'Twas the week before Christmas and down by the beach,

My family and I rested, the phone out of reach.

The orders all went out for Seaside Designs,

To shop fronts and customers in the nick of time.

The studio is closing for just a little while,

but we'll be back soon with a big smile.

For we will have new goodies, and sea-inspired things,

From stationery and soaps to jewlery that blings.

So go to your families for this special holiday time,

And we'll see you back here in 2009! 

Seas & Greetings!

Rebecca

Seaside Designs

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

You can find me in the shop!

and remember...free shipping until December 5th!

Seas & Greetings!

Free shipping (US delivery only) at the shop until December 5th!

Free gift with every order until December 5th!

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Things...

Just added a bunch of new things to the shop including these pretty glittery starfish, holiday sea glass soaps, sea glass wreaths and more!

Coastal Christmas Open House

Last weekend at By the Sea Driftwood Company in Orleans, Massachusetts, my good friend Catherine Wissmann and I held our third annual Coastal Christmas Open House.  Catherine, from By The Sea, creates amazing functional driftwood art and furniture.  The combination of her art and my seaside products are a perfect match.
Her quaint studio is behind her home which is restored sea captains house.  I just love this space and it looks so pretty all decorated with our things!
We will be holding our second open house the first weekend in December with more seaside goodies and coastal holiday art and decorations.  Be sure to sign up on our mailing list 

(right over there --->) to get a reminder of the dates and times...or check back here as I'll be posting all that info soon.
I love creating new things for this annual event.  It really lets me explore new ideas and I like the opportunity to get really creative.  Like the sea glass sailboat picture above (next to one of my sea glass taper candle holders).
Or this cute sea glass wreath that I just adore.  I made a few of these in other color scapes...blues, greens, whites.  The above is the aqua version.  (PS:  I'll be adding these and some other new holiday goodies to the shop within the next few days!)
A little forest of seaside trees.  What a great way to decorate a seaside home for the holidays!
Some new sea glass jewelry.  These drops are about 4" long and hang from a silver neckwire.
A sea shell windchime....this really sounds pretty clanking together in the breeze.

Thanks again Catherine for the fun weekend and for the opportunity to sell at your beautiful studio.  I'm really looking forward to the December one!

Coastal Christmas

Join Seaside Designs and By The Sea Driftwood Company 

for their 3rd annual

Coastal Christmas Open House

Friday, Novermber 7th, 12-8

Saturday, November 8th, 10-5

Sunday, Novemer 9th, 12-5

Come shop by the sea for driftwood wreaths, mirrors and frames, coastal style holiday decorations, ornaments and garlands, seaside stationery, beach jewelry and seaside home fragrance products

at the studio and shop of By The Sea Driftwood Company

94 West Road

Orleans, MA  

508.240.5783 or 508.349.0442 for more information

Building Community

The project I have been working on for three years, finally came to life this week.  Designed by children, and built by the community, our playground, Puma Park, was built over the course of 5 days by about 500 volunteers.

Replica of our town's lighthouse, Highland Light

I am now a better person for having this experience.  We not only built a playground, we built community.  For more information about community built playgrounds, visit our partner in planning, Leathers Associates.  For more information about Puma Park, please visit our website here.  And please check out our slideshow of the opening day celebration.  Have some tissues ready!

Upcoming events

The autumn and the Holiday seasons are full of fun craft shows, markets and festivals, and I just wanted to let you all know of a few that Seaside Designs will be exhibiting at.  

October 18 & 19 Wellfleet Oyster Festival.  This festival is always so much fun.  There's loads of yummy seafood and lots of amazing art from local artisans.  Check it out if you're on the Cape or even if you're not...it's totally worth it!

Coastal Christmas Open House 2007

Then it's our annual Coastal Christmas Open house over at By the Sea Driftwood Company with my dear friend Catherine.  She makes amazing driftwood and found beach treasure art and furniture.  We are doing two weekends this year, November 14th, 15th & 16th and then again December 5th, 6th & 7th.   Our products work so well together and her shop is really like a little sea cottage so the ambiance is perfect.  I'll post more info, hours, etc. soon.  If you would like us to send you an email invitation or snail mail invite, please sign up on our mailing list over on the Seaside Designs website.

Harvest

The last of the summer tomatoes.  These romas will be made into a sauce and those little orange guys?  Those are Sungold Cherries.  The ABSOLUTE best cherry tomatoes you can grow.  From two gallon pots I got bowls and bowls full of them and they are the sweetest, most delicious cherry toms I have ever eaten.  Like popping gumballs...really.

I made a great recipe the other night.  I kind of followed a simple recipe for coleslaw, but doctored it up and made it into a sort of Fall-ish version. Try it...you'll love it!

FALL HARVEST SLAW

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and thinly sliced

4 cups shredded green cabbage (about 1/2 a head, or use the bagged already shredded)

4 cups shredded red cabbage (about 1/2 a head, or use the bagged)

1 Cucumber, seeded and chopped

3/4 cups dried cranberries

3/4 cups roasted Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup cider vinegar (use the good, thick stuff like Braggs)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup light olive oil

2 t. sea salt

1/2 t. fresh ground pepper

Toss first 6 ingredients.  Mix up all the rest of the ingredients well and pour over slaw.  Combine well and serve right away.   Enjoy!

Changes...

This time of year, many things are-a-changin'.  The weather, the sunset time, the schedules, the blog.  I thought I'd change things up a little and bring a touch of fall to my blogging world.  Do you like?  I'll be bringing many more changes to my stores soon too.  Please stay tuned for all my new fall and holiday goodies including my limited time only Seaside Harvest and Seaside Holiday Sea Glass Soaps (we got great feedback on these last year, so we thought we'd bring them back this year!), holiday garlands, shell creations, holiday cards and gift tags, ornaments and much more.  I'll have pictures soon....promise!

For Jeannette...

These are for you my dear, dear sister-in-law, Jeannette.  Jeannette who just moved to Miami, just had baby number three, and just got hit by tropical storm Fay in a big way.  Lots of wetness there...so much so that I heard rumors of your husband and son kayaking down your street.  Oh Jeannette, I'm thinking of you and I think I found you the perfect gift to brave the waters with in your front yard.  Behold:

Pick your color and they're yours!

xo B

What day is it?

Since August is already here and poised to fly by just like June and July did, I thought it's never too early to start thinking about 2009.   So, here you go... my new 2009 Seaside Desk Calendar!

12 pages of seaside style including a pink shrimp (Ms. May) and of course, a red lobster (Mr. December).  

Printed on pure white, heavy weight card stock, my Seaside Desk Calendar comes packaged in a clear jewel case that doubles as a display stand.  Go check out the shop for one for your very own!

Free publicity

Recently, a lot of people have been coming in to the restaurant saying they saw a picture of us in the NY Times. So, with the help from my dear friend Cathy, I tracked down a copy. It was actually in the style section a couple of Sunday's ago...cute!

Photo:  Dean Isidro for The New York Times

The article was about menswear style.  Apparently, cutoffs are back in for guys (See above photo).

On another note...we had another celebrity sighting in the restaurant the other night. Anthony Bourdain and some friends and family came in to eat. He said that everyone told him that we were the "Place to go". VERY cool.  I love him...cool food point of view-he tells it like it is.  His book Kitchen Confidential is a great read.  In fact, parts of it took place in Provincetown where he got his culinary start.

I just love this....

I have to tell you about Allison.  Allison Strine is clever, creative, colorful...

I run like a girl.

Allison creates these amazing collaged works that she makes into pendants, magnets, cards and wall art.  She captures perfectly clever sayings and whimsical original art in each piece she creates.  Reading through her website, I have to wonder if a book is in her future...such a funny, smart way with words.  Go check out her shop for yourself....

Happy Festivus!

Tonight is opening night of Provincetown, Massachusetts Portuguese Festival and Blessing of the Fleet.  This is a big weekend in town that celebrates Provincetown Portuguese heritage and the towns fishing fleet.  Our restaurant is once again invited to make and serve up the opening night dinner.  Dinner for 250?  No problem-o!  Hubby, I and our crew are making our restaurants famous clam chowder, salmon, shrimp, scallop and veggie kabobs served over Portuguese rice (hot and spicy!) and I just finished making and baking 300 assorted cookies for dessert.  It's a pretty casual event but fun.  We get to drink some great Portuguese wine and beer too!  Neither my husband or I are of Portuguese descent so it's an honor that we keep getting asked to make the food for the event.  

Other happenings in town this weekend include a fishing derby, kids games and a cookout, Portuguese soup tasting, lots of food and drink, a block party, a parade (of course, Puma Park will be represented!) and the weekend culminates in a mass and the blessing of the fishing fleet on Sunday.  Pretty fun stuff.  Now, if only the weather will cooperate....

Twice in one day

Again on the front page of Etsy!!  I've been a member there for about a year and never a front page until today...twice!!  Do I hear three?  Thanks uncorked for including my limpet earrings in your beautiful treasury!

Etsy front page

What a great way to start the day....my Beach Sand Votive Holders on the front page of Etsy!   (It's really a big deal for those of you who don't know!)  Thank you marieflyfly!  Hope you have a wonderful day too!

Hello friends...

Ship happens. Yup. Sorry for the long absence. Summer has begun and my life is going in twenty thousand different directions at all times, all hours of every day. This, this and this have been keeping me busy and away from blogging as much as I'd like. So, I thought I'd do a little re-entry post profiling some of my new cards that will all be available in the shop.  My hand-glittered cards are all made on 30% PCW (that's my fancy stationers lingo for Post Consumer Waste) recycled paper and with 30% PCW envelopes too. I'm trying to keep things green around here, like this little jelly on this card:

Here's another favorite....perfect for all the graduations going on this time of year:

And for all my friends and family. I cannot do any of what I do on a daily basis without all of you.

In other news....my BABY turned SEVEN on Friday!!!  We celebrated her special day with a pool party with family and a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop.  And of course, today is Father's Day.  My husband is one of the hardest working people I know and he really deserved something super special on this day, so the girls and I got him this.  He's been playing with it all day.  I'm so happy to get him something he really wanted...he deserves it!!

Oh, and by the way, remember this post?  Well, season 4 starts tomorrow on Showime...tune in and if my products made the cut and are indeed "dressing" the set of Weeds and if you happen to catch a glimpse, leave a comment and I'll send along a sweet little goodie straight from Ole Cape Cod for the first person to say they saw something!

Have a great week everyone and I'll write soon....promise!

new things...

Hi all...

just added some new things to my shop on ETSY.

Go check it out for some more sea glass soaps, cards, beach jewelry and more!

incommunicado

I have an excuse....

I've been so busy helping get the restaurant open and fill many Memorial Day Weekend orders for Seaside Designs that I literally have not had a second to catch up.  We opened the doors to the restaurant yesterday at noon to a great response.  This is our seventh (!) season open.  We have grown in leaps and bounds since that first Memorial Day Weekend....we actually know what we are doing now!  If you are in the area between now and Columbus Day Weekend, stop by and have a bite or sign up for one of our Lobstering excursions.  Cape Cod Life Magazine just voted us the gold award for "Best Kids Activity on the Outer Cape" as well as the silver award for "Best Restaurant Reachable by Boat".   very cool.  

Got Oysters?

Just got word that we got accepted into the Wellfleet Oyster Festival craft fair!  It's a really big event in our area that draws tons of people to the Cape in late October.  Over the course of the weekend there are road races, tons of fresh seafood to eat, great beer to drink, great crafts from local artisans and of course, the oyster shuck off!  Come and visit our booth October 18th & 19th in Wellfleet center....we'll have lots of great stuff for early holiday shopping.  We will have more, local retail events listed soon so please check back!

Catalog

It's here!  The new catalog:This is just the front page of it, but I'm very proud of how it came out.  I designed the catalog in iwork with Pages.  What a great program if you have a Mac.  It's very easy to use and it integrates well with iphoto and iweb.  I love the results, so idone!

If you are a retailer interested in the Seaside Designs Line, please contact me to receive our new 2008 catalog.  For retail customers, please see our Etsy shop for some one-of-a-kind goodies as well as some of the new products.

For my buddy

Look what I just ordered for my Glitter Girl:

I got the matching lead too!  Go check out Cape Cod Collars.  Wellfleet based artist Cheryl Gidman is the creator of these wonderful collars for Cape Cod dogs.  This will look fab on my little Tallulah!

New seaside goodies

Ok, sorry...so it's been a while, but I'm back!  And with treats!!

The catalog is (finally!) done, my cruddy illness is gone, the sun is shining, and life is once again good!  As are these fabulous new rings now available in the shop:

They are just so neat!  They are actually plastic, if you can believe it, printed with some of our own designs and then heated and shaped into a perfect ring.  

Yikes...get this girl some lotion!!  

Anyway, if you are a retailer out there interested in my lines of seaside goodness, just give me a shout....I'll mail you (or save a tree and I'll email you) a copy of the new catalog in a jiffy!

Bags and headbands and ribbon belts...oh my!

Add a little spring color and style into your life and hop on over to Keeks and Brie...

How cute is that bag?  I'm a total sucker for madras...

Keeks and Brie have cute ribbon headbands, stylish bags inspired by and named after some of my favorite places, key rings, belts, hair accessories and a lot of other colorful creations sure to pick you up even on the gloomiest of days.  They even have the cutest little mermaid holding a bag logo.

So go get your spring color on, because mother nature just isn't doing it yet here on the Cape!

Gift Show

Normally this time of year I am gearing up and exhibiting at the Boston Gift Show.  It is a local, wholesale gift show where I display my goods for regional buyers to look at and order for their stores for the upcoming busy season.  This year will be the first time in three that I will not be exhibiting.  I really love going to the show, being around creative people and talking to all my fantastic retailers, but this year, due to some schedule conflicts, I cannot be there.  Here is a photo of last year's booth:

I scored a coveted corner booth (great visibility) and I really loved how it ended up looking.  

If there are any of my retailers out there reading this, don't worry that you can't find me there...I have not closed up shop!  You will be receiving a new catalog in the mail very soon and I will even come and visit you if you would like to see samples in person!  I have all kinds of new goodies this year....LOTS of new cards and paper goods, new beachy jewelry, fun new soaps and home fragrance products, and of course, all the best sellers from season's past like my famous, original Sea Glass Soaps and Seaside Potpourri.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Not again...

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!!  This is round two of some sort of flu for me this winter and I am over it!  And just when I was getting so productive...

Sorry to everyone who is waiting on orders from me....I promise I'm working on it!  

Enough of my pitty post...

Peace-out.

Hello Hollywood!

Remember that news I was hinting at in yesterdays post?  Well, I just packed up a tidy little box headed for Hollywood, California.  It is going to the set dresser for the Showtime show Weeds!  They found me through one of my online affiliates, Cottage & Bungalow. Who knows what will become of my little seaside treasures and what they will use them for on the set, but all I know is the package HAD to be there for this coming weekend. Anyway, they requested my sea glass sun catchers, my glitter starfish ornaments and my popular beach sand letters:

So, all you Showtime and Weeds fans out there, be on the lookout for my seaside goodies when season 4 of Weeds begins on June 16th...Oh, and please let me know if you see them!

Color Stripes

You have to check out a new favorite blog of mine.  It's called Kris's Color Stripes.  It's a very clever concept and really makes you SEE what you are looking at.  Check it out for some color inspiration.

Have some cool business related news to share...but it'll have to wait till tomorrow!  

Happy Birthday to Sue!

In honor of my friend Sue's birthday, please visit her super funny blog here.  She has such a keen and witty take on life on the Cape and insights into her own life.  She is a fantastic photographer as well....her things are available here to purchase.  She is also someone behind the organization  Women Of Fishing Families (or WOFF).  WOFF is a group of women in Chatham that have some sort of tie to the fishing communities.  They fundraise for fishing families in need and educate others on the fishing industry.  Come support them at the Chatham Maritime Festival on Saturday, May 10th, Noon till 10pm.  There will be lots of local, fresh seafood to eat, cool local crafts to buy and live entertainment.  All proceeds support the fishing communities and families, so come on out to the Cape for some early May fun!

Just beautiful!

In need of some pretty, fantastic and pretty fantastic jewelry?  My sweet friend Kim has such an amazing eye for color, texture and pattern, and does pretty amazing wire work and beaded jewelry.  I especially love this fishy necklace...so pretty!!
And this stunner:

Check out all of her other beautiful jewels here.  You won't be disappointed!!  

Back to reality...

Tanned, refreshed, relaxed and ready to tackle the busy time ahead! Our trip to Florida was great...the kids had fun, the adults had fun...couldn't be better!  

Now, back to reality....

Spring here on the Cape is crazy...all the local businesses are gearing up for the summer season, painting, refurbishing, updating, stocking and making plans.  I too am in that mode, creating the new products and updating and printing my new catalog and filling some wholesale orders too. Like this batch of our famous Sea Glass Soaps...off to a sunny, warm, tropical locale:

This basket is awaiting some labels but they will look like this when they are done:

Our Sea Glass Soaps are one of those products that people just love and keep coming back for more.  We've been making these since the early beginnings of Seaside Designs in 1999, and they have just gotten better over the years.  You have to see and smell these in person...they really look like little pieces of sea glass.  They smell super-fantastic too....like the seaside.  Check out the shop if you would like some for yourself....or look on our website for a store near you.

Happiest place on Earth?

Yup, we are doing it...a trip to Orlando!  I'm not a huge fan of the actual Magic Kingdom, but it's for the girls and they will love it, therefore, I will love it!  I'm actually really looking forward to going to Seaworld, The Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios the most, but I'm REALLY  longing for a day or two just being lazy by the pool watching the girls swim and splash around like mermaids.  We will be gone for a week, not great timing because I'm still trying to get the new lines and catalog released for the spring, but maybe it'll give me some warm weather inspiration...I'm really sick and tired of the 35 degree pelting rain we've been having!  When we return I will have all kinds of goodies to show you...jewelry, fragance and stationery...oh my!  Wait, that's the Wizard of Oz, not Disney.  See, I'm already confused!  Have a great week everyone!

Hmmm...

A new little project I'm working on.  This ginormous clothespin (4 1/2" X 1") is hand-painted and then I overlaid it with my little fish paper that I designed.  I then put a fair amount of varnish on it to create a subtle sheen.  This can be used to hold a photo, hold together documents or maybe I'll attach a magnet to the back and it could be perfect for the fridge.  Hmmm.....I'll have to see where this project will go from here.

Playground

I strongly feel that one should embrace the community that they live in and support any and all projects that they can.  My pet project in addition to my design company and the restaurant is a community playground in my town of Truro, Massachusetts.  About two years ago a town selectman, Curtis Hartman, and I got to talking about what our town needs and I felt that it really needed a playground.  So, fast-forward a couple of years and here we are elbows deep in planning an amazing playground for our town.  Yesterday was "design day" when a designer from Leathers & Associates, came to our little town to gather all the ideas about ideal playgrounds from the children of the community.  He then took their ideas and drafted a design on the spot with our location and budget in mind.  We concluded the day with a party to celebrate the design and we look forward to the community building of the playground in October.  We have an amazing group of people backing this project and I feel honored to be a part of it.  

Glitter Girl

Working all day alone can be a little too quiet sometimes.  I'm able to focus and concentrate in the stillness but I miss the hustle and bustle of my daughters running around and chatting. Meet Tallulah...my constant sidekick in the studio.  She finds all the stray beads rolling around on the floor and returns them to me when she's not curled up in a ball on my feet, keeping them warm.  And when I am in card production mode and the glitter is flying, she is sparkly for at least a week.  I read somewhere once that in Native American Tallulah means "glitter girl"...I've also heard it means "running water"....quite appropriate!  She LOVES the beach and always joins me on my searches for shells and sea glass.  My Lula girl...the perfect studio dog!

She Sells Sea Shells

Some new goodies fresh off the work table!  I love, love these delicate sea life earrings.  The starfish with their teeny Swarovski Crystals and the limpets and shells with their tiny fresh water pearls in them just scream summer. 

These are available in the shop and will be offered to my wholesale customers as well and will be in the new catalog that I'm hoping to finish up this week.  If you are a retailer interested in these ocean-girl earrings or any of our other seaside products, just send me an email (click on my profile for a link)...I'd love to chat with you and talk shop!

Cookies!

Our restaurant and fish market will be opening again soon, well actually, Memorial Day Weekend, but I have been spending some time, like I do every year, coming up with new recipes, ideas and overall fun things that we can incorporate for the season.  We (hubby and me) work hard every spring to get the place in tip-top shape, ready for the throngs of tourists that visit the Cape tip every summer.  We offer the usual clam-shack fare; chowder, lobster rolls, fried seafood, etc. but we also have some great dessert selections that are homemade by moi daily.  Great cookies and cupcakes are my passion and I've been working on these beauties, testing and trying.  The only problem is that they are quite time consuming to make, but each one is like a little work of art. 

 Yummy, sea-critter shaped sugar cookies with lemon zest royal icing and colored sanding sugar...what's better than that?!?!?

FINALLY!

I meant to get to this all-important first post oh, about forever ago, but life happens, kids need you, work beckons and the blog gets put on the back burner.  So, finally, I'm just making the commitment to sit down and begin writing.  

ANYWAY.....

For those of you who don't know me, I am first a mom and a wife, but I have this secret life...the life of a designer of all things Seaside.  You see, I own this little company aptly named Seaside Designs .  I design and make home accessories, ocean-inspired stationery, home fragrance products, jewelry and textiles.  I sell to stores around the country and some not in the country. I LOVE being my own boss, creating things that I love and getting to be home for my kids when they get home from school.  I live way out on Cape Cod (hence the beach bum) and I work from my little seaside studio close to home.  I am a one-gal show with the exception of my fabulous mom who is my right-hand-gal when I need her.  Right now I am in the midst of creating my new lines for 2008.  Almost March, I know...totally behind the 8-ball, but this is how I work...frantically playing catch-up at all times.  Life would be totally boring if I got everything done when it's supposed to be done.   I'll be posting some little peeks soon!

My other life is being my husbands right-hand-gal at our family restaurant and fish market.  Every spring around Memorial Day Weekend through every fall around Columbus Day Weekend, we are elbows deep in yummy coastal cuisine.  It's a typical clam-shack, but we have some award winning recipes that keep 'em coming back year after year.  If you are in Provincetown, Massachusetts during the summer months, stop by and have a lobster roll and an ice-cream cone...the best in town!

This is our famous Wall 'O Buoys.  You cannot go into a gallery on Cape Cod without seeing a photo or painting of it.  We've had commercials filmed in front of it, Jeep did an advertising spread with it in the background, there's even a Hallmark card out there somewhere with it!  This is just a small portion of the wall, but practically our entire building is covered...makes it easy to tell people where we're located though!