In the process of cleaning out various nooks and crannies, I came across a small bag of shells that the 6 year old collected when we were in Maui last spring.  When we decided to bring them home, I had the idea of putting them all into a shadow box.  We came  home, the shells got tucked away, and I forgot all about it.

It’s the new year, people, so I’m doin’ all kinds of new things and tying up those loose ends.  I got a shadow box at Michaels and got the 6 year old to work laying out his shells.

serious planning of shell layout

I chose a felt color as the background and hot glued that to the backing of the box.  Then the 6 year old laid out his shells. When his design was finished, I hot glued the shells in place.  I added a little title piece to the bottom.

Then I stuck it back into the box, and voila!  As I write, it’s now sitting on the 6 year old’s shelf as a fun reminder of our fantastic trip to Hawaii.

This is a project you can do with anything you’ve collected, really.  The 3 year old really wanted to make one, too, but we didn’t have any more shells.  So I promised him we could go out to the yard tomorrow and collect some pine cones, sticks, and what have you and make him his own collection.  I made one several years ago that hangs in our guest bathroom, with shells from a family trip to Florida.

I put a little more time and effort into this one– it was pre-kids, as you can see– identifying and labeling all of the shells we found.  It makes a nice little wall hanging for the guest bathroom and a nice memory of the trip.

Do you have any keepsakes/collections that would go well in one of these boxes?

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  • January 3, 2010, 9:50 am Debi

    LOVE this idea, Beth! I have yet to take advantage of a shadow box, but now you’ve made me reconsider. I especially like the idea of the felt background. We’ve got all sorts of nature goodies — rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. that would work nicely. We’re also heading to Hawaii in March, so now I have a great idea for what we can do with all the shells I’m sure we’ll be collecting! :)

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  • January 4, 2010, 8:29 pm Wendy

    Just tryin to figure out a couple activities for a playdate, and I thought to myself, “I bet ‘Remarkably Domestic’ has some great ideas.’ Pickin up some shadow boxes tomorrow! THANK YOU!!!!

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  • January 7, 2010, 10:13 pm Trista

    FYI, Ikea also carries shadowboxes in their frames dept.

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    • January 8, 2010, 7:00 am bethpc

      Great tip– I wasn’t super thrilled with the selection at Michaels.

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