Ideas give summer treasures new life in homes and gardens

I have pretty rocks and fossils lining my windowsills, a basket of seashells I use as a doorstop and several vases filled with beach glass I’ve collected in many years of day trips to coastal and inland beaches. Doesn’t everyone?

Jen, a member of my family, has the perfect use for smooth, flat rocks. She uses them for plant markers. She writes the plant name on the rock with a waterproof, permanent marking pen and places the marker beside the plant in her garden. No more guesswork in the spring. Seashells with smooth surfaces also can serve the same purpose.

I thought it might be fun to concoct a trinket dish from some of the Florida seashells given to me by a Cuban photographer when I was in Miami at an art show opening a few years ago. The artist’s brother had collected the shells at Sanibel Island. For those of you who don’t have connections with Cubans, visit www.seashells.com or call (239) 472-1603 to order mixes of Sanibel Island seashells. Local craft supply stores often stock seashells, too.

I chose a shell about 4 inches wide for the ‘dish’ part. Then, using a glue gun, I glued three different shells – one is shaped like a fan; the other two resemble tiny spindle shells – to the back edge of the big shell. The last step was to glue three small shells of approximately equal size to serve as ‘feet’ for my creation. This craft is simple enough for children to do – with supervision because the glue gun is hot.

The seashell trinket dish I made is now on my desk at work holding paper clips. Every time I look at it I think of the art gallery in Miami where I received the shells as a gift, from someone I’d only just met, on a trip where I never even saw the beach.

Another simple thing to do with shells, beach glass and drift wood is to make ‘memory wands’ to lean in the window or to hang on the wall as reminders of the carefree summer days. I am indebted to one of my many friends, Cathy, for this idea. She made one and gave it to me for my birthday several years ago.

Select a piece of driftwood with a flat surface. I used pieces that may have been shingles or fence slats in a former incarnation. They are weathered gray on one side and riddled with wormy-looking grooves on the other side. Choose a mix of shells and beach glass, enough to fit on the driftwood piece. Arrange them to suit your fancy. Use a glue gun to secure them to the driftwood. For a hanger, use the tab from a soda can and thumbtack it to the back of the driftwood. If you use Elmer’s wood glue instead of a glue gun, this is a craft children can do right there on the beach while you moms and dads loll in the sun sipping iced tea.

If trolling beaches for stuff and getting sand in your sandals isn’t your thing, but the crafting part is, beach glass may be obtained at www.gelstuff.com/beachglass.html, or call (251) 653-2438. Beach glass may also be ordered from Crystal River Gems. Call (412) 391-5310, or www.crystalrivergems.com. Beach glass is sold by the pound and costs around $6 per pound. A pound is about a cup.

Seashells bigger than 2 inches across make interesting holders for tea and votive candles. Fill a small metal beach or utility pail, or other metal container with sand, arrange shells on the sand, set the candles in the shells and, voila, an instant centerpiece.

If you’d rather read your way through summer instead of craft, check your local bookstore for “Sea Glass Chronicles: Whispers from the Past” by C.S. Lambert and photographer Pat Hanberry; the Golden Guide, “Seashells of the World;” or “The Story of Sea Glass” by Anne Wescott Dodson and illustrator Mary Beth Owens.

Got any other easy ideas for crafting with seashells and beach glass? I’d love to hear about them.

Snippets

OK. Here’s the bad news – well, it’s good news, too, but not if you do cross-stitch and needlepoint. In Stitches, the shop at 54 Broadway in Bucksport, is closing in August, according to the latest newsletter I received from shop owner Joanna Wilhelm. The good news is that her husband has accepted a job in Memphis, Tenn.

The Stockton Springs Business Association will sponsor a Community Festival on Saturday, July 12. Activities include a streetwide yard sale, arts and crafts displays, music, firemen’s muster, book sale and children’s events.

Earl Pardy of Winterport wrote to ask where he can find a spool of Aunt Lydia’s button and carpet thread. “It came on a large red spool,” he wrote, “and also could be used to twitch long lumber” out of the woods. Apparently, it is no longer manufactured. Can anyone help?

Ardeana Hamlin can be reached at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.