Sea Shell Flowers

Supplies
Wooden picture frame
Canvas (Choose a size that will fit inside the frame)
Ceramcoat acrylic paint
Bristled paint brush
Tacky glue
Sand
Cardboard
Glazed shells
Tiny faux pearls
Starfish

     First, the flowers. These took a lot of trial and error! The key to keeping them sturdy is using a small piece of cardboard, around the size of a quarter, to anchor the shells. Cut these circles out and use them as a base when you begin constructing the flowers. Sort out shells that are the same type and of various sizes. The larger sizes are used for the first layer and the smaller ones for the second, inner layer. One by one use tacky glue to secure the sea shells to the cardboard. Let the first layer completely dry before constructing the second layer. (Hint: Tacky glue can take about a minute to bind stronger. Hold each "petal" in place until it feels secure, they start to droop if you work too quickly) Once the flowers are constructed, decorate the centers with small shells or tiny faux pearls.

     Now you need a way to showcase your artwork! Take a wooden picture frame and remove the glass and backing. Using the bristled paint brush, paint the frame with two coats of acrylic paint. The bristles on the brush give a nice texture to the finish. Let dry.

     Choose a thin blank, white canvas that will fit in the frame where the backing was previously secured. With the bristled paint brush put a thin coat of tacky glue across the canvas and cover with sand. Important: Make sure you cover your workplace with newspaper to avoid a mess! Gently tap excess sand off the canvas and let dry for at least 30-45 minutes. Once completelydry, apply a second thin coat of Tacky glue and repeat. This gives you a great backdrop for your flowers!

     Secure the canvas into the frame with the fasteners in back. Now you are ready to arrange the flowers! Once the design is to your liking, use Tacky glue to affix each flower to the canvas. The cardboard behind each flower gives you an easy surface to spread the glue. Finally, I used two bleached starfish that I had purchased from a shell shop to complement my flowers!

My inspiration

In March, I attended the 34th Annual Marco Island Shell Show, presented by the Marco Shell Club. I was amazed by the artwork showcased here!! The creativity, execution and craftsmanship were superb. These women (&men!) are experts. Below are flowers that I used as inspiration for my crafting. I can only hope that one day my artwork will be at the level of these professionals!

How adorable is this garden scene?!

Organization Tip

Up until a couple weeks ago all my sea shells were thrown into a shoe box with very little organization. Then I came up with a great idea I wanted to share! I bought a Bead Organizer, which happens to double as a great Sea shell organizer. Now my sea shells are sorted based on type and they are easily accessible for crafting! It's the little things :)

Wine Cork Boards

 You have a lot of flexibility when it comes to deciding on a pattern. Paired with a bottle of wine, these make a great gift!

Supplies
Open Back Frame (The type used for framing canvases)
Hot glue gun
Large piece of cardboard
Wine Corks (Must be made of real cork! Not synthetic cork, like those found in Barefoot)
Serrated knife
Wire

    You can purchase a sheet of cardboard or be resourceful and use cardboard from a UPS shipping box! Cut out a rectangle large enough to cover the opening in the back of the frame. This will you give you something to glue the corks too. Use hot glue to affix cardboard edges to the back of the frame. Make sure the side facing the front of the frame is brown so that it won't be noticeable through any gaps in the corks.

     Now you need to decide on the pattern you would like to create! For the brown frame, I used a serrated knife to cut the corks in half and incorporated the ends into my pattern. Some wineries have designs on the tops and bottoms of their corks so this is a good way to showcase this!  I never had any issues with the corks crumbling on me when cutting them. I have seen tips on boiling/steaming wine corks to prevent crumbling, so you can try this if you run into problems. (Hint: Not every wine cork is equal. You will notice that some are shorter and some are longer. Try to group similar sizes together, this will keep you from having odd gaps between the corks if they are not the same length) I used two champagne corks in the white frame. They are a good way to cover a lot of space if you find yourself with a big gap.

     Once you have a premise for the pattern you can begin hot gluing. You may get to the end of a row of column and the final corks do not fit! This was very frustrating for me!! To solve this problem I shaved off a few centimeters on the preceding corks with a serrated knife until they were at a length where they fit inside the frame.

     To hang the cork board, most frames have rings mounted on the back, through which you can thread a wire. These boards look great as is, but if you want to make them functional see below for directions on how to craft some fun pins!

Note: When browsing the internet, I came across a few sets of instructions that recommended against the use of hot glue because the corks may pop off. So far I have found no problems with the corks adhering with the hot glue! I will update you with any changes :)

 

Sea Glass Thumb Tacks



Supplies

Thumb Tacks

Sea glass

Hot glue

This is such an easy and creative way to spruce up some regular old thumb tacks. And they are a great addition to your wine cork board! Simply hot glue the sea glass pieces to plain thumb tacks and let the glue set. You can also use small sea shells instead of sea glass!

 

Happy Crafting!

A cute way to showcase your wine cork collection!