Two Trees and a Tree House

In the two and a half years I have been blogging, I have only featured the homes of friends a few times, but each time, the response has been good.

Most people enjoyed seeing Lisa's house

and Leslie's beach house was a big hit.

Both my house and my life are topsy turvy at the moment - nothing bad, just lots of balls in the air - so I thought today would be a good time to feature another friend.

 Recently, I photographed Michelle's home and creative space.

I met Michelle over 20 years ago when our classrooms were next door to each other.

Nowadays, this is where I usually see Michelle, while we are both walking our dogs.

The front yard of Michelle's little beach cottage is welcoming, but she spends little time sitting there.

Every day when Michelle gets home from school, she goes right to her garage where she has carved out a place to create beautiful jewelry.

I love the story of how Two Trees Jewelry came into existence.

Michelle was going to New York to visit a good friend who had moved away and wanted Michelle to bring her something that would remind her of home.

Two Tree Hill - oil on canvas - Steve Cook 

Two Tree Hill is an iconic feature of Ventura so Michelle created a piece of jewelry for her friend depicting both the ocean and Two Trees- 

and she found herself with a second career- Two Trees Jewelry.

Michelle grew up in the same beach neighborhood where she now lives and says she has been collecting heart shaped rocks and bits of shells her entire life.

She turns those found pieces into unique pieces of jewelry.

She also combines silver with semi precious stones such as lapis lazuli to create beautiful pieces like her popular lotus flower.

In addition to the Lotus flower, Two Trees and a Peace sign are Michelle's top selling pieces.

Michelle found some driftwood on the beach and created a piece to hold her tools.

She is a woman with many talents - she made the TO BEACH sign for herself one Christmas and also for each family on her lane.

I had not planned to take any photos of the interior of Michelle's beach house, but after admiring the stepping stone mosaics she made, Michelle showed me the tiles she created for her kitchen island.

I peeked into the back yard where I found an amazing tree house .

Years ago, when Michelle's children were little, a neighboring family built the 3 story tree house and it still stands today.

I climbed to the top of the treehouse - very carefully - and was rewarded with

views of the the Ventura hills and the Pacific Ocean.

I was shooting right into the sun so this photo does not do Michelle's treetop view justice.

I hope you enjoyed peeking into Michelle's garden

and her creative space.

You can see more of Michelle's work at twotreesjewelry.com.

If you are interested in purchasing anything, let Michelle know you read about her on my blog and she will give a discount.