I (Mermaid Micki) live on beautiful Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. My adventure began in December 2008, when I designed a beach-themed ornament for a Christmas sale held at a local art gallery, where my photography was displayed. The ornaments sold like hotcakes so my friend, Cheryl, suggested we make more of them. One thing led to another and we ended up opening our Etsy shop in January '09.

What began with one ornament, soon ballooned into whatever our creative brains could think up; from ‘Nautical Notepads’ to ‘Mermaid Treasure Pendants and Bottles’, 'Seaside Gift Boxes’ to the ever-popular ‘Message in A Bottle’, and so much more. Before long we had shelves jammed full of seaside treasures!

At the beginning of our venture, we worked at my kitchen table. This was far from ideal as my kitchen was soon taken over by seashells, driftwood, raffia, sea glass, moss, sand... you name it! It was clear that we needed to figure out a more practical solution. So my rarely-used guest room became our new crafting space. I purchased several, inexpensive bookshelves, a fold-up work table, and we were set to go.

Cheryl worked with me until she moved away in July 2015. I now run A2SeaCreations by myself, but we remain the best of friends.

I take pride in the fact that I use primarily local, organic, recycled & eco-friendly materials. I do my own beach-combing, although I do purchase a few exotic shells for variety. It is not unusual to see me cleaning seashells in my kitchen sink or drying seaweed and driftwood in my oven. Many interesting aromas waft out of my kitchen! That said, absolutely everything is cleaned thoroughly and sanitized, so the aromas stop there! (By the way, I do not believe in harming living creatures - I will only work with 'vacated' shells.)

Besides selling my nautical gifts and beach décor on Etsy, I have my handcrafted products in several gift shops on Vancouver Island, including 'Newfoundland to Nanaimo' gift & souvenir shop in Nanaimo BC, Sea Thrift Artisan Boutique in Qualicum Beach BC, and French Creek Marina Store in Parksville BC.