Sea fans, that is! And during my recent trip to Grand Cayman, we learned that the earlier hurricane season brought strong winds, high seas, and roughed up some of the coral reef. The rejects were just laying on the beach. All I needed to do was stroll. That and have someone help me carry all my doo-dads back home. So I went walking on the beach with high hopes and boyfriend in tow to perform an America’s Next Top Sea Fan search. Requirements – be skinny enough to fit in a suitcase, be able to sit still and look fierce, and be real. Please note that these requirements are exactly the same slightly different than ANTM’s requirements.

Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed. I brought my collection home and started to make the perfect scene for displaying my pride and joy. More specifically, a perfect yellow sea fan. It is drop dead gorg! I bought a Ribba frame at Ikea and wrapped the mat with white fabric to create a soft uniform background.

As you can see, I wrapped it just like a present…except with packing tape. And I made sure there was a white piece of paper (it’s actually gray on one side but the back is solid white) on the underside of the fabric between the mat and fabric. It makes it a little more uniform.

And there you have it. A new piece of art for my kitchen. It covers an outlet right now 🙂 And I love the color and interest it adds to an otherwise boring part of the wall.

Just look at that detail! Beautimus, no?! Not only is it a good memento of my trip to the Caribbean but it is just an everyday reminder that each person in this world is even more wonderfully made. Everyone is intricate. Everyone is different. And just like this sea fan, I need to remember to treat each with tender lovin’ care. Even skinny model-types that seem to have everything in the bag. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t taunt them with a bagel every now and again. It’s actually really fun! I would never do that.

***Those ocean-lovin’ Youngsters over at TYH also did this project a while back by ordering their dried sea-fan online – go on over to check all the details!