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!

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.

Playing Tourist

'MOON SHELLS' - PHOTOART BY MICKI FINDLAY

I love this island. No matter how many times I explore, I always find something new and wonderful. I have been asked by my relatives on the mainland why we don't move there and save ourselves the ferry expense. I tried that once and was miserable. My heart is here and always will be.

I spent this Wednesday with a dear friend and we just hopped in the car and went wherever the spirit moved us. We found a fantastic art gallery in Union Bay called 'Sea-Change Open Studio'. My friend and I were amazed at the unique and innovative creations we saw there, all hand-fashioned by a very talented husband and wife team. The outside is even amazing with funky chairs fashioned out of driftwood and whimsical and dramatic sculptures made from scavenged beach items and clay. What a treat! This photo of the moon shells was taken there. I hope to post a few more from there in the near future.

So we kept on driving, stopping at anything that tweaked our interest. When we talked about whether we should turn around and come home, we decided we weren't quite ready to so off we travelled right up to Campbell River. I discovered that I love Campbell River and realized that I hadn't even been there before. It's a much larger town than I had thought it would be with ocean views, boats and fishing everywhere you go. Definitely my kind of place.

I do love this island and I plan to stay here for a long, long time.