{Giveaway} Introducing Simple Daisy

Today I am honored to introduce the very talented and creative Heather from Simple Daisy-blog and Etsy Store. Simple Daisy is about sea life inspired living. Just like many of us, Heather loves the sea.

Heather passionately designs jewelry that will remind you of days by the shore and at the beach. Heather's motto is 'simple~pretty~fresh' and it shows in her work. Blue tones, sea creatures, and the ocean are all reflected in her jewelry.

Sterling silver tags are hand stamped, tarnished, and polished by Heather, to be part of necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. She adds sea life charms and labradorite stones to finish off the pieces. On her blog Heather combines beautiful photos with inspirational and life quotes to motivate and remind her readers that they can to do anything. I have known Heather for a few months now and she is a sweetheart and her blog is always a joy to visit. Here are some pieces of her collection:

Now you have the chance to win a piece of sea life-this lovely anchor charm necklace is up for giveaway. Do you love it?

The giveaway is open to all followers/subscribers of Doberman's by the Sea.

To enter visit Simple Daisy on Etsy and leave a comment on this post and tell us what your favorite piece is.

Bonus entries: Follow Simple Daisy blog, come back and leave a seperate comment

Like Simple Daisy on Facebook, come back and leave a seperate comment

Follow Simple Daisy on Twitter, come back and leave seperate comment

The giveaway is open through Sunday midnight CET, winner will be selected via Random.org and announced on Monday.

Good luck!

{Crafts} Driftwood sign

I made a door sign out of a piece of driftwood I found in the Long Island Sound about three years ago. In the above photo I scratched out parts of our last name, but in reality it is on the sign. This is what it looked like before:

I spray painted it white. Then I painted our family name and the year established in dark blue color. I added our first names (pets included) in light blue. I made it to look distressed. Then I glued on some sea glass and sea shells I collected using E6000 glue. Let it dry and Et Voila! A new front door sign.

I'm linking to these parties and to Lucia's party. 

Giveaway winner

Here is the winner of the book Seaside style Vol. II:

Martha

Please contact me to claim your prize.
All others do not dispare, another giveaway starts Monday.
Have a great weekend.

{Dogs & Outdoors} Deer run

We changed our morning walks from the lake to the Bambi trail or Grub run. It should be called deer run, since there is an abundance of deer there. One morning we walked right into a herd of deer who were crossing the path.
The deer have just crossed the trail, and the dogs are sniffing and looking for them.

The light things in the middle of the photo are the deer.

Spider webs are out on foggy mornings.

At the half way point the dogs get water in the creek.

Bella loves running in the woods, Feger loves the water. Thanks for coming along on another nature walk.
More dog outings can be found here and here.

{Sea Shells} Florida shelling part II

Here are more of our florida beaches shelling finds. There is quite a variety of shells in this batch. You can see some of the shark’s teeth and a piece of coral. I brought home piece of a palm tree that I found on the beach.

Calico clams and calico scallops.

A calico clam close up. They can get up to 3.5 inches in size. They are found in shallow, sandy waters. I did not see any of them on Florida’s east coast.

Olive shells close up. These are considered gastropod shells which are in one piece and not hinged. They range up to 3 inches in size. They are common on the west coast of Florida. If found live or freshly dead, they have a shine to them.

Calico scallops close up. I like the different shades of pink they come in. They can get up to two inches in size and are considered bivalve shells (two halves) that are hinged. They are edible and are easily found on beaches, as you can see by the loot in the picture below.

You can see in the picture above that no two are the same. They filled my dining room table. Ah-imagine the crafts I can use them for. We call them tiger paws. These shells were found on Manasota Key Island, Florida.
Next time I will introduce you to different shells and tell you how to clean them.
For further reading on Florida beaches and shelling click here and here.

{Product review} Roba Dolce Gelato&Sorbeto

A little while ago I participated in an ‘Ad for Ice Cream campaign’ at Karen’s blog. In exchange for a link to their company and a review of their ice cream, Roba Dolce would send out product samples. I love anything Italian, so I was game.
Here is what they consider a product sample:

I received all this gelato and sorbeto they have sent  me. Amazing and so generous. The gelato flavors included dark chocolate, coconut, pistachio, and the sorbeto included lemon, blood orange, and mango.

My husband is impressed with the products and he especially loves the pistachio flavor. It has pieces of pistachios in it. My favorite is the coconut with pieces of coconut in it. The gelato tastes exactly how you would imagine a coconut to taste or a pistachio. Rich and creamy and full of flavor. The sorbetos are so refreshing, especially in the warm weather we are having right now.
In my opinion it is the best Italian ice cream I have had outside of Europe. My dogs love it, too.

Bella relaxes with her empty container.

Feger trying to get every scrap out of it.
Roba Dolce just started their own blog dedicated to good news and random acts of kindness. Click here to check it out.
Thank you  Roba Dolce – your gelato is va bene!

{Tablescapes} Lunch by the pool

If you remember our recent Florida vacation you will know that we had great weather-70’s. We were able to eat outside by the pool and even take a swim. I love eating outside-especially by the water and a pool will do!

Love the green and yellow color combination. I think we had crab meat for lunch that day.

I had to throw some sea shells on the table, after all, we were in Florida.

Glasses with a tropical twist. They had excellent vino there, made from the southern Muscat grape. It tasted just like if you would eat a grape.

And some potpourri to add a finishing touch. I had to make due with what I had in the vacation house.
To read more about Florida beaches click here and to see another Florida tablescape click here.
To view the current giveaway click here.

Giveaway and Thank you

Today we are celebrating 100 Followers at Doberman’s by the Sea and some thank you’s and a giveaway are in order.

We have been blogging since September/October 2010. The person who inspired me to start a blog of my own is Maya. I was in awe with her blog and decided to create my own coastal blog. Maya was also the person who left the first comment on my blog and kept on commenting and she featured me as a guest blogger. Thank you so much Maya!

I have met wonderful bloggers from all over the world during this time. Bloggers who love the ocean, and bloggers who love Doberman’s and anything in between.
Some of the earliest friends are Holly, Michelle, and the Sanibel Crew Tootie, Karen and Pam. You guys are awesome.

Furthermore the ladies who host weekly meme’s and send lot’s of traffic my way: Between Naps on the Porch, A Stroll through life, The Magic Onions, The Tablescaper, Southern Hospitality.
I also would like to thank the lovely readers, followers, subscribers and supporters of Doberman’s by the Sea. We are glad to have you and appreciate you. Every visit and comment makes us happy!
So as a thank you I am giving away this coastal picture book:

It contains lot’s of coastal themed design inspirations. The raffle starts today and stays open this week with the winner being announced sometime on Friday. The giveaway is open to all followers and subscribers – you don’t have to do anything else to win. It’s what I call a fringe benefit of being a follower/subscriber!

Thank you again and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better and meeting new friends.

Fossilized Shark’s teeth-a guide

The tooth in the above picture is a fossilized shark tooth. Since my post about making a shark tooth necklace sparked great interest, I decided to explore the topic further and give you some background on the historic teeth.
Venice beach, Florida, is considered the fossil shark tooth capital of the world. They even host an annual fair in April, where collectors and vendors come out in masses.

The reason why there is an abundance of fossilized shark teeth in Venice is that it is believed that Florida was under water a long time ago. Over time the Floridian Peninsula emerged from the waters exposing the buried shark’s teeth. When shark’s die they float to the bottom of the ocean, where they eventually disintegrate exposing their teeth to the elements. This is how they become fossilized. The winds and current then takes them to shore. It is also said that there is a large shark burial ground of the coast of Venice. The teeth can be found all along that stretch of coast line.

Venice is the place where we found our specimens. In Venice shark’s teeth can be found on the beach and in the water. You can either dive for them at about 15-20 ft. depth, find them by walking the beach, or do the shark teeth stoop and sift them out of the surf. My MIL happened to just walk by a huge exemplar whereas we did the stoop and sifted them out. The best time to find them is after a high tide when the water is going out, but there still is surf. The stoop is performed the following way: wade into the surf, face the beach and bend forward, scooping up sand with either your hands or a fishing net. Sift through it and collect any teeth, discard the rest and do it again. Alternatively you can get a net full of sand and empty it onto the beach and sit down there and go through it. It is addicting! We couldn’t stop!

The teeth may be brown, black or grey, depending on what minerals where present in the soil they have been buried in. They come in various sizes, the ones above 3” are more rare. The identification is relatively simple because every shark’s teeth are  the same and vary just in size.

Below are examples of a Sand shark tooth, extinct Mako shark tooth, extinct Tiger shark tooth, and Carcharodon shark tooth.

The teeth are a cool example of nature’s history and are neat to look at. You can also make a necklace out of them. Kids would love this, too. Have you ever gone hunting for shark’s teeth?
On another note, don’t miss out Monday’s post and come help me celebrate my first 100 followers and a giveaway.
Click here for my shark tooth tutorial.

Have a great weekend everyone!