I have a big thing for using free stuff for art. I can’t help it. It’s FREE.
And since the beach is like the curb of the ocean’s awesomeness….it is always full of free treasures that are ready for the picking. It’s like dumpster diving…with the potential of getting crabs. I crack myself up. So over the July 4th holiday, we walked up and down the beach (I have to give you an update on that, huh?!) when the tide is out trying to find water-logged treasures of interesting shells, wood, and coral. Spoiler alert…we didn’t find any good stuff. But I did find a bag of old shells in my stash that warranted a little art display of their own using my trusty recipe of a shadowbox and a glue gun.
But before we get into the details – let’s revisit some of the free ocean junk I’ve crafted before…
There’s the oyster cloister…
putting a sea fan behind glass…
putting a little sand dollar in a shadow box…
making ornaments out of tiny shells…
And of course, the easiest one is just plopping shells down in a vase and calling it a day…
Today’s project doesn’t fall far from the tree… or should I say swim far from the anemone.
I just collected and cleaned all the shells. Then I sorted them by size until I had 25 that looked different and unique and great all together.
Here’s where it is gonna get complicated. And a whole lot of sarcasm. You are gonna need a shadowbox. With a piece of cardboard the same size as the back.
Then you cut out some fabric and apply the fabric to the cardboard with spray adhesive. Yes. This is practically brain surgery blindfolded while solving the world hunger/energy/body odor crisis.
Then comes the glue gun. Aka….weapon of choice for Tori Spelling.
My only piece of advice that I have on this project is that you lay out the shells on the fabric prior to gluing so that you know where they all go. Oh and I wish I had a teeny tiny little label on the bottom to say which beach they all came from….I think these were from Destin in 2012.
So what have you been doing with your seaside treasures lately? Anything fun? Anything glue gunny? Anything free from the woods or beach or the nearby Denny’s dumpster?