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When you go down to the beach, keep your eyes open for the elusive Martinique necklace...

Is it hiding in the rocks?  

No, nope with the sea glass.  How about over there with the driftwood? 

Yup, there it is!  

You just never know what treasure you will discover if you keep your eyes open.  

And if you want to be the first to shop new treasures in my collections, then sign up to my email list - Insiders always have first dibs!

Beach treasure is everywhere you look.  At the water's edge...

Tucked into a tide pool in the rock crevasses...

And hanging around on driftwood...

The discovery of the treasure is half the fun.  Or maybe that is really most of the fun!  

Want to be the first to discover my new pieces upon their release?  Then sign up for my email notifications.  Insiders  always have first dibs on new pieces.  

I love the beach, whether it be at the seaside or by a lake.  Beaches and the shoreline are such interesting places that I could spend all day exploring and discovering.  

But I also love the forest!  That is where the faeries and gnomes live, right!?! This makes it the perfect place for my imagination.  

I know, what about a beach by a forest?!  Perfect.....

Another perfect thing? Well that's when you get to shop new pieces first because you have signed up for my email list.  Just do it!

At the beginning of the month, I was going to write about our journey into fall.  It's the time of year when jackets go on and the sunrise happens at the same time as I am leaving for my day job, creating lovely mornings.  

And then the fires in Washington and Oregon got worse, and the smoke shifted over us, even here on Vancouver Island.  At first, it created tequila sunrises, all reds and oranges and purples.

Then the sun had to scramble to be seen through the haze, until the smoke engulfed us all, creating terrible, awful, no good air quality.  

We endured for about two weeks, hunkering inside when normally September is a wonderful time to be outside here.  

Finally, this weekend, the winds pushed the smoke away from us and we can face the fall season.  

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I love to find treasure - to follow clues and uncover the secret. It almost doesn't matter what it is.  

When I was little, my mother would write clues for me to find my birthday presents and I would have to go on a hunt around the house.  One year she used this technique to give me a bicycle - my first two wheeler!  

To this day, I love mysteries and exploring and discovering interesting things or facts.  

What do you like to discover?  

If you want to be the first to see what new treasures I reveal in my collections, then you must be signed up for my email list.  Insiders always shop first.   And I am working on new pieces now, that will be one of a kind or limited editions.  Go ahead and enter your email in the space below. 

I have talked about my Captiva earrings and Capella pendant before.  

And with the summer weather finally arrived, having these two simple pieces of jewelry to throw on makes my day. 

I thought I would show them off "in action" together.  This is the other morning, waiting for the bus. If I turn to my left, I can gaze out over Haro straight.   The birds, deer and bunnies can all make appearances.  It's not quite as rural as it looks, but it is peaceful.

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Have you ever had a change of perspective?  One that made you wonder and gave you hope?  I was talking about choice and decisions in my last post.  My modus operandi being "take charge" to follow my path, and also allowing whims to take centre stage in my choices.  

This week, I had a different experience.  Instead of looking for a way to muscle my way through, because I *think* I have to, I have taken a bit of step backwards to consider where I AM. 

To consider how being where I am works in my favour, instead of against me.  Instead of struggling to the "next" thing because I am "supposed" to want it, do it, be it (who the heck decided that anyway!?!), I am settling in to the flow.  

So much easier than trying to swim upstream.  

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I talk about how I draw my inspiration from the ocean flora and fauna.  But it's not just what's in the water, it's also what the water casts ashore.  And what the ocean alters.

Like driftwood. Driftwood is pummelled, soaked and tumbled by the ocean and at the same time smoothed and transformed.  Weathered into revealing it's beauty. 

Gathering driftwood gives me a touch stone to the creative ideas that have been tumbling around in my brain for awhile.  Can't wait to see what they turn into.  

I am working on a few new pieces for release later this month.  If you want to be first to shop them, get on my email list!  Enter your email in the space provided below.  

Canada Day has me thinking about, well, Canada. {Funny how that works} Canada is bound on 3 sides by the sea. Only 2 of our provinces do not touch ocean at all.    

I have lived only in BC and have visited several provinces.  But it's the islands that draw me.  I live now on Vancouver Island in a place where I can see the ocean everyday.  It is the place I have lived the longest.  

Prince Edward Island, on the opposite coast, is in some ways a world away.  It is, however, where my grandmother's family is from and I have a connection with the place.  I visited there in 2004, saw where my grandmother grew up and dipped my toes in the Atlantic Ocean.  

Thus, on Canada Day, I realize my connection to the country of my birth and reflect on how that has seeped into my being. 

I.AM.CANADIAN

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When I was little, I found a piece of beaver chewed driftwood.  I thought it looked an awful lot like Piglet, Winnie-the-Pooh's side kick (one of my favourite stories). 

When I told my grandfather that the stick looked like Piglet and that I wanted him to put agates on it for Piglet's eyes, he had no idea who Piglet was!  My 6 year old self was astonished - how could he not know?!!!!

So, we traded - he gave (driftwood) Piglet eyes and my mom and I read him the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.  

Now, I am matching driftwood with my bronze jewelry - it helps keep the memories close.  What do you have that keeps your memories close?

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World Oceans Day is to put a spotlight on our blue planet.  To celebrate and honour our oceans and work together to restore and conserve them.  

Here, in the Salish Sea, June is also Orca Month, highlighting the habitat of the resident population of orcas.  

I decided to celebrate with my orca and some sea treasures.  This Ocean Curl pendant has a graceful, orca like curve, so it joined the party as well.  

How will you honour the ocean?  

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The Ballenas necklace is named after an island group off the coast of Vancouver Island, relatively close to home.  

Ballenas is Spanish for whale; and true enough, orcas can be sighted around the islands. 

Ballenas, the necklace, as I described in this post, is classy, yet organic.  It's {wait for it} a whale of a necklace! 

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