Beachcombing Inspired Seashell Jewelry

Posted by pam on Aug 1, 2016 in Beach Art, Blind Pass Sanibel, Driftwood, Jewelry, Shell Art | 11 comments

I surround myself with seashells. I have shells and beach bling in every room of my house, my yard, my car, my pockets and even my dreams. So now I wear one around my neck as well. For my birthday this year, Clark bought me the sweetest little ALPHABET CONE necklace from our talented friend Wendy Miller.

It truly feels like a simple walk on the beach with the juvie cone shell, a small piece of driftwood wrapped with my fave color turquoise (amazonite) and a leather cord.

Since I’ve had sooooo many compliments and questions about my necklace, I thought I’d introduce you to the artist… Meet local jewelry artist Wendy Miller!

Clark and I had such a great time shelling with her last week at Blind Pass because she gets excited about finding the same types of shells we like. For most shellers, finding a FLAT SCALLOP is an amazing find but she also loves to find the cutie little KITTENS PAWS, colorful CARDITAS (she uses as clasps), orange SCALLOPS  and she is especially crazy about finding the perfect piece of driftwood.

Each piece she makes reflects her love for beach combing. Like you and me, she not only receives shells as gifts from the sea, she told me she receives inspiration from the sea every time she walks the beach. Isn’t that why we all love shelling so much?

Like each beach day and every shell, each piece of jewelry has such a unique look and organic feel. Love that!

If you want to check out some of her other beautiful beach art pieces, her website is called Heart Of A Dolphin you can see by CLICKING HERE

This is why I surround myself with what I love.

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Fintastic Beach Bling On Cayo Costa

Posted by pam on May 28, 2015 in Captiva, Captiva Cruises, Cayo Costa, Day Trips From Sanibel Island Florida & More, Dolphin, Driftwood, Jingle, Sea Bean, Sea Pearl, Sharks- Sanibel | 21 comments

The Gulf Of Mexico was clear, warm and bright turquoise at Cayo Costa this week for our iLoveShelling shelling adventure with Captiva Cruises. Just ask snorkelers Sue Ellen, Emma, Grace and Jeff from Louisiana.

Hayla, Hope, Linda and Todd from Tennessee were like little fish as they snorkeled the whole time- fun!

But even before we got to the island, California girls Teri and Allana and the whole boat witnessed…

A DOLPHIN show on the way to Cayo Costa…

Up on the beach, Kurt and Beverly from Minnesota were amazed by the JINGLE SHELLS. Kurt said “This should be called Jingle Beach!”.

Beverly showed me her hand filled with JINGLES along with a fave little SEA URCHIN and colorful COCKLE.

So pretty … and it really is “JINGLE BEACH”. They are everywhere! I picked these up in prob less than a minute.

Mother Nature was really playing a hide and seek game with us since the shells were hidden more than usual. We really had to look high and low to find them but Dick and Yvonne from Indiana did a great job finding the larger ones.

Dick said he looked high and low around the tree roots in the water and found this spectacsheller WHELK then walked along the waters edge to find the rest of these beauties.

It was so nice to meet so many awesome shellers like Cutie Shellooties Diane and Joyce from Sarasota. Joyce found a beautiful WHELK (I showed in the first photo) about the same size as Dick’s WHELK – those LIGHTNING WHELKS must have been twins!

Most of the shells (like COCKLES and SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS) Lindy from South Carolina found were at the waters edge as well.

The “Tweezer family” Deb, Judith, Brennan and Ericca came on our cruise too!

Hmmmm…. those tweezers must turn into a magical wand – a Shell Scepter- because Judith was the only who found a BABYS EAR up high on the beach… oh wait… she found 3!

Carla from Pompano, Florida was as tickled as sea punch to find this piece of DRIFTWOOD to hang her orchids in. I couldn’t even get the whole thing in the photo but it looked exactly like a SWORDFISH with a long sharp snout and knot for an eye. Awesome BEACH BLING.

And talk about awesome BEACH BLING… Terry, Sue, Rich and Micki found the coolest treasures…

They were searching in the high tide wrack line and found SEA PEARLS, SEA URCHINS and the funniest sea toys-  2 SHARKS and a Bunny! I told them the story of the LEGO Beach Bling (CLICK HERE) but of course we should always pick up any of these toys even if we don’t keep for our “Kicks and Giggles Jar”.

This is Fintastic Beach Bling!

PS-  Be safe everybunny.

 

Join me on an iLoveShelling Shelling Adventure. For dates and info CLICK HERE

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Brit Discovers Concord Jet on Sanibel

Posted by pam on Jun 20, 2010 in Driftwood, East Gulf Drive | 5 comments

Is it a dolphin? Is it a Whale? No! It’s the Concord! Of Course Robin visiting from Manchester, England would find a DRIFTWOOD replica of a British Airway’s Concord jet. Doesn’t it look just like it?  LOL  It’s like looking up at the clouds and naming the shapes they form. “There’s a dog! …or… “There’s Mickey Mouse!”. I’ve found a lot of driftwood on our beaches in the shapes of fish, boats or snakes but never have I found “The Concord!”. I need to open my mind a little more I guess, right? :) He found a few shells too around East Gulf Drive on Sanibel but really likes to collect driftwood…… and his driftwood jet was killer.

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“Wash” Bucket

Posted by pam on Mar 12, 2010 in Driftwood, Lighthouse, Sanibel, Sargassum, Skate Egg Case, Urchin | 6 comments

I saw Judy that lives on the east tip of Sanibel by the Lighthouse and she had this bucket filled with a little of everything she had found from the wash line. It was loaded with SPONGES, DRIFTWOOD, URCHINS and EGG CASINGS.  I asked her what she would do with it and said she was going to add this to her garden. It made me wonder….. sculpture?… fertilizer? ….mulch? I need to stop by her house to see what she’s growing in that garden.

I couldn’t believe how close this dolphin was to the shoreline. He was either playing, enjoying a snack or just giving us a show with 3 of his buddies this afternoon.

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The Shells are Bubbling Up

Posted by pam on Feb 8, 2010 in Augers, Driftwood, Horse Conch, Jingle, Pear Whelk, Sanibel, West Gulf Drive | 4 comments

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Purple Sea Fan

Posted by pam on Feb 6, 2010 in Driftwood, Pen Shell, Sanibel, Sea Whip, West Gulf Drive | 2 comments

The north winds are blowing pretty good today so we thought upper West Gulf Drive would be a good spot to get some good shells. Not so good. There was nice DRIFTWOOD and PEN SHELLS but the only thing that I picked up to bring home was this gorgeous purple SEA WHIP. I can always find something good on the beach, even if it’s not a shell.

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