The Sea is Calling

COUNTRY VIEW CHALLENGE is all about NAUTICAL this month...  I have a lot of ties to the nautical life, as a lot of my younger years were spent in and around the ocean...  we always spent the summers at the BEACH... near the SEA... and I always loved to swim in the ocean in places where today you wouldn't dare do that... way out where the sharks feed... I loved it...  the salty air, the gulls swooping down for the little tiny fish dinner, the crabs nibbling on toes, as you skipped thru the rocky shore line... oh I spent summers from Maine to Florida...  and then I found the MOUNTAINS...  well this challenge is about NAUTICAL... so get back on line Bonnie...  okay...  back on line... 

Well My DAD was always taken with the SEA... from the time he was a little boy... so was my Mom, but I have done so many things about her... and needed to do some on my DAD... so here is one for you Dad...  (he passed in 2000 )  Since this Challenge originates in the UK, there might be some things that I am not if you did or not... so please be patient with me... thanks... 

 

This is my little tin box... smaller than an Altoid tin...  but the same general idea...  it is about as thick as one... just a little shorter... 

 

Okay... on the top... (and I will show you before pictures also...)  there is a clam shell...  as a child I can remember these shells being used as ashtrays, and also as lawn ornament around your sandy 'lawn'  but then it became fashionable to have some that were painted... always with a sailing ship... and sea oriented things painted on the inside...  these were eventually treated like JUNK and tossed... but I can still remember how much I loved them... so I found a picture of a ship and put it into this clam shell.. 

 

That conch shell and the other shells were all found on the beaches by my Mom and me...  we would spend hours looking for the pretty perfect little shells... there is also a small crab claw here too... 

 

Don't forget this box is only about 2 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall...  not very big... so these shells are tiny... 

 

 

This is all about my DAD... 

From the time he was a little boy... he use to wear a sailor suit top... and use to tell him Mom that some day he would be a real sailor...  (picture on the left side of the box... ) 

So on the right is My DAD as a sailor as a grown up... not under the best of circumstances... World War II  ... 1942... 

 

My Dad was born near the sea... and he lived near the sea most of his life...  he worked in NYC for over 40 years and use to work in the Chrysler building and use to go to the top during his lunch time to see the SEA...  Lady Liberty... the rivers and all the Water...  he LOVED the sea...  

 

So I wanted to make sure he had it all around him here too... he is not in the water... just looking at it.. LOL..   

 

 

I really almost changed my whole piece around after I got these two panel done... but kept on going...  I really loved them... 

When looking in my stamp DRAWERS for sea/ocean stamps.. .I found things I didn't know I had... SHOCK!!!!  wow...

So I had these really tiny little stamps and had a blast with making the underwater grasses, fishes... and all the other things...  so much fun...  wow... these stamps are tiny... about 1/3 of an inch and smaller...  TINY....so you can really create a picture with them...

 

Even little star fish, sand dollars, and Sea Horse... and BUBBLES for the fishies...   

When I was in my stamp drawer... I also found some really nice gold charms from the sea collections...  a star fish, a mermaid, and all kinds of others... but I kept to only one... hey this tin is small...  I did put a few little shells and some tulle around... 

 

Tiny little scrabble letters on a tiny domino piece that was inked etc... up in the corner... and then lots of shells and glass pieces from the sea... 

 

My DAD in his adult Sailor suit... 

 

 

 

A funny picture of my Dad, but his mother was standing behind him, and he must have been saying something... as his mouth is open... LOL.. 

 

This is what the top looked like prior to adding the shells... it got a little rusted at the top...  and then the blue pebbles are actually texture paste that I used a Wendy Vecchi leaf stencil to create... they also looked like small pebbles... I wanted this to be blue and like the bottom of the ocean... 

 

THE MUSIC... doesn't the SEA

SING A SONG to you??? 

 

It sure does to me... 

 

 

The little clam shell with the picture in it... 

 

 

So that is my NAUTICAL piece for the

 COUNTRY  VIEW   CHALLENGE...

 

I do hope you will take a look over on the site at all the entries both by the Design Team and the rest of us... 

Thanks so very much for stopping here today, for a visit... and I really appreciate all the lovely comments you are all leaving me... I cherish each and every one of them... 

 

Love, Light and Peace...Bonnie