coastal nail colors

April 5, 2013

This is an unusual Friday field trip. It is a trip to the beach…we all need that right about now, don’t you think? I know, a Friday field trip to the beach is not that unusual…especially for me. But, the reason for the trip to the beach is a little unusual…the reason is to create a nail polish collection!

I have always wanted to create a nail polish collection and I have been inspired to do so from so many sources…I could create an entire collection just from the colors of my sea glass or, an entire collection of neutrals just from the white flowers in my garden.! And, there definitely is plenty of color inspiration at the beach…many more colors than I wanted for just one collection. I decided the collection would be six shades…the top six…and these shades would be the ones I most wanted to wear. A versatile collection and, a realistic one. Cutting it down to six was not easy! This meant I had to eliminate watermelon slushie, beach donuts, gull, lavender sea glass, and ragosa – to name a few.

I think a beach collection has to contain some blue…there is so much blue at the beach. Rather than go with the obvious…water…I decided to get inspired by the sky.

The beauty of the sky at the beach is that it is always changing. Sometimes, when the weather is the most severe, the sky is the most beautiful. A clear sunny day may be what a beach lover craves, but it certainly is not the most beautiful sky at the shore. This photo illustrates this point perfectly… a clear, sunny day would not be as beautiful as the sky I captured in this photo on a very cloudy day. Because of this, the blue shade inspired from the sky is named cloud.

Neutral colors are definitely my favorites and there are plenty to choose from at the beach. Just as beautiful as a shell or a piece of sea glass, are the many stones at the beach. They are sometimes speckled or striped…some are the most beautiful when wet with salt water. The color inspired by one of these beauties is called beach stone.

Old whitewashed fences and posts are everywhere at the beach. The old ones have so much more charm than anything new. The age of the shore is part of the beauty contained in the wood. This is the inspiration for the third color called old fence.

Not all the color inspirations at the beach are natural objects…a beach umbrella, a horse on the carousel, or a striped beach towel can all prove to be color inspirations. Here, I am inspired by the color of my sunglass lenses and I am naming this color reflection.

An obvious choice for color inspiration is a shell. The subtleties of color on some of the shells (both interiors and exteriors) on the beach are just so beautiful. Here it is the blush of mauve. I’ve named the color shell.

For the last color, it really needed to be a gray tone to round out the collection. And gray is an easy color to come by at the beach. For this shade, I was inspired by the wet footprints on the sun-bleached wooden path and named it footprint. That makes six…

I present to you, the entire CONNECTICUT COAST NAIL COLOR COLLECTION 2013:

What do you think? I would wear all of them!

I hope you enjoyed our Friday field trip to the beach to create a fantasy nail polish collection.

Dreaming of warm days and salty breezes :)

Thanks so much for visiting. Have a wonderful weekend, Jackie

I am sharing at Boogieboard Cottage, A Pinch of Joy, and Little Red House.

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terrarium love

March 22, 2013

Today, Friday field trip is a visit to my friend’s house. Her name is Phyllis, and we are getting together for what she affectionately refers to as “a playdate.” On this occasion, we are making terrariums. We had recently picked up some terrarium plants and supplies at Terrain and we were very anxious to start creating! I am sure we will have future field trips to Phyllis’s home since it is amazing! I have so much inspiration I could share with you…her decor, her gardens, her handcrafted jewelry…well, everything! But, for today, I will limit my sharing to our terrarium creations.

When I got to Phyllis’s house we started right in…covering her large kitchen island with newspaper and taking out all our various supplies. In addition, her entire dining room table was covered with assorted containers and possible decorative terrarium items. She showed me the terrarium she had already completed. Wow! It is so beautiful…a little watering can!…and a hanging plant! Isn’t it great?

Because Phyllis already knew all the terrarium basics, I didn’t have to worry about doing alot of research. She explained about the rocks for drainage on the bottom (I think I would have figured that out) and a layer of activated charcoal (I would not have figured that out) before the layer of soil. So, after a quick lesson on how to proceed, I needed to decide exactly what I wanted to put into the terrarium.

I figured I had two ways to go. I could do an Easter/spring theme and use eggs and nests OR I could do my standard (coastal/beach) theme. I decided to go with a ‘beachy’ theme and got some possible items assembled. The interesting thing about putting a terrarium together is that you don’t really need as many plants or decorative items as you may think. Less is really more. So, I decided my main decorative item would be a sand castle.

From there, I would use some rocks, shells, sea glass, and moss that reminded me of the beach. For the plant? Phyllis and I had both fell in love with a plant called Breynia Snow Bush that we found at Terrain and that would serve as the highlighted plant in my creation.

And…this is what I came up with…what do you think? I love it! Isn’t the little colored gravel so great? I think it is sold as fish tank decor. I had some old glass ‘bubbles’ that were used many years ago with floating candles that lent themselves perfectly to the ’beachy’ terrarium.

Adorable, don’t you think?

You are probably wondering what Phyllis was working on…wait until you see! Phyllis and I had both been intrigued by the ‘pussy willow teepees’ we saw in some of the terrariums at Terrain…like the one on this bunny arrangement. So, Phyllis decided to create one in a pretty metal container she had on hand.

This beautiful arrangement is what she came up with! So gorgeous!

She created the “teepee” from stalks of pussy willow. She attached them on top by putting an elastic band around a piece of moss she harvested from her yard. So beautiful…and with the pussy willow and the addition of some real quail eggs from Terrain, the perfect Easter arrangement! You can see in this closeup that the elastic is not even visible once it is put into the moss.

Playdate successful!

Consider ‘shopping’ your basement and garage for possible terrarium containers and decorative items…Terrain has some really cool terrarium items if you want to purchase some or supplement what you can find around your house. Miniatures from train sets or Christmas villages can also be used. The sand castle I used was actually a repurposed photo holder – I just trimmed off the wire stand. Just remember to use soil appropriate to the plants you select.

I hope you enjoyed my Friday field trip to create terrariums. Special thanks to my partner in crime! I forgot to mention the homemade golden pea soup I had for lunch (so yummy!) or the eggplant and famous key lime pie (heaven!) from The Pantry in Fairfield…ahhh..the perks of the playdate! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Have a fabulous weekend, Jackie

I am sharing at Little Red House, Serenity Saturday, The Inspiration Gallery, Craftionary, Common Ground, Give Me the Goods Monday, and The Well Crafted Home.

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beach colors in january

January 25, 2013

What are “beach colors” to you? Beige and blue?

Friday field trip this week is to the beach at sunset to explore January’s beach colors.

Not yet cleaned up after Hurricane Sandy, technically the beach I am visiting has been closed since the storm. That, coupled with the fact that the temperature is in the single digits here in Connecticut, I wonder why I chose to make this a field trip! Largely because of the frigid weather, my trip to the beach is a short one.

My stay is not more than twenty minutes long, but as always, I am not disappointed by the display of colors. I don’t get as many opportunities to view the sunsets at the beach in the winter months since they occur during work hours…my sunset viewing usually limited to the weekends…until the days get longer anyway.

So, what do you think of as the colors of the beach? Would these colors come to mind?

How about these?

Maybe not so much?

The photos I am sharing today were all taken at the same beach on the same visit and within a 20 minute time period. I did not alter anything on any of the photos (not that I would know how to if I wanted to lol.)

Isn’t nature amazing?

Can you tell one of my fantasies is to create a paint line lol? I also dream about creating a collection of nailpolish colors with cute, cheeky names, but that’s for another day…

I think showing swatches of some of the colors I saw on my beach visit is the best way to illustrate the amazing display and range of colors I witnessed on this frigid visit…I think it was even too cold for the seagulls!

So beautiful!

I hope you enjoyed the amazing collection of colors from a winter day at the beach…especially those of you that may be landlocked.

Have an amazing weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things…beauty is all around us!

Thanks for visiting, Jackie

I am sharing this post at Mosiac Monday at Little Red House.

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coastal jack-o-lanterns

October 28, 2012

pumpkin carving 2012

Well, Halloween is not that far away so I thought I would share some of this year’s pumpkin creations. I say ‘some’ because I have not yet finished carving…I have my largest pumpkin and a couple small ones left to carve before Wednesday. As you can see, I have a coastal theme going. I never was one for ghosts or goblins…

I can’t even watch a scary movie!

A photo of some of this year’s coastal theme jack-o-lanterns.

With the kids grown, I am no longer carving pumpkins to cater to their tastes. (Although I have to admit, last year I carved a pumpkin with ”T-Shirt Time” for my daughter to display in her college apartment.)

Carving pumpkins is almost therapeutic…don’t you think?

I will be collecting some seeds too…the good friend that gave me my favorite white pumpkin is planning on using the seeds to grow some white pumpkins of her own for next year. And, my daughter requested some roasted pumpkin seeds for her visit home on Thanksgiving.

A photo of some of this year’s coastal jack-o-lanterns.

So, these are my jack-o-lanterns so far…(haven’t even taken the drill out yet!)

Enjoy your Halloween! Have a safe one!

Thanks for visiting, Jackie

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philadelphia shell show & festival

October 26, 2012

Wow! What a field trip I have for you this week. I attended the 2012 Philadelphia Shell Show & Festival at The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and as a fanatic of anything ‘beachy’ and a definite shell lover, I was in heaven!

I planned my trip in advance. I knew when the shell show was scheduled and I went to the museum expecting to see many shells…but I found it was so much more than that…I saw so much more than just individual shells. There were many competitions for shell creations in many varieties - in addition to straight shell displays and collections. The exhibitors were not just from across the country, but from other countries as well.

I took SO many photos and fell in love with SO many shells and shell creations that I could not possibly share them all here. What I have decided to do is to share with you my very favorite creation from the show called “A Summer Place” created by Donna Klees from Ardmore, PA. It received first place in the artistic division – hobbyist category.

A photo of one of the amazing creations from the 2012 Philadelphia Shell Show & Festival. This shell house crafted by Donna Klees from Ardmore, PA won a first place prize.

Donna created this sweet little house of shells…

Isn’t the trellis amazing?

And, the scallop shell roof!

Gotta love the details in the windows…

A photo from the 2012 Philadelphia Shell Show & Festival.

If you would like to see more shells from the show, I will be sharing some additional photos on my facebook page – I was very impressed with the collection of sailor’s valentines that were presented and you can see some of those samples on my page. Click here to see my facebook page.

As an ending photo, I would like to leave you with this whimsical creation by Bill Jordan from Fort Myers, FL. He is a great guy and an amazing craftsman that I met at the show…love ya Bill! According to Bill, Sanibel Island’s beaches are so covered with shells that you will regularly see people bending over in search of them. The locals have dubbed this sight the “Sanibel Stoop”…the inspiration for Bill’s creation:

A creation by Bill Jordan at the 2012 Philadelphia Shell Show & Festival

Thank you so much for visiting. Hope you enjoyed sharing some photos from the 2012 Philadelphia Shell Show & Festival.

Have a great weekend, Jackie

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signs of summer…castles in the sand

June 2, 2012

friday field trip

It has been a really crazy week and I can’t believe I even have time to post, but I couldn’t let a Friday go by without a Friday field trip! Here in Connecticut, we have been having some really hot weather…I think we had a day with a record breaking temperature…it really is starting to feel like summer :)

What better way to start gearing up for summer than to attend a sandcastle competition? So, I decided to attend a local competition and post some photos to help get you into the summer spirit. No better way to feel happy about the beach….except maybe to listen to the Beach Boys… or watch an episode of Sand Masters.

Here are my two favorites…

How about this ‘dude?’ Gotta love him :) Look at the hair!

Has anyone else out there discovered the show Sand Masters on the Travel channel? I am enthralled with the show. There are people out there that call themselves master sand sculptors and basically make a living out of creating things in the sand. Sand Masters showcases these professionals. If you live in an area that is hard-pressed for a sandcastle competition and my pictures aren’t enough…try checking out the show…you can watch it on the Travel channel or on line…here is a taste:

http://www.travelchannel.com/video/the-shark-bar-reborn

Hope you enjoyed Field Trip Friday…and a little taste of summer from here in Connecticut :)

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jonathan livingston?

April 16, 2012

a picture is worth a thousand words

What a beautiful beach day.

Before the clocks were set ahead last month , I could never get out of work soon enough to see the beach before dark.

There were so many seagulls tonight. I love running down the sand and watching the seagulls take flight. It reminds me of the book Wave by illustrator Suzy Lee.

It is one of my favorite picture books … such a joyful book with beautifully simplistic illustrations.