Treasures of the Ocean Jewelry Set

Hey, friends!  You know how much I love the beach, and as much as I thoroughly enjoyed our recent vacation, I'm kind of bummed that it's already over for this year.  So, when I saw these gorgeous green shell beads that remind me of the ocean, I thought I'd make myself a jewelry set that will make me think of my favorite place all summer long, even when I'm not there.

Beach in a Basket: Using the Seashells You Found

Our Parasailing Adventure with Ocean Watersports

Beach Ball Pillow and a Silhouette Promotion!

Little Crafter and I share a few important mutual loves, namely Starbucks, art projects, and the beach!!  Now that the weather is warm and summer is headed our way, we're both getting impatient for our Myrtle Beach vacation.  To help us think beach-y thoughts while we're still here at home, I thought it would be fun to surprise him with a beach ball throw pillow.  {It worked!}  Here's how I made it, with the help of "Cammie" and some sewable fabric interfacing I received from Silhouette.

BEACH BALL APPLIQUÉ PILLOW COVER

Decorated Journals & Washi Tape for KIDS!

You may have seen on Facebook that our family just returned a wonderful, fun 10-day vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!  We had gorgeous weather and a great time from start to finish...so much so that all day long today, LC and I have alternately been complaining to each other, "I miss the beeeeach!"

 



 

Anyway, every time we go, we stay in the same hotel, The Breakers Resort, specifically the North Tower. 

 



The rooms are nice, the view is fabulous, but the thing that keeps us going back there is the amazing staff.  They have befriended Little Crafter and make him feel special and important.  Each time we go, he looks forward to seeing his "friends" there, and each time we leave, he wants to make them a little something as a thank-you.  Last summer, we made foam thank you notes {two of which are still on display in the hotel}.

 



 

In December, we made these cute gingerbread man ornaments.

 

 

This year, as we were walking through the craft section of the MB Target, Little Crafter spotted this:

 





 

That's right, friends.  Get excited.  It's washi tape for kids!!  Officially called a "printed tape set", it has 9 coordinating rolls and costs about $7.  Little Crafter was determined to make something with it, so we decided to jazz up some ordinary notebooks that could be used as journals, notepads, or paper to write him letters {so he says}.  We also found some cute coffee-themed pens that were two for $1 in the Target dollar section. 

 



DIY WASHI TAPE NOTEBOOKS

Materials:  All you need is...

 All we did was tape the strips on, covering both the fronts and the backs of the notebooks.  LC picked which tapes to use on which notebook and what order he wanted them in.  Here's how they turned out.  One for Mr. David, one for Ms. Ann, and one for Ms. Marleen.

This tape is a little different from the washi tape I normally use; a little heavier, a little less sticky, a little wider, and a little more opaque.  It's great for kids, and made a nice finished product!
Here's the obligatory beach shot. :)

Sigh.  I miss the beach.

Anyway, here is the little man with Ms. Marleen and Ms. Ann, who were very happy to receive their presents. 

We were glad to do a little something for them as a thank-you for their extra kindness.  When we entered our room, Ms. Ann had made a special swan shaped towel to greet LC, along with a sand shovel and a pack of trail mix.  Ms. Marleen gave him three plastic cups with the hotel logo and a Nemo kick board that another child had left behind earlier in the summer.  Not to mention the smiles and love they gave him each day.  Thanks, ladies, for making our trip so memorable once again!  The little things you do matter in a big way.

Happy Crafting!




NKOTB: Joey

Are you ready to welcome another "new kid" on our bloggy block?  Meet, Joey from Created in AWE!



 

Hello, One Artsy Mama Fans! I am so excited to join you today. A huge thank you to Amy for inviting me to be a part of her New Kids on the Block series. My name is Joey Bailey and I started my craft blog this summer. My vision is simple, to try whatever crafts I am inspired to try and share my journey with you. It has been so much fun, both the successes and the failures. I am learning a lot, and I hope you will join me at Created in AWE to see what happens next. Your feedback is very important. So be sure to let me know what you think! This post is the second of two related to creating vacation memory crafts from the beach. We finished it on Labor Day weekend as a bit of a goodbye to summer. Enjoy!

 
Even after creating the Beach Memory Vase in Part 1 of Beachy Keen, we had enough shells from vacation to do a few more projects. These three crafts made use of the sand and remaining shells we couldn't bare to throw away.  Even the tiny broken pieces, as you will see.

Supplies:

Shell frames: Dollar store 4x6 picture frames, various shells, hot glue or E6000, printout of picture title, mod podge, scrap piece of cardboard

Shell Jars: Craft store jars, various shells and sand, hot glue or E6000

Shell Pendant: Sand Dollar or shell, 24 gauge wire, pearl, silver bead

After an excursion to Shell Island, we had quite a collection of shells. The kids each had mesh laundry bags for collecting the shells. I also made use again of the sand we collected on our last day. If you remember, I saved 5 of our water bottles and had each of us fill a bottle with the beautiful white sand from the beach where we took a few final photos. We packed the shells as carefully as possible placing the most precious sand dollars in paper towels. Not all of them made the trip home in one piece, but we still had plenty.

I decided this would be a project the kids would be able to do themselves. I was cautious to handle the glue for the younger ones, but they each chose and placed the shells themselves. I purchased 4x6 picture frames from the dollar store with a smooth flat surface. The kids selected their favorite shells along with several smaller shells as "fillers" and laid them along the frames to see how they would fit. The shells were then removed and glued on one at a time. Two of the kids chose to leave an empty space to fit the picture title. One decided to have the picture title glued on top of the shells. Each of them were very proud of their creations.

 

While the glue was drying, the kids cut out the titles I had printed onto cardstock. We used Mod Podge to glue them to a piece of cardboard (recycled cereal boxes work great) to give them structure. Then Mod Podge was applied to the front and back surfaces. After they were dry, we glued them in the preferred place on the frames.
 

 

The leftover shells were placed in craft store jars. Some were glued to the top of two of the jars, another choice the kids made themselves. As you can see, one child was quite the over-achiever in shell collecting and needed a larger jar.  In fact, we need to buy another jar to hold the shells that didn't fit here! We didn't put a title on the jars, but instead display the jar and frame together.
 

 

I held back my favorite sand dollar for a simple pendant. I attached a craft pearl and a silver filigree bead (from my stash) to a large jump ring with 24 gauge wire along with the perfect little sand dollar I had preserved in a Mod Podge and water mixture as in the Beach Memory Vase project. I love this little memory that I can wear year-round!

This was a fun project for this last weekend of summer. Now we can keep our summer memories where we can see them all the time!

 

 

 

*******************************************************************************

 

Thanks, Joey!  You all know I'm crazy about anything beachy, so these are all going in my memory back to do with Little Crafter sometime.  We always have tons of shells after our beach vacations.

 

Happy Crafting, Friends!

 

Starfish Necklace

If you've been visiting around here for any length of time, you know that I loooove the beach.  {and Starbucks...but today we're talking about the beach}!

My buddy Angela over at Angela's Adventures asked me if I'd participate in something fun she's hosting on her blog and contribute a post about something summery.  I wasn't sure what to make, then I remembered a little starfish charm I picked up awhile ago and then never did anything with.  So, I created a special beachy necklace that's quickly become one of my favorite accessories.  Stop by Angela's blog to see how I made it and tell her I said hello! 

Happy Almost-Summer!

Better at the Beach Sign

Who loves the beach?  Ooh, ooh, me, ME!  And so does my whole family, especially my dad.  I decided that for Father's Day I wanted to make him something since he loved the retirement blocks I made back at Christmas time, so I came up with this idea.

If you know him, shhhhh!  Don't tell!

"Better at the Beach" Sign

Materials:

- wood scrap

- blue and white acrylic paint

- paintbrushes and/or paint pen

- sandpaper

- hot glue gun and glue

- twine

- scissors

- optional: computer, printer, paper, pencil

STEP 1: Paint your wood.  I got this piece from Michaels for less than $2.

STEP 2: Print your words {mine are mirror image} and use a pencil over top to make slight depressions in the wood as you trace over each letter.

STEP 3: Using paint and/or paint pen, trace over letters.

STEP 4: Use sandpaper to distress edges.

STEP 5: Hot glue twine in place as a hanger.

Enjoy!

I can't wait to give it to him!  And I'm so excited to have it figured out and finished ahead of time...men are so hard to think of good gifts for sometimes!  Plus, it cost me less than two bucks!  But that'll be our little secret.

Happy Crafting!

She Sells Seashells

So, you know that I have a love affair with the beach.  Myrtle Beach, in particular, but anywhere there's sand and ocean will do.  And like any good beach lover, I can't help but look for interesting seashells each time I visit.  Now I have another little pair of eyes and hands who enjoys doing the same thing, so it only stands to reason that we have multiple ziploc baggies containing really cool shells we don't know what to do with laying around collecting dust in the craft room.  Sooo...I've been on the lookout for {cheap} projects I can do to put some of thesm to good use.  Here are a few I've whipped up for around the house:

BEACHY BATHROOM DECOR

This was super easy and super thrifty too; I just got a glass vase from Michaels {$3.99} and filled it with my favorite shells.  I started with large ones on the bottom and filled in the center with big broken pieces that wouldn't get seen anyway.  Then, I went around the edges, placing the shells where I wanted them.  The basket was around $5 at Target, the starfish and burlap were a gift from my {wonderful, sweet, talented} friend Sabine, and my mom gave me the sand dollar because it was collecting dust at her house.

Total cost of shell vase: $3.99

Total cost of entire thing: about $9

Here's a broader view of how it looks in the powder room.  Hello!

I also did a similar version as a centerpiece for the dining room table a few months ago, just in a larger vase, and added a candle in the center.  Easy peasy.

BEACH IN A JAR

You may remember from my "Life's a Beach" series that I fell in love with this idea from my crafty bloggy buddy Carmella over at Creative Carmella.

Before I show you mine, you have to hear my story.

I really wanted to make my own, but I forgot to bring sand back from the beach.  Boo.

So, on Monday I was at a playgroup with Little Crafter and the hostess, Erin {who is quite the artsy mama herself}, called me into the bathroom saying, "You inspired me!"

I was a bit curious...I, um, inspired you in the bathroom??  But what she meant was that she'd made a beach in a jar and had used it in there for decor.  It was super duper cute, but I didn't take a picture for you for two excellent reasons:

A. I forgot to take my camera to playgroup {fail, because the kids are really cute}

B. I thought it would just be too high on the weirdo-stalker-meter to start snapping pics in someone else's bathroom...

Anyway, I pouted a little to her about wanting to make my own but not having sand, and you know what she did?  Handed me a huge bag full of it.  Her mom had brought a bunch back for her from Ocean City so she could do the project and it was way more than she needed.  Woo, free sand!  Thanks Erin, Thanks Mrs. Ginny!  This called for a trip to Michaels for another $3.99 vase.  I printed a photo, added sand and shells, and

ta-da!!

Total cost: $3.99 {well, unless you count a piece of photo paper and the ink to print it...but still, cheap!}

Now I just have to find a spot to display it where Little Crafter and his slightly more rambunctious friends won't knock it over.  Don't want to have to vaccum that up...

SOUVENIR ORNAMENT

I came across this awesome idea for a beachy ornament at How to Nest for Less and instantly knew we had to make one.  Little Crafter helped me with all but the ribbon tying and hot glueing.

Here's what you need:

STEP 3: Hot glue the ornament top back on!  The sand is heavy and otherwise, you'll undoubtedly have a mess under your tree!

I'm loving it.

Total cost: about $1.

The shells and sand will shift around in there {especially if when a 3 year old violently shakes it for fun, but the shells will naturally return to the top...whew}.

I am so excited to finally have some good, practical uses for these great shells!  Hope you're inspired too.