I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Saturday, December 17, 2011

Angels and....



Hi! Is everyone so very very busy!? Do you wish you had an angel at your shoulder to give you a hand, or encouragement?

sold

Sometimes we need an angel, don't we?

Here are a few new angels from my workshop, most available on etsy [see sidebar]:

These are wonderful beachcombed driftwood angels.




The wooden crescent pieces that I use to make their wings are rare---spool sections, table tops, keg lids...and highly prized. The larger angel also has curly hair---rusty beach fence wire bits, just as I found them (nowadays the "wires" are plastic, the metal ones are quite vintage!)



 This is one of my cloth folk art angel dolls, dressed in a magnificent antique white christening gown. (She is sold, but I do take special orders.)

sold
  Behind her you can see a recent find of large driftwood wings...
  
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   Here's a lovely flea market find.
   A chippy white, distressed wood angel with a    trumpet. I love her!
   She reminds me of a handcarved ship's figurehead or mermaid from the 1800s.





 







This is a fun driftwood sign!
 
The wooden piece was actually that shade of Granny Smith apple green when I found it. The back is lovely silvery grey driftwood. Santa must have dropped by the beach!?



And just for laughs, one of my found object assemblages, a sea glass Corona          beer bottle [yes, from my beach! and nicely weathered...] filled with sand and other beach treasure, extra stuff twisted around its neck. The pix are bad and it needs its tags, so  it is not listed yet.
These make very fun gifts for your guy who loves hot summer days at the beach!






And last but definitely not least, a new treasure from Michelle at Olde Farmhouse Simples!
This doll was an "extra" with one of my orders.
Can you imagine!
I LOVE her....





She is so adorable..and just for Christmas she has acquired a tipsy rhinestone halo and tiny quilt scrap wings.

 





Happy Holidays!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach






PS I apologize for the formatting issues!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Candy Cane Christmas



Hi! I never got to show you guys my red and white Christmas decor, did I? Due to runaway camera issues and all!


Almost before I shooed the last Thanksgiving guest out the door a few weeks ago I was running around, de-orangeing and de-cheddaring, de-pumpkin-ing the house. I LOVE autumn and the deep rich colors, but geez, enough. Six weeks from Columbus Day toT'giving is too much of a good thing.



This year I am going for that white beachy-Nordic look, with touches of red...but berries and folk art are creeping in!




olde farmhouse simples


olde farmhouse simples


Red Christmas toile pillows, red and white quilts....



red and green tranferware...




Swedish hearts in an old bowl..


Amaryllis....



In bloom!




Roses and berries...






Natural linens...new, French! from Target.... :-)



And trearured heirloom, trousseau hand spun, hand woven Swiss and German linens from my family. My great-grandma brought hers here in a handmade wicker trunk! [2nd mongram]....




I'd love to tie those Swedish hearts on the chairs for Christmas dinner...and I was so inspired by IKEA's red gingham heart pillow I drove all the way out there to buy a few.
But no. Not in NY,lol.

click here  here to see Sarah, at a beach cottage's much more successful AU IKEA trip!
I am making my own..and it will be "better" old French linen homespun!

ikea, not available
And I just know my guests on Christmas Day will oooh and aw and marvel that I have the Valentines up already. (Never fails to baffle them, my Swedish folk art hearts at Christmas. Daunting, but ...).

More stuff  to add...this was just the underpinnings. Every day I am adding more. So fun and festive!





love

lizzy

gone to the beach......



December...



weeds

The wind whistles
a solitary song
tuneless, lonely
warning of the cold to come.
winter bites its heels,
Churning up the seas, changing
its palette from summer blue
to gunmetal grey....
winter

author unknown... 


This December has been warm here at the beach. And foggy...







Peaceful, opalescent evenings....


 



 beginning before you know it




 hurry, hurry, it is


Three o'clock! It will be dark soon....




12/14/11----almost 60*, not even sweater weather. Should I finally put my shorts away? Or what?


love

           lizzy


 .........gone to the beach


self-portrait/december
note the curve of the earth
[or lens?]
 in the background
distance to the dunes is 2? miles