Pocketful of Inspiration

This weekend we took a mini-vacation to Bar Harbor. While there, we spent lots of time walking on the waterfront, exploring.

One afternoon, after walking out on the sandbar to the island, my fellow and the girls built fairy houses and cairns while I sat down and just looked closer at all the little stones and shells. I discovered so many tiny, beautiful (uninhabited) periwinkle shells among the rocks and larger shells. I have a plan for a new product line which I can't wait to share. Think simple, natural beauty!

Cabinet of Curiosities

Through a bit of luck, I have acquired my dream storage cabinet for all of my keys, shells, sea glass, and other supplies. It is a specimen cabinet with wide, deep drawers. I can fit all of my materials, my wire and tools, and my packaging supplies within its drawers. It is perfect!


As I am amidst a move, I am every few days bringing to my new home a box of sea glass or sea pottery from my old home. Yesterday, the greens came over. I spent some time on the deck, seeing what was fit for wrapping, what I might pass on to those who could better use it. I found some real gems. One of my favorite things about sea glass is the three hues any piece can have. Dry, it can appear frosty, and deep in color. Wet, the color is more intense, clearer. Held up to sunlight, brilliant, sometimes unexpected hues are revealed. Here are a few of my favorite discoveries from yesterday.

Winter Wonderland

The presents are long unwrapped, now a part of our daily lives. The Christmas tree, the long-staying harbinger of the season, has been taken out to a summer burn pile. All of the trappings of holiday-time are gone, and yet this winter seems to grow ever more perfect, week by week.

Certainly, this is the snowiest winter that I can recall since childhood. The snow falls, and it stays, layer upon layer altering the cartography of our backyard. Our homespun sled-racing trails are fun until they get covered over by a new storm, and then we begin the joyful toil of forming them again. Twinkle lights draped from the trees above the racing trails now touch our heads when we walk beneath, boosted ever closer by numerous snowfalls.

Amidst the flurry of snow days, snowshoeing,
snowboarding, and other SNOWY things, I have also been at the work table, creating some pieces that bring a bit of summer to mind. Sea glass, sea pottery, and the occasional key, too. Here is one of my recent favorites.