Archive for seashell decor
Beach Bling Coconut Makes A Charming Seaside Flower Vase
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As I combed the beach early this morning at low tide, I found a beautiful brown inside shell of an old coconut washed ashore.
As I picked it up, I could feel sea water spilling out of the hole so I held it upside down to drain the coconut of everything inside. Ohhhh. Cool BEACH BLING.
Aha! This could be an awesome flower vase! When I got home, I rinsed it inside and out with fresh water then cut some leaves and flowers from my yard. I filled it with fresh water, arranged my cuttings in the opening, then placed some miniature shells on an art-glass plate to keep it from rolling. Voila! A naturally beautiful coconut flower vase.
While I was going bananas over coconuts, Becky from Sarasota was getting wooed by WHELKS…
Look at all the LIGHTNING WHELKS she found right by the Sanibel fishing pier… not to mention that orange BANDED TULIP and NUTMEG.
It was so nice to meet you this bright beautiful morning Becky!
Tips For Decorating Your Yard With Seashells
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Decorating your yard with seashells is just as much fun as decorating the inside of your home with shells. I showed you how our friends Dick and Mary decorated the inside of their house (Tips To Decorate Your Home With Seashells) but now, hold on to your boot straps because the outside of their home is just as fabulous.
They pick up all of those big beautifully broken WHELKS and CONCHS to fill their outdoor urns and pots to decorate their poolside patio. They look maaaw-vilous! That’s exactly why we pick them up too and call them our “yard shells”.
You don’t have to always put plants into your “planters”. You don’t have to water shells! Well, except if you want to make a vase out of a HORSE CONCH.
And you don’t always have to put tools in the toolbox. Put seashells here too.
Okay, are you ready to see the “seashell garden”? It is a 22 feet long area filled with shells they found on Sanibel. I can’t even imagine how many WHELKS, CONCHS, OLIVES…. oh you name it, it’s in there.
Here’s a view looking straight down and I’d say this was a typical view of the different shells. Unbelievable, right?
They dry the shells after they wash them outside in a somewhat shaded area. This was a new batch they found.
In the last month, we have had an unusual amount of MANGROVE SEED PODS wash up on the beach. Mary decided to bring a few home to see if they would root. Three weeks later, they are sprouting.
Now let’s move into the garage where they store and organize all of the other shells and beach bling they find before it gets placed in the yard or house. Only in my dreams, could I be this organized. And before you ask… Yes, this fine cabinet is in their garage.
Their sand is even organized.
They both were laughing and couldn’t wait to show me this jar of beach combing oddities. Yep, they found a kid’s retainer in the surf and picked up to add to their collection of oddities. LOL
I hope you enjoyed the visit with Dick and Mary as much as I did and hopefully you got a few more ideas of what to do with your shells you find. In case you missed Part One showing the inside of their house… CLICK HERE
Tips To Decorate Your Home With Seashells
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“What do you do with all of the seashells you collect?” Haven’t you been asked that question every time you tell someone you love to collect shells? I’ve been asked countless times and I’ve asked other shellers so I’m guilty as well. I think we all are interested in getting ideas of what to do with them from other people who love what we love… seashells.
Our friends Dick and Mary love shelling and love their seashells and beach bling surrounding them in their beautiful home. Join me as I show you their seashell arrangements… with the help from kitty Fatima.
This is a perfect example of what I love about Dick and Mary in the photo above…. there are no rules. They find so many beautiful shells on the beach but they also love to buy shells if they see one that strikes their fancy and they don’t mind mixing them. Most of those shells in the bowl (that Fatima is admiring) were found on the beach by either Dick or Mary but some, as Mary says with a laugh “I found that one too…. in a store”.
When it comes to ALPHABET CONES, they don’t have to buy a single one. They found all of the ones in the glass vessel on Sanibel and Captiva. Wow! Piling the same shell in any type of vessel is my favorite way to display my shells as well. They found all of these baby HORSE CONCHS too. Wouldn’t you love a bowl full of candy by your bedside table?
They framed their oddity treasures in a shadowbox.
They framed some of their best shells to make a wall collage in the hallway.
This is the top of the very first shell mirror Mary made but the mirror is so big, I couldn’t get the whole thing in the photo. Again, she mixed bought shells with beach found shells.
Here’s the bottom of another shell mirror…
They displayed their “knobless wonder” HORSE CONCH (the spire doesn’t have those pronounced bumps normal horsies do) right at the front entrance with a striking vase of PAPER FIGS.
knobless wonder with figs
They call this little heart the WENTLETRAP trap…
This wire bowl has a beach found key chain, pottery pieces, sea glass, driftwood and other beach bling along with a bought object d’ art. See? Mix and match, just do it.
Mary was a doll maker a number of years ago so on the shelves of her glass door cabinets she displays the things she loves mixed together.
Of course there are OLIVE shells in the olive dish.
Remember I showed you the OYSTER shell mirror on my post Ordinary Oyster Turn Extraordinary? Mary made a plant stand out of them.
I still have so much to show you! Like how they use their shells in the garden and by the pool and how they organize all of their shells. But, oh my. I’ve run out of time so I have to break this post into several so… hang on! You won’t believe your eyes at how many more shells they have and what they do with them. So for Part Two… CLICK HERE
How To Make Shell Crafts Video – Project: Dandelions
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I started thinking about summer projects this week so I revisited some of my blog photos for inspiration. Bingo! The 74th Sanibel Shell Fair and Show was last month … and it gave me a great idea for both me and you. I thought I’d find out some of the secrets of shell crafting so I asked how 2011 Blue Ribbon and Judges’s Special Award winner Barb Walling made her ”Dandelions” piece. We will get to learn every detail of how this piece was made by the artist herself!
Barb was gracious enough to invite me over to her Sanibel home to see where the magic begins. She first showed me how she organizes her shells that she picks up off the beach after she washes and dries them.
She categorizes each box or drawer by the shell name. This one is the SEMELE which she uses as the base to the dandelion and most of her shell flowers.
From here, I’m gonna let her tell you how everything else is done. Sit back, relax and let your imagination roll…
How ’bout that, huh? Here’s a close up of the SEMELE she talked about ……
….and the CROSS BARRED VENUS
This is a dead PURPLE SEA URCHIN that washed up on the beach with some of it’s spines still attached.
This is a close up of Barb’s SEA URCHIN spines. That’s a lot of SEA URCHINS!
Thank you so much for the shell craft lesson, Barb! Can’t wait to see what you create for next year’s 75th Anniversary of Sanibel Shell Fair and Show.
Imperfect Seashell Creativity
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I needed a little shelling pick-me-up yesterday since I’ve had “technical difficulties” in the blog world the last few days. Since the gulf has been a little rough caused by south winds, I thought I might find some goodies at Blind Pass.
The Sanibel side of Blind Pass was …well, empty of shells. Where’d they go?
I ran over to the Captiva side to find the beach with even a bigger drop-off than last week. Looked like nothing to me. There were a few people working the ledge but I decided to go back to the east end of Sanibel.
On the way back to the parking lot, I met Bob, Lucy and Linda sorting their shells in the back of their car. I can’t believe they found all of these on that ledge I showed you. It looked bare to me.
Shame on me for not looking a little harder at that ledge. Look at these beautiful shells… and especially that large, perfect LIGHTNING WHELK on the left.
The surf was kicking up around the east end of Sanibel but the beach didn’t look like it was piled with shells. Then I started focusing on the wash line a little bit better since I learned my lesson and missed so many at Blind Pass. There were actually some nice shells…… and nice folks.
I met another Sani-Belle on the beach! I met some of the Sani-Belle sisters and mom Mermaid Ella in January at Blind Pass (Click HERE for the post) so I was tickled to meet sister Sani-Belle Muriel too.
Like I said, there wasn’t a huge wrack of shells on the beach but she was still happy with what she was finding. I guess so! Look at that nice size BABY’S EAR! In her hand from left to right is a SCALLOP, a CARDITA, another SCALLOP, that big beautiful BABY’S EAR, a CROSS BARRED VENUS and a COCKLE.
Mermaid Ella
This picture above was taken of Muriel’s 92 year old mom in January when I nicknamed her Mermaid Ella. I wanted to show you this photo again because most of the shells that Muriel and the other Sani-Belles collect are “materials” (that’s what they call the shells) for frames that Mermaid Ella makes. She showed me this one……
Isn’t that beautiful? Shells don’t have to perfect to be beautiful. Imperfect is just as beautiful if you look at them in a different view like in this frame. This just makes me smile. And I also smile thinking of some other artists that make beautiful decor and jewelry from beach treasures…. perfect or not.
Endless Sunner is so clever to design wine charms from seashells with holes in them…..
Tresor le Mer creates gorgeous pieces of art from beach treasures that someone else might consider to be beach “litter”…..
Aptly named, An Imperfect Shell gives us that feeling of just coming off the beach in every design she makes….
I love photography so I love to see how other artists capture the art of seashells. The Coastal Collection presents imperfect seashells in a whole new light….. sepia toned.
I also have another artist friend Rhonda from Shellebelle’s Tikihut that collects “drift shells” to make beautiful art frames too.
So before I frown again and an “empty” beach, I’m going to remember Mermaid Ella and these other artists who get excited to see bits and pieces of shells on the beach. This is exactly what gets their creative juices flowing for their shellicious decor and jewelry. Thanks yall for the pick-me-up I really needed!
Val xo
When It Rains, Make Shell Crafts
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Shell Fair Seashell mirror
We finally got some much needed rain this morning to water the plants and to refresh the island. Whenever it rains, I get excited about doing an art project since I know I’ll be inside all day. I revisited my photos from the Sanibel Shell Fair and Show to get inspiration and a few ideas… then I realized… I never showed you most of the winners from the craft division of the show.
Blue Ribbon best Seashell flower arrangement hobbyist
Can you see how this artist made the cacti? SEA URCHINS with TUSK shells poking out of the holes! What a fabulous idea to use TUSKS as thorns. I love creative people.
Sharon Thomas blue ribbon
Take you time and browse through the rest of these magnificent works of shell art.
Blue Ribbon Hobbyist Lucy Ann Read
ROSE PETAL TELLIN butterfies!
Deborah Yamin Second place winner
This one by Deborah Yamin is simple yet so elegant. Look at the OPERCULUM leaves.
Blue Ribbon Leslie Anding, Hobbyist
I love boxes of any kind and this one is especially sweet, isn’t it? I bet Leslie self collected those little WENTLETRAPS and ARK shells. I met her at the beach last year looking for those shells and BABY’S EARS on post Mixed Shell Bag.
Brandy Llewelyn blue ribbon winner
I also met Brandy Llewelyn last year looking for mini shells at the lighthouse.
Blue Ribbon winner Elaine Alvo
This is an adorable mermaid with her SEAHORSE and seashell treasure chest.
Blue Ribbon winner Victoria Ross, Hobbyist
Blue Ribbon single stem hobbyist Donna Carey
Blue Ribbon for Tyler Schoenherr
Have you gotten inspired yet? Well, I kind of went in a different direction. Instead of getting inspired to make shell crafts, I got inspired to do more posts about shell art and crafting so we will know what to do with those beautiful shells we bring home. But for now, the sun has come out …. so off to the beach to try to find another interesting shell or two.
Shell Ladies by Leanna Sherrill -blue ribbon
