Come sit with me for awhile…
and see what I’m bringing to the table®

What to do? What to do? .   .   .  with your beach combing haul ???  Now that the shell discovery game is well over, and the kids have moved on to .   .   . mmm .   .   . whatever.  After all, they found them, carried them, washed them, sorted them, ogled, and ah’d them .   .   . and there they went .   .   . onto bigger and better uncharted territory. Want them back? Of course you do .   .   .  Hmm I heard a few whispered .   .   . not really. Shhh .   .   . it’s o k .   .   . really ! I as a mother absolve you of your desire .   .   . for a moment’s break in your beachy life. Go ahead take a break, then come back and catch up, I’ll be here waiting .   .   . no pressure .   .   . really!

Now for those of you, who want the little, or not so little ones to be into your next project.   Have a look at the above photo, just click to get up close and personal. The bottles seen above are easy for all ages to replicate. First send your crew on a home treasure hunt. The booty to be hunted, are bottles of all shapes and sizes. Clean them out with hot soapy water, as well as hot rinse water. While bottles are air drying, your off to the store for  fresh, clean, and critter free bags of sand, available at any arts and crafts store. I understand that you may have so much beach sand available .    .    . but .   .   . the packaged sand is by far easier to work with. While at the craft store pick up a package of assorted corks, for those missing bottle tops, and glue sticks for your glue gun. YUP!!! You are now ready to create the look that you see in the above photo.

This is the fun, creative, and simple part of the project. First line up your clean bottles, and cherry pick the best of the litter, so to speak! Go for the chunkiest, and most impressive shapes first. The youngest of the beachy set are not to be ignored, just given a size that they can handle. Filling a small bottle or two with a partial amount of sand, then small shells dropped into the sand. Don’t have an abundance of small shells .   .   . no worries .   .   .   . use a few pieces of a larger broken shell. Pop a cork in the bottle and glue a few layers of shells onto the cork.

O k onto the picks of the litter. Start with the largest bottle, and fill no more than a quarter of an inch with sand, dropping bits and pieces of shells, coral, pebbles, and sticks that are washed ashore constantly. This is where your creative eye comes into play. Please remember that little is indeed generally better than tooo much!!! Now for the piece de resistance .   .   . the bottle top. I have photographed a few possibilities above .   .   . and below for an added bonus project !!! Step out-of-the-box !!! A large simple pillar candle embellished with layers of your choice pieces, using a glue gun and a few straight pins!

O k .   .   . I get that not all beachy excursions yield the golden collection, however, faux shells are available in most craft stores, and as in life, it takes a trained eye, to pick up on the faux! Now find a tray, pile those trophies on, and watch your crews eyes shine!!!

It’s out and… has 5 (count them people) 5 STAR REVIEWS  for I AM SOOO LUCKY!!! http://goo.gl/4kBSxv      What’s your review going to say?

Sharon Insul is the former owner of the popular Beverly Hills boutique Candle light and… Beverly Hills, California