I don't know about you, but I just love seashells...
I consider them tiny, detailed works of art created by Mother Nature herself!
I've used them in my own decor for every season of the year,
simply because I love them and I was lucky enough to have lived at the beach for a few years.
Up in Washington state, there are a lot of shells on the beaches of the islands.
The most abundant ones are simple white butter clamshells. I collected lots of them!
...and I found a 'Fast, Cheap & Easy'TM way to make those shells a special summer decor element!
* Grab yourself a bunch of clamshell halves (butter, littleneck, whatever) and clean them. Let dry.
*Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
*Sit them on a cookie sheet with their 'open' side facing up.
Nestle them into a damp dishcloth/kitchen towel so that they all sit level.
*Get some plain white tealights (the kind that come from IKEA in silver metal cups are perfect).
*Remove the silver cup from the tealights, and sit one candle inside each shell half.
Make sure the wicks are standing straight up.
*Slide the cookie sheet into your oven.
It should take @ five minutes for the candles to melt, filling the whole inside of the clamshell half with wax. Keep a close eye on the process.
DO NOT MICROWAVE! The moisture in the shells makes them EXPLODE!
*Pull the cookie sheet out of the oven very slowly and keeping it level
so that you don't spill the liquid wax.
*Sit the sheet on a flat surface to allow the wax to re-harden in the shells.
If any of the wicks are bent or covered in wax,
use a wood skewer to lift them out of the wax and stand them straight up.
*When the wax has hardened and the shells have cooled (about an hour),
remove them from the cookie sheet and store them in a cool, dry place.
If you'd like, you can place them in the fridge to REALLY harden the wax at this point.
*When burning these candles, place the shell inside a saucer or small bowl,
to keep the melting wax from pouring out of the shell and making a mess.
Always be cautious when burning any kind of candle.
I'll be sharing more ideas for decorating with seashells in upcoming posts...
This week I am headed back up to Seattle, to clear out an old storage unit.
Not a fun job, but it has to be done.
Who knows, I may even find my boxes of shells in there!