Beach Pleasures, Nature's Treasures

   Good morning! Hubby, our dog Annie and I recently returned from a glorious 12 day vacation at the beach in Fenwick Island Delaware. It was heavenly and time was filled with long walks, reading, cocktail hours, scrumptious dinners and LOTS of fun and laughter amongst the friends we stayed with along with other friends old and new. There is nothing like the beauty of the ocean, seeing the sun rise and set over water and being in a home filled with love and light -it fills my heart with so much joy and gratitude. It allows me to reflect and go inside myself. I didn't take one bit of material for any art making and it actually was a good thing to take a vacation from art too. Don't get me wrong tho, as soon as I got home I HAD to create something, anything. I'll share more of it in another post-I'm finishing something to offer as one of two giveaways.

   Here are some of the magnificent skylines I captured during our vacation:

                                          this photo was taken from the deck facing north

                                      and this is the skyline facing south on the same deck.
       This was one of those days where  the weather and sky constantly changed between sunshine  and storms seemingly every hour-it was quite spectacular.

                       one of several beautiful sunsets over the bay from the deck off the kitchen

   And this series of photos somewhat captures without a doubt THE most incredibly beautiful and spectacular sunsets we have ever seen:

   Incredible isn't it?? This is without any photo editing! It looked at times as though the clouds were on fire-truly the miracle of nature at its best.

   These are some beach treasures I found along my walks:

   I love the delicate cicada wing and especially that heart shaped stone which was right at my feet when I found a spot to set down my chair on the sand one day.

   Can't post without sharing some art so here it comes. I made 10 necklaces with a beachy color scheme in mind, packaged each in a tulle bag with a tag and gave one to each of my "sistas" I spent time with on vacation. For those I knew well enough I tried to make the necklace in their fave colors.

                                                  close up of the set just above this photo

   These necklaces were so quick to make that it became addicting and I certainly will make more! The idea for these came from Shahrul Niza's blog post for a challenge she participated in and you can see it here. Shahrul linked to Deanne Williamson's tutorial for the necklace on her blog so I had to check it out. I used the basic idea but created my own version using pretty, sparkling beads and chose to add toggle clasps for a nicer finish although these necklaces easily slip over the head without opening. AND GUESS WHAT?  I have an extra one which I WILL BE GIVING AWAY along with a prayer flag...coming soon :)

  Now I've got some catching up to do with my blogging friends. And thank YOU for visiting me.

           "The only thing you discover in the unknown is more of yourself."  Bashar