Being from the midwest, vacations, and certainly those to the beach, didn't really exist for my family. So never in my growing up time, did I ever get the opportunity to hunt for sea shells.
I made up for that fact about two weeks ago when the hubs and I took a much needed and deserved mini vacation to Wilmington and Carolina Beach. We got a fantastic deal on flights (download Southwest Airlines' clearance website Ding! to see what I'm talking about) and just took advantage of our vacation time coinciding with our 1-year anniversary.
Anyway, everywhere I looked, I found sea shells, parts of sea shells and more sea shells. And of course, all I could see was potential crafties and gifts coming out of the natural beauties (word to the wise: don't get knocked down by the waves, like I did, while pulling the really good ones out of the surf before hitting land).
I packed them up for the airplane ride home, and then let them soak in a 50-50 bleach-water solution, killing any germs or bacteria, and scrubbing them with a toothbrush. While I'm no where near done with my lovely little stock (sanding and polishing for jewelry is next), I did manage a couple of neat crafts this weekend while hanging out with my visiting parents. I didn't even use a table for any of these — strictly a floor project.
Taking advantage of a Michael's gift card and a 15%off coupon, I bought several frames, one of which was this barnwood primitive frame (sorry for the sideways photo):
Which turned into this (flash worked nicely to cover up our faces!):
Using my best and most unusual shells, I created this shadow box. Instead of using the black velour backing of the box, I bought a 59 cent piece of heavy scrapbooking cardstock which matched the colors of my living room. Then I hot glued. The hot glue gun is my best friend in most of my projects, including these. (sorry for the sideways photo)
Stay tuned for sea shell jewelry!
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