Men Are NOT Forgotten at A2Sea Creations

Earth and Sea - Rustic Glass and Antique Copper Pendant 

I am happy to say that our Etsy Shop has several gifts that are very suitable for the men.  We haven't forgotten you fellas!   Above is my newest creation which may be worn by both women and men alike.  This pendant is quite unique... I hand-picked moss and lichen from several trees in the forest (in pouring rain, I might add) and dried them in the oven.  It was not a pleasant odor.  (An understatement!)  In fact, I thought the fumes might be poisoning my hubby and I.  Still don't know if they did but we're still alive, so that's promising.  Anyhow, I am pleased to say that after a couple of days, the smell went away.  I had to air out my oven for quite awhile though so I'm thinking that if I do this again, I will need to think of some other method.

The upside of it all is that I got this idea to use some of the lichen and moss I had collected and preserve it under glass in a handsome new pendant.  I am loving how it turned out.  It actually looks kind of like a little scene from under the sea!  I also discovered that the moss worked beautifully on some magnets I made the other day for the Parksville Tourist Centre.  

 

  Seaview Decor Mirror 

So we have some other creations that are just great for men as well...  we have a very rustic, seaside mirror(see above)  and our Nautical Treasure Box which is great for cigars, pens or pencils, reading glasses, coins... you name it. (see below). 

 

Nautical Treasure Box

We also have our 'Message In A Bottle' (see below left ) and our Floating Candle Beach Lantern.  (see below right).  So there you go gals... gift ideas for your fellas (or yourselves, for that matter!)  Now let's hope our weather improves enough to actually go to the beach!  We are so looking forward to that once again!

          Message In A Bottle                                   Floating Candle Beach Lantern 

Written and published by Micki Findlay - Co-Creator/Owner of A2Sea Creations on Etsy and Creator/Owner of A2Sea Photography

The Secret Inside Our Bottled Treasure

BOTTLED TREASURE

On summer holidays in the Okanagan as a young girl, I remember, with great fondness, those times when my mom and my grandma would take me to the local thrift shops. Back then a dollar went a long way. My mom would always give me my own money to shop with and she would say, "When that money runs out, that's it, so spend it wisely." Somehow that made it more fun because I would have to plan out what I would buy and I also appreciated what I did get, that much more. My favorite thrift shop was in Naramata... a tiny community in the Okanagan. The thrift shop was tiny, just like the town, yet they managed to pack a lot of items in there. It was my favorite one because it was so cute and the ladies always made you feel like you were the most important customer there.

Since my youth, I have always loved shopping in thrift stores and at garage sales because you can get so much more bang for your buck. And they are so unpredictable in that you never know what 'treasures' you might find there. I come from a single parent family where money was scarce so I have appreciated the role thrift shops play in the lives of people who are struggling to make ends meet. To me there is no shame in shopping secondhand and now, it is actually trendy to recycle. Go figure. More and more people are appreciating the value in reusing items and not wasting valuable resources.

Cheryl and I have both worked in thrift stores as well as being avid thrift store and garage sale shoppers. We believe in recycling and we have carried that belief into our business. Our Bottled Treasure is a great example of that. People are always surprised to discover that the beautiful, glistening, green glass inside our bottles and several of our candle holders are, in fact, chunks of broken windshield glass! So there... our secret is out!

We take pride in the fact that we use primarily local, organic, recycled & eco-friendly materials in our designs. We love what we do and we love that we can take something and reuse it to make something else. while making it more lovely. We also like the fact that our treasures end up in someone's home 'in a land far, far away'. This Bottled Treasure is on its way to Euless, Texas. We will be posting a new one soon so check out our site for new treasures!

So, I suppose that the moral of this story is, we take 'going green' very literally!

Bringing the Beach To You

SEA SHELLS AND SAND TILE ART

Cheryl and I attended our first ever Etsy Craft Party in Nanaimo last Friday. What really impressed me was the fact that this party was actually going in other cities all over the world! It proved to be an innovative way to connect and network with other Etsyians while forming new friendships, exchanging ideas and learning new crafts. And, I must add, share delicious snacks... very important!

Speaking of connecting, my niece came to the party with her mom. I hadn't seen either of them for a long time so it was really an extra special evening for me. She was teaching us a few beading techniques and, while referring to a few of her jewelry pieces, she used a term I had never heard before... "UFP's". So I asked her what that meant and she replied, "Unfinished Projects." I laughed and told her I could certainly relate to that!

This Sea Shell and Sand Art Tile you see here was one of those 'UFP's that I finally decided to finish. Now I must tackle a few other 'UFP's' and hopefully change the meaning of the term to:
'U Forgot to Procrastinate'!

I hope everyone has a chance to enjoy this wonderful weather! I am off to do a Singing Telegram in Duncan, BC today. The poor girl has no idea what is about to happen to her. (Snicker).

Have a happy, creative day everyone!

Our Journey

MERMAID TREASURE BOTTLE - COBALT BLUE

Well it's been such an adventure for Cheryl and I ... when I think of how it all started and where we are now, I never would have imagined it. From selling a few Christmas ornaments at our local art gallery to opening our own online gift shop and now, having our creations selling in two tourist gift shops ('Newfoundland to Nanaimo' and 'The North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre'), boggles the mind. I think that what I have learned through our journey is to never say "never" because, if you love to do something and you believe in what you do, anything is possible. One foot in front of the other.

Here is one of our latest creations... the "Mermaid Treasure Bottle - Cobalt Blue". A customer loved the other one she bought so she ordered one in blue as well. So it was sold almost as soon as we made it. Hopefully, we will find a few more cobalt blue bottles as they are very striking.

Tomorrow, Cheryl and I will be getting together to create a new tile serving tray as our first one was sold at the Nanaimo store. Good news! They are rather time consuming but the finished product is very satisfying. It can be used either as a tray or as a seaside art piece for the wall.

Well, today is yet another indoor day due to the fact that it is raining YET AGAIN! So time to catch up on some marketing and blogging. I will be creating a couple of new seaside creations for our site today, too. Good idea for a crummy day! So check out our site soon to see our new treasures! Hope you are having less rain than we are...