Merry Christmas dear friends!
My wish for you is to be surrounded by those you love. The very best of the season to you!
And, remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie xo
seas & greetings
December 25, 2015
putting it all together
December 22, 2015
I have started to wrap gifts and I am having some real fun – using beach totes, wicker baskets, and wooden trays to package and display gifts for my sea glass themed holiday! I thought I would take a few quick minutes to show you how I am incorporating the things I have been making and sharing with you.
Remember the crab on the gift tag from this post? He is looking good with my sea glass colored dotted wrapping paper. :) And, the feather I made in this post is looking great with it as well!
The bottle labels I shared in this post are exactly what I needed to make the wine bottles for my table – as well as the ones I am giving as gifts – look right on theme!
You can see that the sea glass tags I shared in this post look great as well!
That is how I used some of my creations! I so do love a good theme – and, it is so fun when everything starts coming together! I have plenty more to do as I continue with my wrapping! I will try and share more photos to Instagram and Facebook as I continue. How are you doing with your wrapping?
Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
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christmas magic
December 18, 2015
The best time to visit a favorite store as the holidays approach is when Christmas gift buying has been completed. Sound crazy? Well, once the pressure is off to find the perfect gifts, the whole shopping experience changes. The perspective shifts from one that has been focused on gift buying to one that is enjoying the shopping experience in an entirely different way.
For me, I can genuinely appreciate my surroundings and soak in the effort that has been made to create a beautiful holiday aesthetic. If I should find a little something special to add to a stocking – fine. But, there is no real urgency to the gift buying.
You probably know by now that one of my favorite stores is Grace. Today, for Friday field trip, I am sharing some of the wonderful holiday aesthetic created by this marvelous shop in Niantic. Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a wonderful weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
a few more gift tags
December 15, 2015
It is time to start wrapping gifts! I am way behind on my planned Thanksgiving weekend wrapping session!
I have all the supplies together. I made the sea glass gift tags and the painted metallic feathers to adorn my packages…But, wait…shouldn’t I have a couple sea creatures to add to the mix?
I decided to make a couple more quick gift tags and they are super simple to create in no time flat!
For the crab, I used a teeny, tiny rubber stamp I found at the craft store. The size alone makes it super cute! I added it to card stock using an aqua colored ink stamp pad. To add the holiday sparkle, I just used a cotton swab to add a few dabs of aqua sparkle craft paint. Super easy and super cute!
The starfish gift tag took even less supplies to create than the crab gift tag. I used a light gray watercolor marker to draw a quick, free hand outline of a starfish. To this too, I added a few dabs of acrylic metallic craft paint to give it a little more bling!
Now I am content with my collection of gift tags for my sea glass holiday themed packages!
Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
sea glass diy gift tags
December 11, 2015
For Friday field trip today, we are visiting ‘gift wrap central’ where I designed some gift tags to go along with my sea glass holiday theme.
I decided the perfect detail for my gift tags was grommets. Not only are they currently a big fashion trend, but they add a nice ‘beachy’ vibe to my tags!
Since I was designing these gift tags myself, I wanted to make them unique. That was part of the reason I decided to make them a little different shape than a typical gift tag. I decided on long rectangles – cutting card stock into 1“ x 4 1/4“ strips.
After I cut the tags, I added the grommet detail. If you decide to make these – don’t be intimidated by the grommets! They come in 2 pieces and are easily applied using a simple 2-piece metal tool and a hammer. The grommets and tool are inexpensive and are available at any craft store. Believe me; once you apply your first grommet, you will come up with tons of applications!
I used twine on my tags to stay consistent with my theme. Lastly, I used a big dab of strong glue, careful not to let the glue show, to attach a small piece of sea glass to each tag. Pretty easy, right?
I love the way these tags came out! It makes me eager to get wrapping!
Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
message in a bottle ornament diy
December 4, 2015
My imagination is in overdrive this year for my ornament designs since I chose sea glass as my holiday theme and I love anything with a coastal theme! I have so many ornament ideas, but I am limiting myself to a few designs because there is so much to accomplish in preparation for the holidays and not enough time to do it all!
One ornament I knew I wanted to create was one that was inspired by a message in a bottle. Today, for Friday field trip, I am providing the instructions to make this easy to create ornament. I chose to use an iridescent, clear glass, hollow globe ornament instead of the obvious choice of a small bottle.
Rather than write the ‘message’ myself, I opted to use a scrap of paper that already had writing on it, ripping the edges before rolling it up and tying it with a small scrap of twine.
I removed the top that came with the ornament and I poured some sand into the globe. Since it is the holidays, a little optional glitter is a nice addition to the sand! Next, I added the prepared message.
I replaced the top of the ornament with a cork. It is really simple to repurpose a cork since it is easy to trim with a knife to the size needed. After trimming the cork to the size I needed to fit snuggly in the top of the ornament, I screwed in a small screw eye and added a piece of twine for hanging. Any scrap of thin ribbon or rope will do in place of the twine.
That’s my ‘message in a bottle’ ornament! Easy, right? This is a wonderful ornament to make as a gift for a newly married couple. Use sand from their honeymoon for inside the ornament and write their wedding date or a love note on the ‘message!’
I hope I have inspired you to create your own message in a bottle ornament!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
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i am thankful
November 27, 2015
It has been a very hectic week, but I had Thanksgiving off and so did my children, and I was able to share the day with family.
I took pleasure in so many of the wonderfully simple things that make a holiday so very special. I thought I would share a few of the things I was thankful for this Thanksgiving Day:
I spent the day with my children!
Even though she needed to get up in the wee hours of the morning to start preparation of the 29 1/2 lb. turkey, my sis not only made a perfect bird and tons of food, but she took extra time to master a cherry pie garnish that put a smile on everyone’s face!
My mom couldn’t be at Thanksgiving, but she told me she loved me when I called to check in on her. :) She is someone I am thankful for every day!
Knowing how much I love lemon meringue pie, a friend spent the extra time to make me a whole pie of my own to take home!
And, the blessing I have that you are here to share pleasure in simple things with me…thank you!
I wish you all a fabulous holiday weekend! xo Jackie
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photo drink labels for the holiday
November 24, 2015
I love a good theme. Part of what makes a great entertaining theme successful is consistency in the details. It also makes it fun for guests – because they are finding cool ways the theme has been brought into every detail. When it is the holidays, I like to take the details to the highest level!
I want to share one of these details with you today – and, that is bottle labels! I don’t know about you, but in my house there is a certain contingency that drink from bottles – beer to be exact! Because my guys are so particular about their beers – microbreweries and such, I am not able to choose a beer that sticks with my theme. The wine drinkers can be a little more flexible – and for this year’s sea glass theme, I may just be able to sneak in a Sea Glass wine to stay on theme!
Instead of trying to fight the selections, I will just modify the look of the drinks that are chosen with my own personally designed labels! This can be accomplished easily with a home printer, some labels, and some favorite photos!
Today, for those of you who may have some ‘issues’ with setting up forms on your home computer, I am showing you some labels that can be easily created using a website that specializes in photo gifts. There are plenty of them out there. I happen to think Pinhole Press puts out an exceptional quality product and the labels here were ordered from their website.
Using photos from my time at the beach and my own wording, I created both a beer bottle sized label and a wine sized label that I will use for the holidays. Now, no matter what bottle comes into the house, it will be right on theme! Aah!
I created one design for beer bottles and one for wine bottles. If you are challenged in the computer design/printing department, you can check out how easily you can create labels using Pinhole Press by clicking here.
I hope I have inspired you to create your own special labels!
Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
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christmas feathers
November 17, 2015
Last week wasn’t a very good week for my ‘to do’ list! The rainy days threw off my whole painting schedule. I was so disappointed because I had planned to paint furniture outside and I was eager to finish a very special piece I am currently working on. (More on that in a future post!) In addition, my holiday preparations pretty much came to a screeching halt as I got distracted with some cooking, cleaning, and all around general errands!
But, as I was washing all the windows in my house the other day, I started thinking about how I would add some feathers to my holiday décor. I love feathers and I really want to incorporate some into my sea glass theme for the holiday – especially since they remind me of seagulls.
So, I did get a little distracted from my windows with some holiday thoughts and I had to paint some feathers that evening while I had a vision! I decided I would paint some in metallic gold and some in metallic sea glass colors. They came out great and I know I will use them later in my place settings and maybe, also, in some of my gift wrap. And, by adding a gold thread to the feather, it turns into a beautiful holiday ornament!
Painted feathers are so beautiful and can really be adapted to any décor and are super easy to make. Just paint feathers using acrylic paint by applying it gently using cotton swabs.
I think these feathers will look great with my sea glass holiday décor. . .I hope I have inspired you to use some feathers in your décor!
Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
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diy sea themed advent calendar
November 10, 2015
I haven’t gathered up all the supplies I will need for my sea glass themed Christmas décor just yet, but I have been working on a few things and today I am sharing this year’s advent calendar.
The design I came up with to coordinate with my sea glass themed holiday, although a simple one, produced really beautiful results!
I started with Halloween candy from the clearance rack of a discount store. You know, that 75% off stuff?!
I wrapped up pieces of candy (the little boxes work really well) – one for each day – in white paper. With some natural twine, I tied a little beach find to each package…a piece of sea glass, a rock, a piece of driftwood…
Then, I added a number to each. (I made the numbers by printing them onto clear labels using my home printer and adhering them to each package.)
Next, I arranged each wrapped ‘day’ onto a wooden tray. So simple, yet so beautiful! Tucking a string of battery operated mini lights into the arrangement will add a beautiful glow to the natural materials I collected on the sand.
The perfect advent calendar for my sea glass Christmas theme! What do you think?
If this coastal look doesn’t go with your holiday theme, there are certainly many ways to change up the wrapped candy to accommodate whatever your theme may be. Here is an example of a variation using birch bark stars on the boxes instead of beach items. See how easy the calendar can be changed up to go with an outdoors theme? Use paper and decorative items that best fit with your décor. Then, arrange the packages in a basket, a silver bowl, a clear jar, or lined up on your mantel – whatever works for your holiday theme!
I hope I have inspired you to create your own version of an advent calendar. Seas & greetings! ;)
Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie
Sharing with Sand & Sisal, Thoughts from Alice, and Finding Silver Pennies.
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