Tea and the Sea

With fall mere weeks away, it is perhaps impractical to engage in sea-themed decorating since pumpkin patches and apple festivals are just around the corner. But you know what? I don't care! The older I get, the easier I find it to ignore the usual rules! So, the purchase of a new aqua-colored candle and some seaglass inspired me to create a little vignette as a reminder of my most recent trip to the beach.

Now, may I just say that some of the best purchases I've ever made are clear glass accessories, like this apothecary type jar. It's held tea bags and ribbons and, most recently, small colorfully packaged soaps. Here, I poured seaglass in the base, added my aqua candle—which I got just because the color of the glass was so pretty—and filled in the sides with seashells picked up from the beach last week. How easy! When fall arrives, it occurred to me, I might substitute an unscented candle in a fall color and fill in the base and sides with candy corn. Plus, that will give me an excuse to buy more candy corn! (Did y'all know there are now CANDY CORN M&M's in stores? I *might* have bought a bag of them this week …)

Everything else in this photo, I already had. The metal star was hanging in the living room, which now has a bare spot. Too bad!

The shell teapot is a piece I hot-glued together after a beach trip a few years back, and the conch shell artwork was among my sixth anniversary goodies from my sweet husband earlier this month.

The button teapot is another little doodad I crafted a while back. Hmmm. I clearly have a thing for hot-glue projects.

That teacup I wrote about yesterday? Well, it gets the addition of a feather I found on the beach, from a seagull or sandpiper, I guess. The blue makes such a nice background for it.

And, of course, shells. Love, love, love me some seashells. I find beauty in the shapes of the "perfect" ones as well as the "imperfect" ones, which I like to think of as Shabby Chic seashells. While at the beach, I picked up a wonderful book called "Waterside Cottages" by Barbara Jacksier and Dan Mayers. In one of the many delightful photographs, a cottage owner had set up a tea table with the sea as the backdrop. Can you imagine taking tea in such a setting? I can!