Spring in the Air and Jewels on the Beach

Hi Everyone,

*Hangs head in shame* Oh you knew it would happen. Bloggers always have the best of intentions until life gets in the way. Yep. *Big Nod* I am guilty of neglecting you and writing about my life passion- SEAGLASS. But here we are a quarter of the way through 2012 and I'm feeling inspired again. So I beg your forgiveness and indulgence in reading on.

Hello again. I suppose I should reintroduce myself as things have certainly changed over the last year. For instance on the 31st of January this year I gave birth to baby girl number 2. So our little Maggiemoo has been taking up a great deal of my time and devotion. So go ahead and blame her if you must for distracting me but trust me if you saw her you would totally be distracted too ;) Our toddlerbug turned 2 in March and man has she been a handful. Stubborn like her mummy and with the attention span of a goldfish, she can be a full-time job. Totally love her though!


Ok that catches you up for life events but that's not what you came for. Your here to look at the booty! Ok I will indulge you. 

This was the haul from Monday- only an hour and WOW! I love finding new fabulous beaches.

This was from some time back. One of the times I was out with my  Mom or MIL whilst trying to get that baby out.

Something I put together recently, thinking about a pretty bracelet idea.

Well there will be more beachy photos to post as soon as I take a few *blush*. I was just at the beautiful North Berwick beach again during fairly nice weather and you would have thought the least I could do for being such a naughty blogger is snap you a photo. Well I didn't. But it was truly stunning and I found *gasp* a marble that day on such a big open beach. That's kind of a  miracle right there. 

So somehow in the process of writing this I've got the formatting all wrong and I apologise if this looks totally weird. I'll figure it out next time. That baby of mine is making those adorable baby noises that mean something. Mostly they mean... come get me and stop being on that computer thingy mummy. I suppose I must wrap it up. I promise to pop back in soon... well certainly before the year is up ;) 

xx Sarah

Out and About

Oh hello again :)

Just thought I'd check in and let you know what I've been up to. I've been lucky enough to have another Sunday off and went out for a nice seaglunk with the whole family :) Mr. Seaglunker is amazing at spotting marbles- well clay marbles. Between the two of us we spotted 7 marbles and LOTS of pottery. The dogs got good and worn out from all that running into the sea. Here's a picture of the marbles.

Some marbles we found 4th Sep :)

So it will be a wee while before these marbles go on sale as I like to wait until I've collected a few of the same colour and sell them in groups as supplies for jewelry makers. Of course you may have spotted the totally unique orange swirly one in this group that may get a little special treatment.

On a completely different note haha- when we got home from the beach totally covered in sand and the dogs looking pretty yick I decided today would be the day they got their haircut. We got these animal clippers and since they were out there getting a total wipe down I finally figured out how to use these clippers and found that it is extremely theraputic to clip them and it is extremely easy to do! Why hadn't I done it before now- a total mystery. I took a couple pictures of the boys with their new doggy hairdos. What do ya think? I think they are so much cuter than they were before and here's hoping this will help with the awful shedding problem we've got in the house.



Penguin on the left and Gizzy on the right with their short hair!

The day was nice and sunny not too warm or cold and our miniglunker was happy enough in her cosy jumper riding in her baby carrier. I may not be able to carry her just now but I'm glad her daddy can manage her as she grows big. We are lucky to be able to have all of this time together :) Tomorrow we've got the day together again as well since my 20 week scan is tomorrow morning. So we'll know the sex of our new addition very soon I HOPE. Apparently its not an exact science this baby sex thing.

But back to the beach booty. Today's haul was pretty good and to appease folks who like pictures here's one of the goodies we found. I know its not a picture of the beach- I will take one of those if I ever remember that we do take the camera with us on these outtings lol. However I hope this will suffice for now.


Beach Booty collected in Musselburgh 4th Sep 2011.


I guess that's all for today. I'll try and check in again soon! Happy hunting out there :) xx Sarah

Back in Full Swing

Well Hello There!

Hope the weather has been nice where you are. Here in Scotland it has been a bit sprinkly and overcast but nice enough for summer. I've been back into the swing of seaglunking and etsy selling again for the past couple weeks. Yes, a THOUSAND apologies for being so out of it over the last few months. I suppose its ok to tell you all now since I'm 19 weeks in and no troubles so far that yes I'm pregnant again. It was a pretty difficult first trimester this time around. I was sicker and more tired than I was last time and I guess with the added bonus of looking after a toddler has taken its toll on me physically. I know it's not gonna get any easier but I really can't let that stand in the way of my most favourite hobby, seaglunking of course!

So this is a bank holiday weekend and usually my husband and I indulge in another of our hobbies, Larping. (Its like RPG but you dress up as your character and spend a weekend killing monsters and making friends.) However, this year due to money or rather lack thereof, we have forgone going down south for this festival and instead decided to spend some much needed time together.

So we went to the beach. Not my normal beach BUT up the coast a bit to a lovely town called North Berwick to the gorgeous sandy beaches overlooking the North Sea. Honestly, if you didnt know it was too cold to swim in you could almost be tempted in because the water is so clear and the beaches are so pretty.

Here is part of the beach we walked along. So beautiful! Anyway of course we are seaglunkers so the name of the game is finding beach booty. And the reason I like going to these more northen beaches is because they offer a sandy tumble from a harsher sea making the glass you find here just amazing high quality. Because the Musselburgh beaches I venture out on are much more rocky, I tend to find more but not nearly as much of that totally tumbled stuff.

We also find a great selection of rocks here. Scotland has lots of ancient valcanoes and the beach is littered with quartz and volcanoe rock that has been surf tumbled for centuries. Mr. Seaglunker is particularly enamoured with the quartz rocks you can find on the beach and of course geodes are a special favourite. He's found a couple of those in his time. Great big oyster shells are dotted around as well as lovely tumbled small cone shells.

Anyway we'll be back but not anytime soon for a couple of reasons. I'm getting bigger and unable to hike as far (I have got ailments in my hips and back from you know being pregnant lol) and our little mini glunker is such a handful when she's out on the beach. Watching her is a full time job that takes two parents and of course leaves no time for dedicated seaglunking. Challenges are coming but I'm sure in the next couple years we'll figure out a good routine. Or at least something workable.

But as I'm on a high from yesterday I'm going out today to my normal beach with just me and the dogs. They aren't nearly so demanding of my attention and are happy to chase the ball and hang out with me while we walk along the beach. So hopefully I'll have a few more rarities by the end of the weekend Seaglunking and tomorrow we can all get busy on the task of totally relaxing! All the while I'm sure I'll be planning my next outing lol

Catch up with you all again soon!
Happy Hunting xx Sarah

The Computer Died and was then ressurected... it was a miracle

Hello All,

It's been a wee while since my last bloggy bloo me goo goo. Blah. Yes today has been rather pants. Mostly I was stressed out last night about the computer. I have no idea what essentially was wrong with it then or what exactly happened today. It could have been a series of very complicated technical jabber. All I know is that it has been restored to what it was before all the... weirdness and stressfulness. For about an hour I was desperate to get on to google to look up some lyrics and it just didn't happen.

Technology can make life worse sometimes I think.

Anyway lets change the subject. Pooey things can just remain in todayland and I'm going to join tomorrowland.

Oh I met Nicole on Saturday night- she's very cool :) Go check out her shops here are some links.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/NorthSeaTreasures
http://www.etsy.com/shop/roadslesstraveled

After a nice night out I'm feeling totally inspired with my jewellery. So I am thinking I might make some plans to do a craft fair this summer :) Just need to make some stock. Now I've posted a few things in my etsy shop
www.etsy.com/shop/SarahSeaGlass BUT here is something that remains unlisted. What do you think?

I am starting to feel a bit more confident with my wire wrapping. These were done in silver plated wire. Anyway these are mine :) because they are the first ones I made and I like them and its for market research lol.




As usual when I'm stuck indoors doing mommy/wife things I miss the beach. It's a new and weird feeling needing to be outside :) I'm planning a nice long outing on Thur. Too much going on tomorrow and wed.

I really need to post some pics of me soon *sheepish* lol

xx Goodnight

-Seaglunker Sarah-

An ugh Day

Oh hi... *in a tone Ross from friends might use*

I'm not really the most chipper today. I have been pretty hard on my body today in a real effort to lose weight I've done a LOT of exercise. Part of this was hiking along the beach. Normally this fills me with delight but for some reason it was really ugh today. I should have gotten excited about a black kick up (a real wow). I should have been really excited when I found my first beautiful piece of blood orange glass. Nope. Nothing. Not a glimmer of affection. I feel kind of guilty about this now. I believe the doctor has ordered... chocolate cake ;)

So I'm just putting it down to just a bad day.

I have a few new projects on the go so I will hopefully be in better spirits tomorrow when I get a photoshoot done. I am inspired by Hybrid Handmade http://hybridhandmade.blogspot.com/2011/03/snoop-my-stuff.html and may organise my work space. I have a few decoration things that need attention.

Righto best toddle off. Oh yes. This the miniglunker walking :)
Yes I am a proud mommy lol.

xx Seaglunker Sarah

Wee gems

Ohhh hiya hiya how ya doin??

Well I've got some nonglunking news. The miniglunker is WALKING. WOWSA! Yes she came out of her little bubble of scaredy bum and just took those few steps to the toy box at the toddler group today! Huzzah. And all before she turns 1. (She turns 1 tomorrow btw lol) Oh, I cast my mind back to a year ago and the joy and PAIN of labour. Good times.

Anyway I've been experimenting with my jewellery. I have been so inspired by fellow Etsians that I decided to give making pendant "cages" a go. I think the two wee pieces I've put together look amazing. They are much pretty caged up than meticulously wrapped. I think it takes to long and hurts my fingers too much to do it the "old" way. Anyway I've been showing off these two pendants at work and trying to gauge if the ladies like them or not and I think I'm onto a winner. One of office ladies said they look like sweeties. :D Awww.

Pics will be forthcoming tomorrow as I plan one big ole photo shoot. I got loads of stuff to catalogue and list on etsy so I just need to get crackin.

I've got some plans for selling locally. I think my new caged pendants will go down a treat here at Mercat's shop. I'm going to see if my boss is interested in trialing a few and seeing how they get on. Mercat is big on "going green" and these pendants are just so fab because sea glass is totally Eco friendly. We'll see how I get on with that after I've made a few more. There's also this lovely shop http://www.frugalcool.co.uk/ called Re-Made which is just over the road that I'm going to approach with my pendants as well. Of course I need to make some more.

I've also been buying some craft supplies from my local bead shop in Musselburgh and I'm tempted to make some of my seaglass into beads and selling wholesale to her. It does of course require me learning how to drill through glass... urgh. I may delagate that task to Mr. Glunker and this business can be a family one.

Rightio that catches you up with me for now. I haven't been down to the beach properly since Sunday and of course I'm itching to glunk. I am hoping to meet up with Nicole http://www.etsy.com/shop/NorthSeaTreasures?ref=pr_shop_more a fellow Edinburgh based seaglunker for a bit of beach combing. :) I'll let you know how that gets on later too.

As always thanks for stopping by. Have fun out there and maybe if you look down you may see a wee gem of your own.

xx Seaglunker Sarah

Out with Mr.Glunker

Oh hello there :) Thanks for poppin in.

I'm sat down having a cup of coffee (much needed!) after and incredibly long afternoon seaglunking with my hubby and the miniglunker and of course my deputy fur-glunkers.

I let Mr. Glunker look after entertaining the dogs who are both totally worn out now form all the ball throwing and chasing activities. The mini-glunker didn't like the wind today so she was kind of out of sorts but perked up toward the end when the sun came out properly and she warmed up a wee bit.

It has been really nice having a day off together and enjoying each others company. It rarely happens that we have time off together since I work when he doesn't and vice-versa and we balance looking after our little one that way. It does mean we never hardly see each other.

We have made some big plans about going further afield and checking out other beaches. I think he's just indulging me and I know it was a lot of work for him to stay interested. Of course he isn't really used to having the baby rucksack on like I am so of course he made a few complaints about his feet and his back. But he did find a few things I would have missed out there.

We found lots of pretty blue and white pottery today and two marbles as well as a couple of pieces of yellow/orange glass. :) I love finding rare colours. Also, I discovered some vital information about some of the natural pottery on the beach. I believe what I'm seeing is chunks from old ceramic ginger beer bottles. The one I found today had a stamp on it that says "Buchan, Portobello, Edinburgh" on it and that company made all kinds of stuff but there is a picture of the warehouse in 1926 and they are producing bottles with a brown glazed top (like old liquor jugs). Further research has turned up bottles in good nick with ginger beer companies logos and information on them. So one little mystery seems to be solved... kind of. I'm sure the next time I'm out there I will discover more.

So time for relaxing, looking through the beach booty and maybe making some cookies. For a job well done of course ;)

xx Have a lovely Sunday!

-Seaglunker Sarah-