Photo & Seashell Mobile

by Kelly

I do it every time I go to the beach....

I always end up bringing back a baggie full of seashells.

Maybe to some it's not a big deal, but here in Oklahoma, it's not something that we so a lot of.  To me they are so interesting, so delightful.  But the question once I get home is always the same...

What am I going to do with all these seashells?

We recently got back a from a heavenly, week-long vacation in Marco Island, FL.  And of course, I brought back shells.  But on our last day, I popped into a little gift/craft shop for our customary Christmas ornament. It was there that I saw a mobile made out of an embroidery hoop, seashells, and raffia.  And I thought to myself {say it with me now!} "I can make that!"

This past weekend, I came up with my own take on this mobile and it turned out really cute.  So I thought I would share with you how I made it in case you've got a bunch of shells hanging around too.

So the the first thing obviously is the shells.  I when I got home I soaked them in a 50/50 bleach/water solution for a couple of hours. Then I set them out on a towel to dry.  You could also set them outside in the sun if you wanted.

Next I got out the drill and drilled a hole into the shell.

I found that standing the shell on its small end like this was the easiet, most stable way to drill the hole.

Once I got all the holes drilled I gathered up my supplies:

• embroidery hoop (this little number I found at a garage sale for 25 cents)
• raffia
• twine
• shells
• small photos

For the photos, I just printed out a few of my favorites from our vacation.  I did this by creating a letter-sized, grid/layout in Lightroom.  The individual cells are 2.5" x  2.5" and I then just cut them out with my paper trimmer.

Next, I tied a piece of raffia to my embroidery hoop.

Then continued on around the hoop adding a few pieces of twine here and there.

I purposely did not obsess about the number of raffia vs. twine pieces.  Because #1) who cares and #2) I honestly think part of the charm of this craft is the random mix of textures.  

The next step was to add a mix of photos and shells to the lengths of raffia and twine.  Other than trying not to tie them at the same height, I didn't worry too much about the placement.  And as a final step, I added four additional pieces of twine and brought them together at the top and created a loop for hanging the mobile.

This project only took about an hour and half, and then I hung it up in a corner in my office.  And can I tell you....I absolutely love it.

I love seeing the faces of my family and friends alongside my little treasures...it's like a hanging scrapbook.  

Whether or not you get all crafty like this or not, please...print your pictures.  Print your snapshots. Print your Instagram shots.  Print pictures of your coffee mugs.  Your pictures of the sunset and your selfies.  Don't worry about the focus or the 20 pounds you'd like to lose.  Don't worry if they aren't high art.  Because THIS is your Art....your life is your Art.  

If you decided to do something like this, be sure to take a photo and share it in the Flickr pool for all of us to see.  And if you have any ideas for displaying seashells, share them in the comments....I'd love to hear those too!  

Until next time,

Kelly