it rained here last night, mother nature is doing her own spring cleaning! thank you for all the kind comments on my last post, i loved hearing all your ways of handling (or not) the accumulations in your lives. i should have made that last post part one, because i've got more to share!
the very first picture is part of my international garden. australia and south africa seem to like coastal california, don't those plants look happy? and the oranges and geraniums are too, everything is so colorful already.
and the rest of the photos are part of my collection of sand from beaches around the world. i guess you can see i have a thing about labeling also, (thank you for the circle label love). i'm behind on labeling the sand bottles, but the idea was to use a bit of shell and rock or sometimes even feathers from a place and add them to the label. i love the vintage bottles and i just realized i collect those too. oh dear.
the sea glass has been collected for many years. mostly on the beach in mexico. when i look at it i think of the hours and hours i spent in quiet solitude. looking for mermaids tears (beach glass) really have been some the best times in my life.
thank you for enjoying these things that bring so much joy to me!
♥ lori
All of your things are gorgeous. I have a bit of a problem with stuff too. It sounds like everyone does! I tried to read up a bit on how best to manage it all and realized all I've done is start another collection of decluttering and organizational books. My biggest problem is that I'm afraid to get rid of anything because you just never know...
ReplyDeleteAs odd as it may sound, having kids is what helped me the most. I had to declutter just to make the space safe. Also, as a stay at home mom I need my space to be somewhat organized; my home is my world since I'm here at least 20 out of 24 hours.
Your collections are obviously well organized. That's what makes them charming and welcoming instead of cluttered. If it makes you happier to have them than to get rid of them, keep 'em!
I like all of the colors here, especially the blues. I have a friend who makes jewelry out of sea glass, but she says that it is getting harder to find because more people use plastic than glass these days.
ReplyDeleteOh, Lori, I just want to move into your world! Those colors - stunning!! And I love your collection of sand from beaches you've been to. And then those gorgeous bottles and lovely labels. You really have an eye for how to arrange things... Just beautiful!! Love, Silke
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea to put a beach in a bottle.
ReplyDeleteI pick up stones from the beach every time I go to Devon or Wales or actually anywhere that has stones on the beach. But I love your idea better of remebering and seeing where each beach was, mine are just all jumbled up together.
xx
I have that same exact quantity of beachglass, and I pride in the quantity of precious blue and brown pieces in my collection. Except mine are not tidily kept in a pretty bowl on the mantle... they're scattered in pockets, shelves, handbag bottoms, in corners of my desk, boxes and in my son's beach bag (which is always ready by the front door, all year round–you never know when the beach craving will come).
ReplyDeleteLoved taking another look in your home. The sands are gorgeous. Gorgeous!!
I just love old bottles and sea glass (I never heard them called mermaid tears before--I love that!) and my aunt collected sand. I might have to start doing that, too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to put sand from different beaches you've been to into gorgeous blue bottles! I might have to steal that! So very cute and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I got my tattoo done last weekend up in Santa Barbara...and I totally thought of you :)
Stunning colors and textures! Those bottles are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteyou know i haven't told you this before but i love how your house is so beachy. you know...beach themed. it's not even a theme. it just comes naturally to your home and it's gorgeous. i love the colors, the feel, the energy that the pictures of your home brings. :)
ReplyDeleteYippeeee I recognised the gazanias immediately . . . . . oooooh they're coming along so nicely.
ReplyDeleteI love the sea bottles and the colours are so beautiful so calming I can almost hear the sea
I have never seen seaglass, or mermaid tears. Here we have amber. Oh, what a bag full of memories you have created. So lovely, Lori. Is your house big enough for all the shelves?
ReplyDeleteagain so impressed with the zen like tidyness of your collections!! beautiful colours - the red, orange and blue
ReplyDeletelove the sand collection xx
Hello Lori,
ReplyDeleteI like your collections of things. I have lots of books and lots of teddy bears.
I can't believe its British Summer Time here in the UK now the clocks have finally changed and what happens, it rains! All the time... actually that's a bit of a lie, because the sun has just come out!
That's creative - sand from favorite vacations stored in pretty bottles. So much better than anything sold in souvenir shops!
ReplyDeletedear whitney lee,
ReplyDeletethank you :)
that is so funny, a book collection, sounds like me. it isn't weird at all, that's how it was for me too. i was a stay at home mom for 22 years, it was really important to be organized with five children. at one point i felt i could write a book on it!
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dear jennifer,
the great thing about sea glass is it's really trash, so picking it up is a good thing and using it in projects is even better!
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dear silke,
thank you sweetie! i really appreciate that coming from your artistic eye. it means alot. :)
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dear mandy,
i have done that too with rocks, i haven't figured out a way to organize them. it's okay though, looking at them brings the good memories!
i had to come back here (under a different dress and name) because i needed this. do you have any idea how relaxing and peaceful it is here, among your things, in the sunlight of your rooms? i needed a place where i could just stay in silence, listen to the waves crashing and dip my hand in the bowl of mermaid tears...
ReplyDeletehow does it feel to be surrounded by beauty like that?
love you,
lola
After seeing these photos, I feel like I have been on a lovely vacation! You have a true gift for displaying your treasures. I really love the tags on the bottles, and they idea of bringing sand from various beaches and displaying it in beautiful blue bottles - inspired!!
ReplyDeleteYou are an artist and your collections are lovely.
Thank you for sharing!!!
Lori those oranges look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteYum... so lovely to have fruit in your own garden.
oooh i love all that glass... the bottles, the sea... all of it.
I enjoy the world around us collections more than ready made objects. Things collected from our natural world.
Yet having said that I appreciate and enjoy the creativity people do too...man made ;)
love to you xx Robyn
ps...
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of jewellery from sea glass in Butternut's comment
I imagine it to be beautiful
I'm going to make a wild guess here....you like the beach? ;D Stunning display! Your home should be featured in some home decorating magazine. And oh my goodness, that is a LOT of sea glass! Gorgeous doesn't even begin to describe it.
ReplyDeleteHave a fantastic weekend, Lori!
That really is an amazing amount of seaglass and the color - wow!
ReplyDeleteTalking about sand... I have this little bottle where I keep some special kind of sand from the Okinawa Island ( Japan ) that look like tiny stars.
ReplyDeleteI´ve posted a photo here if you want to see it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itigomina/3248821518/in/set-72157604441224829/
I think nature is absolutely perfect, isn´t it, Lori?
dear lola,
ReplyDeletei have it in all those places too, and in crafts that i've made, i love to find it everywhere! thank you so much for the sweet comment.
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dear aden,
it's a fun thing to collect, just make sure it's okay to take from first! some beaches it's prohibited.
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well tracy...
i wonder if it was the same place my kids have gone to... i saw the photos. you look happy! like i said! thanks for liking my idea too!
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thank you rosaria! they are really pretty in person.
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dear kavita,
you are really so sweet to say that. i think your own home will go through changes now that your married, including both your tastes and styles. i think anytime you surround yourself with things you love, it's all good.
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janet,
i am REALLY excited the seeds are doing so well. can't wait for flowers.
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dear geli,
oh the things i have are really very small, except for books, but theres always room for one more book!
is amber on the beach there in usedom? shall i send you some mermaids tears? :)
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dear val,
thanks so much, wish i'd have remebered to take a bit of sand from that sandbar we stood on on the zambezi. :)
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dear sammi,
i don't think i've ever had even one teddy bear! i do love to collect books though! wish we'd get more rain here.
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dear tina,
i agree, so many times we are in places where there are no shops anyway, so this works.
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lola,
your words are so beautiful... there is so much beauty around us everywhere, i'm convinced, we only have to look. and then act like a packrat/magpie and bring some home!! thank you. ♥
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judy,
thank you so much for such kind words, i really appreciate them.
i never think of myself as an artist, but it is something i'd like to be.
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dear robyn,
we used to try to make jewelry in high school, i failed miserably. but i have used the glass in other craft projects, i love it so much.
i agree, i compulsivly collect in nature, but i love most anything handmade.
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dear bella,
it is A LOT! i have no idea how many hours of searching that bowl represents, but i'm sure it's years of my life! it gives me so much pleasure though, i love it.
thank you for such kind words, and i hope your having a lovely weekend away!
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mina,
thank you for sharing your sand with me, i saw it and it does look like tiny stars! acutally it looks like this tiny pasta you can buy here!
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Lori, your collection is eye candy. What a wonderful idea you have, collecting sand from your travels. I - like you - like to surround myself with things that mean something to me. Memory kindling ... thanks for the stunning photos ... they have a Zen like feel to them.
ReplyDeleteAll so beautiful, but the mermaid's tears are my favourite.
ReplyDeleteVery precious collections !
Beach glass! One summer when I was in high school I baby sat for friends all summer at the beach and what a collection I gathered, too. My mom has it in a brandy snifter as I moved around a lot and didn't want to lose track of it. I need to ask for it back!
ReplyDelete