We’re at the beach. And it’s a beautiful beach, it also happens to be a beach with a fairly decent assortment of seashells. It’s impossible not to do, I even catch my husband doing it, “Ooo! Look! I found a striped one!” And *plop* it goes into the bucket. By the time vacation is over you have a huge ziploc baggie full of extremely prized, albeit somewhat ordinary, seashells. What to do, what to do. In my house they’ve occasionally made their way into a glass bowl with a bit of a sand in the bottom or perhaps a cool jar with a candle but after a few weeks of it sitting on my shelf I always come to the same conclusion, “that is so old lady looking”. This time however I’m going into seashell hunting with a plan, I will not be forced into making the decision to either age my home decor 30 years or be plagued with guilt when I stealthily throw away my kid’s ocean finds a few weeks after we’ve been home. THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY! Turns out, there is…
*The sweetheart of the craft world, Disney from Ruffles & Stuff, created this lovely red painted seashell rose for Delia Creates. I love that she mounted them on a rustic wood block for contrast.
*Only Martha would think to use a large scallop or clam shell to make a chic soapdish. I’m totally doing this.
*This is a pretty awesome way to beautify otherwise bleh oyster shells. They don’t give exact instructions but I don’t see why you cant work the shells around a styrofoam base & adhere with a good adhesive.
*I’m not sure if this is exactly what they did here but it gives me an idea, why not gold or silver leaf, or heck, even glitter, a large shell & then attach an ornament hanger to the backside with a strong adhesive? I’m all about ornaments that evoke special memories…
*LOVE these simple shell garlands for a summer pergola. (BTW, if you need some major swoon click on that link to see the most goregous cali beach wedding, ugh, why can’t I go back in time & be friends with them?)
*A succulent & a shell…why did I not think of this?
*Ok, don’t kill me but I would totally sport these in a messy braided summer updo. Is that wrong?
*I don’t know about your beach but these might be a bit hard to find. Don’t they make phenomenal tea lights though?
Speaking of, want to make one of these but are utterly landlocked? Do a search on Etsy, they make it stupid easy to get a bag of fabulously sorted shells delivered to your door.
Or if all else fails go for the fierce shell jaguar lawn guardians. Can’t go wrong there.
Ummmmm.. I love all of these ideas, though I think it would look like a pile of mess if I attempted to recreate any of these.
That oyster shell candle holder is ah-maz-ing.
On Pinterest I saw this pin that had a whole bunch of sea shells in a shadow box. I thought that was really creative, yet not tacky. Perhaps you’ll love it as well? (Wish I had seen that pin several years ago, hah!)
http://pinterest.com/pin/52002570670251837/
That’s totally cute!
We do the exact same thing at the beach! I become obsessed with finding the ‘really pretty’ and colorful shells. We have a box of them in our garage… I am going to try a couple of these ideas, esp the ornaments! Love.
I bought a wooden frame @Michael’s and glued shells and starfish to it and put pics of my little ones @the beach. It turned out so cute!
Thanks! Love your blog!
Hey! I think I know where you guys are… I’m not a creepy weirdo, we just left a sea shell filled island off the coast of Florida 😉
Haha, you know, not that there are around a bazillion islands off the west coast of Florida or anything. Hope you loved your trip as much as we did, I definitely am having ocean withdrawls!
Jaguar lawn guardians…a little creepy. Lol. I heard about making a heart (or whatever shape) design on burlapthe and sew/attach shells in that shape. I didnt explain that wellI at all but…It looks super cool to hang on the wall and remember a special trip.
Oh that sounds cute! And yes, they’re EXTREMELY creepy. Almost as creepy as the person who actually took a bazillion hours to glue on all those little shells.