A2Sea Creations Loses a Ship Mate

Well, a few of you may know that my co-partner Cheryl has left A2Sea Creations.  But there are no hard feelings, whatsoever.  In fact, Cheryl and I are still the very best of friends and always will be. But with her gone several months of the year, it is no longer practical. However, I am sure she will keep on collecting shells and such for me.  She is the 'Sherlock Holmes' of finding nautical treasures.

It's difficult to believe that we started A2Sea Creations together six years ago!  The time seems to have flown by and that is probably because we have had so much fun creating things together.  They say that 'laughter is the best medicine' and I believe it!  We have certainly done our share of laughing together.  Cheryl does this 'thing' with moon shells... well... you'd have to see it to understand.

I recall our humble beginnings, creating at my kitchen table.  What a mess that made!  Then we moved to my guest room.  That was fine until I had guests!  Finally, we moved everything out to my workshop.  My husband, David, kindly allowed us take over the space and reduce him to a very small corner... the only spot that isn't messy, I might add.  Bless that dear, patient man.

Cheryl and I did the craft markets for awhile... it was fun, but not lucrative enough for all the work it entailed.  This is a photo of Cheryl pretending to be 'Vanna White' at the Errington Farmer's Market.

We tried a few more markets... one was, what one might consider, a disaster!  We were invited to bring our wares to a local marine swap meet.  Sounded like a great opportunity, right?  Wrong!  We were the only ones there that sold 'girly stuff'!   Everyone else was selling things like greasy boat parts and motors from the tailgates of their trucks!  LOL.  But the upside is, it had motivated us to make a whole bunch of new and different nautical creations and get some experience in setting up a craft table.  I always try to find the positive spin on things.  Plus, I got to hold a parrot that day!

Cheryl and I eventually made a decision not to do any more markets once we started selling our handmade products in local gift shops.  That is, until I talked her into doing one last one... 'Etsy Made in Canada Day'.  Being the team captain of the Vancouver Island Etsy Team, I felt it would be a good thing to get involved in, as this was a 'first'.  I helped promote it and we had our own table as well. Although it wasn't a huge money maker for us, we got to meet several of our VI team members in person, which was lovely.  Out of that came some great friendships and connections.  And again, it motivated Cheryl and I to create some new beach treasures.

It has been a wonderful 'nautical ride' with my friend and co-partner, Cheryl.  Although it wasn't always 'smooth sailing', we learned a lot about what to do, what not to do, what sells, where it sells best and, above all, we had a great time working together.  This is a photo of Cheryl and I displaying our wares at the Newfoundland to Nanaimo Gift and Souvenier shop on the harbour in Nanaimo, BC. The photo below was taken by the local newspaper after we had raised over $10,000 for Japan for the earthquake / tsunami disaster relief in 2011, with the help of the Vancouver Island Etsy Team and other local artisans.  

The Newfoundland to Nanaimo gift shop is our best venue for selling our creations and, if you haven't been, it's well worth visiting. It is a wonderful shop chock full of nautical yumminess and many fabulous items made by local artisans. Say hi to Esther for us and tell her we sent you!

Thank you Cheryl for making A2Sea Creations so fun, for making me laugh, for giving me confidence, for believing in me, and for being so unafraid to try anything.  You've been an awesome 'ship mate', a wonderful travelling buddy and I will always be thankful for you and our friendship.  

Love... your 'ship mate - Mickers'.  

Cheryl and I are thrilled to announce that our seaside products will once again be for sale at the The Quilted Duck Gift Cottage and Boutique in Nanaimo, BC.  And it was very affirming to be told that they like all of our items and asked us for some of everything.  Fortunately, Cheryl and I had almost enough inventory to fill the order so I only had to make a few things, create brand new tags for our magnets and mermaid bookmarks, and spruce up my earrings by placing them in new, crystal clear bags.  I am really happy with the result.  Sometimes it's those little special touches that make all the difference!

Be sure to check out the Quilted Duck, say hi to Heather and ask to see our products!  (It's a good thing I don't work there because I would be bringing something home everyday!)

A Perfect Day on the Quay

I must say, it's a little embarrassing to see that my last blog post was in January.  Dear me!  I have been so focused on my weight loss blog that I have neglected this one.  My apologies to my partner in crime, Cheryl, and to anyone who may have wanted to see what we've been up to.  I will have to find a way to organize my time better.  (Yeah... right Micki)

We just did up a hefty order for the delightful little nautical shop on the Nanaimo Harbourfront - Newfoundland to Nanaimo.  For a small shop, they sure have got a nautical mile of wonderful items in there from jewelry to souveniers, home decor to local pottery, you name it.  In fact, if you live in central Vancouver Island, the Nanaimo Harbour Quay is a great place to bring your out-of-town guests to get a feel for our beautiful coast.  Stop in the nautical shop, then go to the Lighthouse Bistro for a delicious lunch, or just enjoy a drink in the bar on their outside patio. (Not too long ago, Cheryl took me for a belated birthday lunch at the Lighthouse Bistro and it was delicious... and what a treat to eat right over the water!)  Then, check out the various boats in the marina and do some more shopping for souveniers and local gifts.  Finish off the day with a yummy ice cream waffle cone or savour some old-fashioned candy of yesteryear.  You can even take a ferry ride over to Newcastle Island.  Perfect day in the making.

Here are a few examples of our beachy gift items we have at Newfoundland to Nanaimo...  Say hi to Esther for us when you visit!

A2SeaCreations.com

 

Cheryl and I wish you and yours and very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  We are grateful for your patronage and are thankful for all the friends we have met through our nautical gift shop.  It has been a wonderful journey for us and we've had a lot of fun this year.  We look forward to another year of working together.  Our wish is that 2013 will be a good year for all of our friends and customers.  God bless and all the best to you!   

An Update from Micki

It is truly hard to remember to update our blog in the midst of daily life and all the distractions that come with it.  And I am very easily distracted - much like a crow to shiny things.  So here I am finally focused on updating our blog and letting you all know what is happening on the home front.

We have been contacted by the Tourist Centre in Parksville, BC to bring in our handmade beach treasures to show them in person.  They discovered us through our online shop on Etsy.  We are excited about having another place to sell our products.  So if it all goes well, you will soon be able to see A2Sea Creations in Parksville!  That will be our fourth town, which is very cool!.  It is very validating to have people seek you out and ask if they can carry your products.

Also, Cheryl has been hard at work creating her quilting magic once again.  Her newest creation is a lovely wall hanging called 'Around the Pond'.  Check it out...

Around the Pond - Quilted Wall Hanging

We have also added something new to our shop since our last posting.  I took a pottery class and ran right home and created a few pieces for our shop.  We have sold a couple of them already.  Here are a few more...

 

Something Fishy - Nautical Pottery Pendant

 Ceramic Wire Wrapped Starfish Pendant

 Oceanna - Mermaid Sea Queen - Handbuilt Clay Face

Hopefully, in the near future, there will be more pottery items to choose from.   It has been fun learning a new medium.  Have a great March everyone!  I am looking forward to seeing more of the glorious sun and planting more flowers!

(Micki also has another Etsy Shop called A2Sea Photography and a singing telegram business called Tickleberry Telegrams.  She also has a coffee table book for sale on Blurb called An Ocean View.)

Our Italy and Greece Adventures

Well here it is November already and I am wondering where September and October went to?  How could I have missed them?  I must have because I see that my last blog post was in August.  Hmmmm.....

So what's new with us?  Cheryl and I returned on September 19th from our amazing trip to Italy and Greece with so many stories to share... thrilling stories of adventure and excitement, danger and peril, pirate ships and police stations, train robberies and lost luggage, landing on the wrong island, angels and miracles, wonderful mistakes and strange secrets, gypsies and gyros, surprise trips through Venetian canals... you name it - it happened!  So I am in the process of writing a novel about our many adventures as they are just too fantastic to not be told.  I warned my husband and friends that they won't be seeing much of me in November as I will be typing my little fingers off.  I guess I should have worked harder in typing class in grade 10.  Oh well.  Wish me luck!  I will let everyone know when my novel is published.  Quit laughing... it could happen!

As for A2Sea Creations, we were delighted that the local shop on the Nanaimo harbour took so many of our creations this summer, right into the fall.  We're hoping it continues like this.  Also, a shop in Chemainus has expressed an interest in taking some of our Christmas decorations so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Cheryl, my co-partner and quilter-extraordinaire, sold another one of her Tropical Fish Children's Quilts to a local gal in Qualicum Beach and has also created a lovely new Killer Whale Wall Hanging which is for sale on our site.  Be sure to check it out and consider it for a Christmas present for your nautical-loving friends and family members.  Christmas is only 52 days away you know!

I hope everyone has been enjoying our spectacular fall weather.  Happy November everyone!

Micki of A2Sea Creations and A2Sea Photography

Our Great Adventures!

I realized that I have sadly neglected our blog here... I have been putting a lot of time into creating our new Vancouver Island Etsy Team blog  and working on our Van Isle Facebook page but neglecting my own blog in the process.  I have to say that it's been fun, though... I get to correspond with various team members and enjoy getting to know them. 

But back to us.  My dear partner in crime, Cheryl (of our shop, A2Sea Creations) is away on her dream vacation... an African Safari!  It has been her lifelong dream to go there so I am ever so happy for her.  I haven't heard from her for a long while so I am really hoping she didn't get eaten by a lion or get stuck up a tree in the jungle all tied up in vines!

But Cheryl isn't the only one going on an adventure... I will soon be off to Italy which is MY all-time dream vacation!  I will be meeting Cheryl and our mutual friend Dorothy, in Rome and spending three glorious weeks in the most deliciously romantic part of the world!  The only sad thing about that is my husband won't be able to come.  But you know what they say about the heart growing fonder.  I will sure miss him!

So we will be closing up shop very soon and off I go into the wild blue yonder!   Sono così fortunato! Evviva! Ciao a tutti.  Micki

HELPING JAPAN

OUR FACEBOOK PAGE TOTAL AS OF APRIL 13, 2011!



Fundraising Ideas

Our total is now at $4935.50 and going up! We will have to adjust our goal because we are only a few dollars away! Wonderful news. Etsyians, friends and other artists who have gotten onboard with our Facebook project... thank you for making this all possible! Japan needs our help and you have risen to the challenge!

If you would like to donate something to the cause, post your link or price to our page entitled, 'What Can You Do To Help Japan?' Perhaps you would rather buy something to help at one of our contributors' online shops?! It's a great way to buy handcrafted gifts, have fun and help Japan at the same time! If so, just go to our online album and click on each photo. You will find the shop links under the photos.

Onward and upward everyone!

A2Sea Is Now In Three Tourist Gift Shops!

OUR THIRD OUTLET

Cheryl and I are quite thrilled to report that our creations are now officially in three tourist shops! This one is the latest... a little gift shop in Brown's Bay Resort, just north of Campbell River.

The lady who owns the resort contacted us through our Etsy site to ask if she could sell our products in her shop. So I decided to go down there personally to meet her and bring basically one of everything we make. She decided to buy just that... one of almost everything - just to see how things sell. She also placed an order for a few more items so, all in all, I would say it was a pretty successful day.

I had arrived ridiculously early as I wasn't quite certain how long it would take me to get there and I haaaaaaaaaaaaate being late. So I walked down to their floating restaurant and had some lunch. You will never guess what I ate... not in a million years. I had sushi with yam fries in the middle! Crazy! I had to order it to try it out because I had never heard of it before. They were quite yummy, btw. I was impressed with the restaurant... the cook gave two free candy-covered ice cream cones to two little girls, which I thought was a really nice touch.

Here is one of the mirrors we sold to Brown's Bay Resort. This one is completely covered in sand: white and brown. We do not have this style on our site quite yet, but we have a similar one that is worth checking out. We will be posting one like this soon so be sure to check out our site from time to time.

So we better get back at it. Looks like we are going to be pretty busy for awhile!

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...

A2Sea Creations Goes to the Nanaimo Waterfront Plaza

Newfoundland to Nanaimo Gift Shop

Cheryl and I are both quite excited about this next step in our A2Sea journey. I am very proud of my dear friend and partner as she bravely approached the gift shops at the Nanaimo Waterfront, photo album in hand with pictures of our seaside creations, and single-handedly landed a contract with an excellent store on the Nanaimo waterfront. I cannot think of a more ideal place to sell our treasures, especially with the cruise ships coming in at the end of April. This is a wonderful break for us. Now we have much work to do seeing as the shop owner ordered a ton of handmade items from us. I am happy to say that our treasures should be on display by April 27th. And to think this all began with a few nautical Christmas ornaments that I made for the Christmas table for the Nanaimo Arts Council Gallery two Christmases ago. It just proves that you never know how life will surprise you and what turn it will take.

Cheryl and I began with selling our handcrafts online. Then we had our items in a little store in Coombs. Next we went to a few local fairs but we found that they were very hard on our poor old backs. But it was good we tried them because they gave us something to work towards, helped us work out kinks and network with others. Each step of our journey has taught us so much and has brought us so much closer to our goals. I know I have learned so much through all of this. And I could not have done it without my friend Cheryl. It has been such a joy working and creating with her and I hope to do it for a long time. We make an excellent team.