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?
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!