Twinkle twinkle, little starfish

The other day on our walk we ran into a couple massive starfish pockets. We are used to finding "pockets of shells" washed up on shore, but this was unlike anything we'd seen before. By the end of the walk we had more starfish than shells!

The first pocket was unusually close to our house and cove, in the past we walk probably four blocks distance before we find any shells. These starfish were within two blocks of the house.

It went on like this almost the entire length of the beach, one mile. At first we were picking them all up, but when we got them home some were just too beat up to keep, here's half our final haul.

Many other treasures were found as well, it was a really good beach combing day.

When we got home, I made us smoothies and then we got busy, painting and puttering, by the end of the afternoon, we had some great new decorations.

Some of our painted bottles worked, some didn't. We have since looked up the recipe for Mod Podge, and will try painting the bottles again.

Puppies, always want to be where the action is...

I'm going to cut this post short, because the Internet is acting up, and it's too frustrating. But know this, we are always doing and trying new things. I will try to share as much here as I can, so stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Shell projects

Some time ago I posted about all the shells and stuff we were finding on our beach walks, we'd started sorting them and cleaning them before we did our house sitting at La Boca. While at the Boca house, I got art supplies and got busy, made several different kind of Christmas tree ornaments and some things for possible gifts. Not really knowing who likes "crafty" gifts, I gave the ornaments to our friends Jim and Marty and kept the rest, the ornaments were a big hit, and I'll make more thru out the year for a tree of our own.

Even the twine used as hangers was found on the beach. I really liked the way these turned out and will make many for us. Also made some cutesy ones...

The legs and fins on the turtle ornaments were made from a found (or lost) flip flop we picked up on the beach. At first I was torn whether to paint the shells, because I really liked the "natural-ness" but after I painted one, I really liked it too, so I'll paint them whenever I want, this next one turned out good.

Shell Poinsettia, that I put on my "wreath" then was able to take it off after Christmas was over.

The form of this "wreath" is a broken 5 gallon bucket lid, the blue and turquoise twine  was found on the beach, as well as the lightbulb (which doesn't show well on this picture) and bottle caps. Very happy with my early projects, and after getting settled in the new house was able to work on phase two.

Really happy with how this wall hanging turned out, and LOVE IT against the turquoise wall paint, the close up shows that I added Tagua beads to it, just a little bit of color, and local flavor.

The one on the turquoise wall is approx 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 ft long, and the one above is bigger by a foot in both directions. Very pleased with how they turned out, and working on wind chimes now, who knew this pile could turn into such fun art...

Hope you've enjoyed seeing the fruits of our beach combing, as much as I've enjoyed playing with them. Stay tuned, the Adventure continues,one shell art project at a time!!

Is it really DECEMBER?

I really can't believe it's December, and we've been in Ecuador 6 whole months! WOW! It seems like yesterday boarding the Avianca plane in Quito, landing in Manta 35 minutes later, how humid it was when we got off the plane...glorious tho, compared to the cold weather in Quito. Crucita, on crutches, and the wheelchair, such a long time ago. Thankfully the ankle is well healed, hardly any pain, but I'm careful, this place can be treacherous. 

I'm not much of a news person, most of my "news" comes from Facebook, so I don't know much, ha ha! I do know that Black Friday happened, and that there has been some bad weather already. It all seems very distant living here. The weather is still the same, 75-80 F and combination of sunny and partial cloudy. We noticed a bit more wind in November, and some cooler days, but still never drops below 67 F. We don't hear Christmas music in every store we go into, as well as Christmas decorations are far less prevalent. We realized that decorations of any kind are kinda frivolous, as are tattoos and smoking cigarettes. Not to say they don't exist, just not as main stream as in the States, or other First World countries, Ecuador is definatly a Developing country. One area that has already "developed" is the mall, here's what we found the other day.

This mall has the grocery store/ hardware store we frequent. So nice to have it all under one roof.

Some things we are used to, Shasta Cola! The mall also has other stores, pet store, Hallmark and of course a Movie theater.

Appliance store, shoes and clothing, perfume, pharmacy, food court, pretty standard as far as Malls go. So here it is most certainly Christmas, but in the sleepy fishing village, you'd hardly know. Some restaurants have decorations, but not much. Maybe as it gets closer, because Christmas is a big holiday, it's just early...maybe

We have not decided if we want to purchase a tree, we saw some small artificial ones in Bahia for less than $20, and we've been getting supplies together for projects, making Christmas ornaments is one of those projects. The beach is full of supplies, and our trip to the mall got us some more at the Art supply store, glue gun, paint, glitter. Apple Barrel Craft paint that you can get 2/$1 sometimes with coupon at Jo-Anne's or Hobby Lobby are $2.41 with 12 percent tax, but cheaper than a flight back to the States, so we bought primary colors and will mix, not to mention most of the other items are free from the ocean and we really enjoy our beach combing.

I've been scouring Pinterest looking for crafty projects, and some ideas.

The possibilities are endless, as is the beach debris, I'm cleaning up the beach too, it's a win win! So on that note, maybe I'll get out there once more before lunch. The first 6 months has been a whirlwind, I'm hoping we can continue to get settled, and move forward. Stay tuned, the adventure continues!