Holiday Edition

Beach Vacation Ornament

Supplies:
Miniature pail
Styrofoam sphere (choose a size that fits inside the pail)
Glazed sea shells ("How to")
Tacky glue
Nautical ribbon
Twine
Decorative button

This is a great ornament to commemorate a beach vacation you took over the past year! First, glue the Styrofoam ball inside the bucket with Tacky glue (I used a 5 cm sphere), this gives you a base to glue the shells on. Then glue the glazed shells into place; I layered them on top of each other so that no Styrofoam was showing. Now you can decorate the bucket! I found this button at Marco Shell & Craft Co and strung it around the bucket with twine. Then I tied ribbon onto the bucket handle; I love this sea creatures print! Hang the pail on a tree branch by its handle. Don't forget to write the year and/or location on the bottom of the bucket so you will remember this vacation when you trim the tree for years to come!

Cork Tree

After sea shells, wine corks are my second favorite material to craft with! But you don't need to drink this many bottles of wine before you can start your project! I asked friends and coworkers for corks. I also went to wine tastings at local wineries to ask for their extras. While out in Fresno, California I hit the jackpot and brought back an entire bag from Engelmann Cellars and LoMac Winery! You'll notice these corks in the picture below.

Supplies:

Styrofoam cone (8 x 3 inch)

Low temperature hot glue gun

Wine Corks (I used about 75 corks total)

Short strand of battery-operated lights (20 count LED)

Miniature tree topper

Ball head straight pins

Some supplies pictured

Mount the lights around the Styrofoam cone with pins. Start at the top of the cone and pin in a spiral all the way to the bottom, with the battery-pack at the end. This will keep the lights in place until corks are positioned. You won't see the pins once they are covered by corks. [Hint: I used straight pins that have a small ball on the end (I tried regular straight pins at first but the wire would slip right off). My strand of lights was made up of three wires twisted around each other. I placed a pin every 1-2 inches in between the twisted wires. Make sure you don't pierce the wire!]

Glue the tree topper on top of the cone with hot glue, I found this one at Michael's.

Now you can start gluing the corks. Hot glue can eat away at Styrofoam, so make sure you are using a low temperature hot glue gun. Note in the picture that I glued a row of vertical corks around the base of the cone to give the tree an level base to sit on. After this row I became more sporadic with where I glued the rest. Make sure you allow the lights to poke through between the corks. 

Finally, put some batteries in and watch it glow!

Sea Shell Letters

Initial Sea Shell Letter

Supplies:
Cardboard Letter
Ceramcoat acrylic paint
Glazed shells  ("How to")
Tacky glue

For this Initial letter, I found a large, hollow cardboard letter. This letter has good depth so it can stand up on a desk or shelf on its own. I painted the entire letter with two coats of tan acrylic paint. I arranged my shells before gluing them down to give myself an idea of the overall look I was going for. This is where having a variety of shapes and sizes works to your advantage, because you can get a 3D effect by layering!

Nautical Phrase

Supplies:
Wooden letters
Ceramcoat acrylic paint
Glazed shells ("How to")
Tacky glue
Twine

The beauty of these nautical letters, is you can chose many combinations to make unique phrases! Other suggestions are SEA, LAKE, your favorite beach town or someone's name. For this project, I used smaller wooden letters that I found at Michael's. These don't stand up on their own. I have mine leaning against the wall on a book shelf, or you could mount them on nails. I painted each with two coats of light blue acrylic paint. There was an edge around the outline of each letter, which I used to my advantage. I affixed twine to the edge with Tacky glue. [Hint: When gluing the twine outline you have to take each section a couple inches at a time. I would hold each section down for about 2 minutes until the glue started to adhere stronger. If you go too fast it will come right off!] I then glued the glazed shells to the bottom of each letter with Tacky glue.

Close-up of detail

Fun tips

I glued some shells upside down, because the inside of the shell was a beautiful color while the top was plain white. I think it adds some variety to the design!

I added pieces of weathered coral I found to add some contrast, seen above.

Sea Shell Crafting for Beginners

Here are my tips on crafting with sea shells:

1. When shelling NEVER take live shells. When browsing the beaches you will find many beautiful shells, but when you look inside someone is still home! It is illegal to take live shells, starfish and sand dollars. So first and foremost, make sure all shells you are taking are empty!

2. Know your tides! The best shelling is at the beginning of low tide, when the shells aren't covered by waves and before the other shellers get to the best ones! If you have the opportunity to go after a big storm has churned up the ocean, you won't be disappointed! The large waves bring great shells to shore (maybe even some deep-sea shells!)

3. Clean shells with a 1:1 mixture of bleach and water overnight. This will take the fishy, ocean smell away and leave you with nice, neutral smelling shells. Rinse them with water after taking them out of the bleach mixture and you're good to go!

4. Glaze your shells, this will give them that nice shine like they just came out of the ocean. I like Triple Thick Gloss Glaze. I apply it using a foam paint brush, then let them dry on wax paper.

5. Use Tacky Glue to glue shells for your projects rather than hot glue. It takes a little longer to adhere at first, but it creates a very strong bond and dries clear. 

6. Sand dollars are very fragile, so you have to harden them before using them for projects. I used a 50/50 mixture of white Elmer's glue and water. Brush it on in a thin coat with a small bristled paintbrush. After the first coat completely dries, do a second coat. This will not only harden the dollars but make them appear whiter.

25.9406° N, 81.7147° W

Sun setting into the Gulf

This is my little piece of paradise, Marco Island Florida. Located on the Gulf of Mexico, it is surrounded my turquoise waters, white sandy beaches and the best shells in the world! It's just south of Sanibel Island, a well known shelling destination. This is where I find the seashells for all my crafts, I have more than I know what to do with! Marco Shell & Craft Co. is an amazing little store located on the island. It has a vast assortment of crafting supplies that I use for my projects and they feature completed crafts around the store that I use for inspiration!

Treasures from a shelling expedition

In March, on Spring Break, we took The Dolphin Explorer for a swing around the island. Not only did we see over 20 dolphins, we also made a pit stop on a remote barrier island, only accessible by boat. Resulting in a bounty of shells that have not been picked over by beach-goers! Since it is located near deeper waters, this shelling destination is a great opportunity to discover deep-sea shells, which may not make it all the way to the shores of mainland beaches. We found a rare "flat", zigzag scallop!

Holding my complimentary netted, shelling bag

Proper shelling posture :)

My Journey to the Blogging World

I have been thinking about starting my own blog, and today I went from "thinking" to "doing". My ideas for a blog all stem back to Pinterest. For years I have been a self-proclaimed, Pinterest extraordinaire. Not to toot my own horn, but I have never fell victim to a so-called "Pinterest Fail", which I've been to known to laugh at myself on Buzzfeed. After trying others' recipes and crafts, I began posting my own creations. Everytime one of my pins got re-pinned, it sent a thrill through my spine. Someone likes what I'm doing and wants to do it too!! And that leads me to wanting to start a blog to catalogue all these crafts and give my fellow Pinners instructions on how they can DIY. To get started I did what many first-time bloggers have probably done before me: Google "How to start a blog". That has led me to the creation of this page and I am excited to start transforming it!