"Everything Coastal" Unplugged: An Interview with Caron White of Caron's Beach House

This is the second in a series of Coastal Creations & Design "unplugged" interviews featuring seriously seaworthy coastal inspired authors and entrepreneurs. Our first interview featured Maya Nagel, creator and author of "Completely Coastal."  Today the spotlight falls upon Caron White, creator and owner of Caron's Beach House and author of "Everything Coastal" and "Everything Coastal Style." This Pacific Coast author and business woman has certainly captured a growing audience of folks seeking the surf, sun, sandy beaches and a relaxed coastal style of life. So here goes...let's visit Caron at her beach house!

Caron taking sunset photos at Stinson Beach, California

Hi Caron. How did your love affair with the beach, and everything related to the sea, begin?

Caron- Many years ago (before 1969)  I grew up on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State.  I was fortunate. My parents bought a 1950’s era brick beach house complete with low-bank waterfront, a rocky beach, and the ever-changing views of the Puget Sound.


Your coastal decorating style definitely began at an early age! What was your inspiration?

Yes,  with a beach full of barnacle covered rocks, oyster shells, and beach-washed sea glass to discover, I was always creating something out of my beach-combed “treasures”…

Caron's beach-combed seaglass- an obsession of hers like mine.

Oyster Shell Candle Holders from Cape Cod

  
So, what's the story behind Caron's Beach House? 

I created Caron’s Beach House,http://www.caronsbeachhouse.com, to share my passion with others who are seeking a creative and distinctive coastal lifestyle, no matter where you live! My motto is  "Step inside, take a deep breath, shake the sand off of your shoes, relax and live at the beach every day of the year!"

 I love it! Tell us a little more about your business.

Caron’s Beach House is all about creating a unique experience, offering distinctive seaside and nautical home decorating solutions for their friends and customers who enjoy life on the seashore.

What can our readers expect to find at Caron's Beach House?

I'm constantly searching for new home decorating trends by attending gift shows, seminars, and searching out coastal artists to bring new beach house products to my customers. Our web store carries beach home décor accents such as cottage lamps, tropical style mirrors, a wide variety of beach pillows, shore area rugs, as well as nautical themed accents like model sailing ships, lanterns and a whole lot more
 to choose from!

Hand-painted and distressed wood buoy

White coral ribbon lamp

Bold red crab pillow

Coastal Collection Giclee – Beach Washed Whelk

  
How does Caron's Beach House products fit into your own personal lifestyle?

One of the best things about living at the beach is inviting friends over to enjoy our little stretch of sandy beach. We love to entertain and share this experience with others. It’s exactly the reason why Caron’s Beach House specializes in fun entertaining serving pieces as well as dinnerware designed for the coast!

It’s also why she enjoys sharing those entertaining ideas and stories in the Caron’s Beach House newsletter.  Go to any page of  Caron’s website at http://www.caronsbeachhouse.com and sign up to start receiving your exclusive Beach Club information!

Crab Napkin Box

Etched Turquoise Wine Glasses

8 inch Oyster Aqua Glass Serving Plates

Caron welcome friends to join the conversation about living on the coast and always looks forward to sharing her beach stories with you! She also loves to share your stories as well. Here’s links to places that you can connect...

http://www.everythingcoastal.com/ Caron's blog all about out living on the coast- entertaining, traveling, cooking, home decorating, gift ideas.

http://www.everythingcoastalstyle.blogspot.com/ Caron's blog focused on beach house style, featuring some of Caron's design friends and their fabulous creations!

http://apps.facebook.com/webaddress/companies/caronsbeachhouse- The Official Caron’s Beach House Facebook page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Live the Life you Love, Love the Life you Live!

Go Green and Blue: Please Pick Up the Trash!

It was a warm and sunny Wednesday morning here in Olde Towne Portsmouth, a welcome relief from the cold and rainy days just past. Alison and I decided to get up early and take the dogs (Chance and Jack) for a long morning walk down to our favorite coffee fix- Starboards Coffee Kiosk at High Street Landing. The morning temperatures hovered in the low 60’s with a slight cool breeze out of the northwest. The dogs eagerly pulled us along the familiar sidewalks along North Street down to Water Street and then the few short blocks to High Street landing and Betsy’s “Seattle’s Best” coffee and fresh baked muffins. After a short stay and visit with neighbors and other familiar faces, we headed home with the dogs to prepare for our day at Skipjack. Crossing High Street, a single plastic grocery bag blew like a floating ghost down the street directly towards the landing and the inflowing waters from the Elizabeth River. Alison quickly stepped on the bag, stopping its certain path to the river.


This is an ongoing problem. Uncontained trash dropped in the street or not placed securely into trash containers that are found on almost every downtown block ends up being washed into storm drains or blown aimlessly until it ends up in the river. Trash and other waste pitched overboard from passing boaters and commercial/military ships. Of course this is not a new topic . . . we’ve all heard it before. But it’s the constant reminders that keep us informed and aware of this ongoing problem and to assist everyone from becoming complacent. Pick up the trash!

When we walk our dogs or take a walk around Olde Towne, I carry our dog’s pooper scooper with us, a dog waste pickup tool with claw action that is also perfect for picking up all types of trash without having to reach down to pick it up or handle it. I carry extra trash bags to fill with trash that we see as we go along our walk. It’s certainly not a big deal to pick up loose trash as you see it. Give it a try. You’ll feel a lot better when you turn and look behind you and see a clean street. We do the same when visiting our favorite oceanfront beach-combing site or cruising along whatever river, lake, or other larger body of water that we are traveling. A fish net with a long handle is the perfect tool for catching floating trash and boat hooks can snag larger floating items.

Local organizations also hold local waterfront clean-ups to pick up trash and other floating debris trapped in coves and landings washed up after storms. The piles are collected and picked up by the local city trash. A great site to visit about keeping our bodies of waters clean and healthy is the Elizabeth River Project. Visit their website at: http://www.elizabethriver.org/ 

This is what we try to do whenever possible. Write us and share your thoughts and ideas with us. Know of other great sites? Comment and leave us a link.

Let’s all work together and keep our streets, parks and waterways clean If you trash it-stash it!

Joe Elder
Skipjack

Original Sea Glass Jewelry Creations by Danielle Renee & Deborah Leon

One of the great things about writing a blog like Coastal Creations and Design is the ability to attract wonderful folks that share the same common interests. As fate has it, we recently received a few favorable comments to a current post from two very talented artists, and both create exceptional sea-inpired jewelry from beach-combed sea glass. So I checked out their websites and Wah-lah! . . .the inspiration for another coastal creation. (See what writing a nice comment to our blog might bring you!)

 Danielle Renee’
Owner/designer of Sea Glass Jewelry by Danielle Renee’

A true beachcomber and beach lover, Danielle has spent most of her summers at the coast of New England which has been enough to foster her love of sea shore finds- especially sea glass, the jewels of the sea.

Couple that with her love of the arts, it was only a matter of time before destiny would lead her to becoming a sea glass jewelry designer and artisan.

Like many coastal residents and visitors, Danielle found collecting sea glass to be the perfect pastime while strolling the shores of both local and distant beaches. We are reminded that sea glass is actually glass trash yet through time and surf have been transformed into colorful, smooth and frosty sea gems. Sea glass has become the “new diamond”.

Danielles sea glass jewelry pieces are “Ocean Inspired” and eco-friendly. They are hand made with top quality and rare sea glass.

You can visit Danielle Renee's website by clicking on this link. http://www.jewelrybydaniellerenee.com/

Deborah Leon
Owner/Designer of Mermaids Purse

"My whole life I have lived on a coast line some where. Lake Superior, Rhode Island, Tiawan and California. Everything in my life is greatly influenced by the ocean and living on the coast."

As an artist since since childhood,  Deborah is mostly inspired by the endless colors of creation, history, and fantasy. Her favorite challenges have always been taking natural, old, and recyclable elements and turning them into art….pretty art. With a little imagination and determination, she has taken sea treasures off the window sill, table tops and out of containers to be worn and enjoyed.

"This passion of Sea Glass, Mermaid’s, Ship Wreck’s, History and Mythology is infectious. Journey with me as I build new products, blog about sea glass and don’t miss the tellings of Ula my Mermaid. It’s a fantastical world."

You can visit Deborah Leon's website by clicking on this link: http://www.mermaidspurseseaglass.com/

Some thoughts about sea glass by Deborah Leon:
SEA GLASS JEWELRY is sure to enchant Mermaid's on land or sea. In fact myth has it that sailors and fishermen of days gone by referred to these translucent baubles as Mermaid's Tears.


DISCARDED: Sea Glass is discarded or lost glass. Before their were modern day guide lines for disposing of trash, it was common practice for dump sites to be over the cliffs of local shores. Freight liners would dump over the ship's side near harbors, and of course there are those who left and tossed trash on the beaches. Thus discarded glass.


LOST GLASS: So what is lost glass? From ship wrecks of course! There are the old ships that couldn't navigate and withstand squalls and winter storms. Then there are war ships that have sunk over the ages that are filled with glass ware of all kinds.


Does this stir your imagination? The allure of Sea Glass is not just in its beauty. The history and identification of a piece of Sea Glass can send you on a quest that could become an obsession. You see most Sea Glass is vintage or antique in age.


FROSTED Sea Glass is actually caused by a process called Hydration. Over decades and decades of glass swirling in the currents of the sea which has a high saline ( mineral ) content will cause the lime to leach from the bottle and redeposit itself over the surface of the bottle giving it a frosted, pitted, etched appearance.


PRETTY COOL TRASH...each piece is unique in shape, color, size and condition. It requires sorting through hundreds of pieces of sea glass ( with a cup of coffee) to select two for a pair of earrings.


GLASS OR GEM: I'll let you decide! What started as a combination of elements from the earth to become something man-made was returned to the earth via its water ways to be recomposed by nature to reappear as something more gem-like. Fascinating!

We invite you to leave your comments and please support these wonderful artists. Smooth sailing!

Sea Shell Hunting at John D.MacArthur Beach State Park, Florida

Photo by Joe Elder

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty much over this frigid weather. It’s time to stow away the gloves and winter coats and trade them in for shorts, T-shirts and boat shoes. Actually, I could really use a warm climate attitude adjustment. This would include a wide open un-crowded beach, crystal clear sky blue waters, the warmth of the sand between my toes and the hot sun on my back. And, there’s no better way to clear out the non-ending mind chatter than quality time walking the beach hunting for that perfect seashell.

My wife Alison and I have discovered the perfect place for this sun-worshiping endeavor. Our destination: John D. MacArthur Beach State Park on the east-coast of Florida. Never heard of it? It’s located in northern Palm Beach County on Singer Island, 2.8 miles south of the intersection of U.S. 1 and PGA Boulevard on A1A. It’s the only state park in Palm Beach County, an "island in time" preserving the lush and diverse subtropical coastal habitats that once covered southeast Florida. The park is nestled on a barrier island; it encompasses 325 acres, which includes mangrove fringed estuary, coastal hardwood forests, nearly two miles of beach and shallow near shore reefs.

Of course there are numerous beaches along Florida’s coast that offer great sea shell collecting - especially on the gulf coast. But this is our favorite hunting ground and a “must do” while visiting family in Palm Beach. The beach at MacArthur Park spans an area nearly three mile long. You can usually find numerous pockets of shells as you walk along the beach. We typically find scotch bonnets, varieties of clams and whelks, troches, tritely, limpets, fig shells, large numbers of lettered olives, an occasional lion’s paw and one time I even found a large Queen Helmet.

Photo by Joe Elder

I would be lying if I suggested that the shell hunting at MacArthur Park is always great. It’s not. Like most shell-hunting destinations, it’s all about timing. Factors like storms, real high or low tides can certainly make a difference. One of the first times that Alison and I visited MacArthur Beach was when there had been an extremely low tide. The water had receded beyond the reefs, exposing the sandy bottom that is typically underwater. It was by far one of the best days for shell hunting that we’ve encountered to date. Another memorable visit was after a large storm. The waves had pounded the beach area as far up as to the mangroves and had uncovered tons of shells. We found an unusually large assortment of shells and in great numbers. We also find sea glass along the waters edge in a variety of colors.

For the best shell hunting, we recommend that you check the tide chart for Singer Island or North Palm Beach and plan to get there as the tide is receding.

Here's an idea to dress up your coastal abode with some of your favorite shell treasures. We make them into beautiful lamp finials that we use in our home and also sell them in our store. You'll need epoxy glue or a comparable adhesive and a lamp finial base. You can order the brass finial blanks from most lamp accessory suppliers. Here's a picture of one of our finials using my favorite scoth bonnet shell. Not into making your own finial? You can buy one from us in our store or online on our webstore. All of the shells used we've found at MacArthur Beach Park.   http://tinyurl.com/yas92b6

To get to the beach, you’ll cross the 1,600-foot boardwalk that spans Lake Worth Cove. Mangroves surrounding the Cove comprise the most productive estuarine system in all of Lake Worth. Herons, ibis, roseate spoonbills and osprey hunt for prey, while fiddler crabs scuttle among the roots of the "walking trees."

Photo by Joe Elder

At the beach end of the boardwalk, on the west side of the dunes, lies a coastal hammock. On the beach, sea lavender, beach star and other rare native plant species thrive. Along the ocean shoreline, brown pelicans, terns, sandpipers and other shorebirds may be seen resting and feeding.

MacArthur Beach is also a prime nesting area for sea turtles. Large numbers of loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles nest in the park from early May through late August. Marine life is abundant along the offshore reefs and rock outcroppings within the park. These spectacular natural features, easily accessible from shore, make snorkeling a popular activity in the shallow waters.

Because it is a natural barrier island, the park also protects the mainland from harsh ocean storms. Shifting beach sands absorb wind and wave energy.

The park is located in northern Palm Beach County along Jack Nicklaus Drive in North Palm Beach. The park is open from 8am until sundown 365 days a year. The entrance fee is $5.00 per vehicle, maximum of 8 people. Park visitors can participate in a variety of recreational activities, including kayaking, fishing, bird-watching, and snorkeling.

For more information about MacArthur Beach Park, visit their web site at http://www.macarthurbeach.org/   You can also interact on their Facebook page. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/ygnatc8   Hope to see you there!

Tired of the cold weather? Tell us about your favorite warm weather getaway. Have a favorite sea shell hunting destination? Please share it with us. Love to hear from you! Joe & Alison Elder

Customize Your Cabinets with A Monkey's Fist Knob

The monkey's fist cabinet or drawer pulls is a great way to add a nautical touch to any coastal interiors. These are produced in Olde Towne Portsmouth, VA by  marine artist Joe McNelis. Joe also creates exceptional bell ringers and even some of the finest fancy knotwork covered picture frames and you will see some of is exceptional artworks in future blogs.

These hand-tied rope monkey's fist knob is a perfect way to dress up your yacht or nautical home. Use them on kitchen cabinets and drawers, bathroom fixtures, as chest of drawer pulls or box knobs. We've also used them as towel hangers- anywhere that you can use a decorative knob. These pulls measures 1 3/8 inch in diameter and one 3/8 inch projection. They are also paintable so you can custom color them for your nautical interior.

Coastal Creations & Design is a blog created by Skipjack nautical Wares & Marine Gallery. Most of the products that are featured in these blogs are available on our webstore or at our physical location in Olde Towne Portsmouth, VA.  You can visit our webiste by clicking on the link posted here. http://www.skipjackmarinegallery.com/  We invite your comments and suggestions. We hope that you will share your favorite posts with us as well. Click here and visit Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portsmouth-VA/Skipjack-Nautical-Wares-Marine-Gallery/282110578778