots of fun and met tons of great people. This art market occurs every other week during season, so if you're in that area, I recommend stopping by. I went shopping on the New Year's Eve market and picked up some great pottery and notecards for myself. You won't know what treasures you will find! If you can't make it for a Saturday Art Market, there are a couple of stores (art gallery, gifts, and orchids) with a Key West vibe and the Fishery Restaurant that are worth visiting.
There were you're ever present cockles, coquinas, and scallops, but I also picked up some good ones including the apple murex, fig, immature fighting conch, and olive. And someone knew I'd be making some Valentine's Day themed items, so made sure I found a heart shaped beach stone and heart shapped coral.
This coming year, I have so many goals I need to pare down my list to a manageable list, but that will be something I'll have figured out before the end of the week!
I feel like I've barely begun to create my Christmas jewelry. I've incorporated some red and green glass pearls this year,
ordered new preciosa glass beads,
but even silver foil glass can't make a spider look attractive. When I tried to make a pair of earrings,
I decided those would be the last spiders I ever make :) I even found some cute skull beads
to make a few pais of earrings, but my absolute favorite
I did find tons of shutter doors... bought way more than I really needed, but that's something my husband would say is normal. I have this neat spinning thing (a friend and I rescued it from a trash heap) that I thought if I could find a way to attach these doors, I'd have a wonderful new spinning earring display for craft shows.
To the right side of me was the Island Breeze Soap company. They had a plumeria bar I just had to buy. I thought the grass skirts were a wonderful idea for the booth - made it looked like we were purposely put right near each other.
And then there was my booth. I got a new banner that is the beach scene that I feel is more fitting to my style. (And I still steal the DVD shelf out of my living room before every show... one of these days, I'll have to get something new.)
By the end of the day, I had the entire silver plated findings drawer emptied on the floor. In a flurry, I ran out to Walmart and bought a few more organizing cases that fit in the drawers and have it so organized. It is exciting to me to open the drawer and be able to see what I'm looking for... and also have all of my headpins in one place, all earwires in one area, etc, etc.
But over the last year, I have been way too busy to do any sort of scrapbooking or card making.
I was inspired when I found PaperQuick on etsy. Her various die cuts got paper back in the front of my mind - especially after my envelope of pretty paper things arrived :)
In the last two weeks, I've made a few cards and many sets of gift tagss. I'd forgotten how much fun this is!It was like eating banana nut bread for breakfast! That's exactly what they tasted like. I actually doubled the recipe so that I could have leftovers for the following morning (cooked them all up at once), but I ended up with five 5-inch pancakes total.
I almost balked when I saw the recipe calling for only 2 teaspoons of Maple Syrup. Surprisingly, the pancakes are so dense, they do not soak up the syrup at all, and 2 teaspoons is really enough.
The entire garden is going pretty well - I've got corn, green beans, butternut squash, cantaloupe, bell peppers, watermelon, okra, tomatoes... I think that's all. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it looks good in person.