Periwinkle Topiary

My craft table is getting a good workout lately. It's a mess with pine needles, shells, glitter and glue, among other things. I'm glad to have this space to spread out and use things I already have on hand. Tonight I found a cone shaped form to use to make a topiary. The periwinkles are the tiny snail like shells that are plentiful all along the coast.

I started at the base of the form with the larger periwinkles, attaching them with my hot glue gun.

Continuing in upward circles, I saved the smaller ones for the top.

To complete, I added a shell topper and assembled the shell covered form into a small urn shaped vase with a piece of driftwood and some moss.

I added some glitter too.

Here are some closeups

And since it resembles a tiny tree, it will blend in well with all the other holiday decor.

Birdhouse Covered In Seashells

Underneath all these seashells, is a plain wooden birdhouse I picked up for a mere 4 dollars. But of course, that's just between you and me and the lamppost, as my mother would say.

And you know, sometimes I forget to take a 'before' picture, but in this case, I did this long before I started my blog. But here is all I did. First, I applied a wash of pale green tinted paint over the entire surface.

Even then, I had a little pot of liquid gold leaf, that I seemed to have far better restraint with than I do today. How is it I forgot the 'less is more' adage?

I still remember thinking it was almost magical the way the shells seemed to nestle together as I began to apply them with my hot glue gun one after the other.

It's the type of little accessory that will go with most any decor.

Even still, every time I look at it, I swear I notice something new.

Pretty shells from the shore are sometimes so under appreciated, but this helped me realize they are truly remarkable treasures.

Coastal Bread Basket

Today I started planning out a Thanksiving menu and going through items I had on hand that I could use to set my Thanksgiving table. I just love doing this!

I painted my basket a light shade of aqua and hot glued pretty white sea shells all along the rim.

I decided the shells looked a little too plain, so here's my fix.

Sometimes I get a bit carried away with gold leaf . . . but not today.

Anyway, I'm thinking I may serve rolls for Thanksgiving, but today I had this bread on hand to display in my basket.

Love the close ups.

Anyway, I think you get the idea.

Oh, maybe just one more picture.

My coastal bread basket. That I will fill with rolls.

Sea Decor

I forgot to post pictures of a project I did earlier this year using these 3 wooden letters. Normally I would have applied paint and mounted them on a piece of driftwood, but I decided to give them a layer of tiny treasures that I collected from the shore.

With just some glue and a little liquid gold leaf to enhance the sea urchins, I just began layering shells and sea glass all over the letters.

And then I added them to a frame that I painted over to make it easy to hang.

A romantic piece of art, laden with the sea.