shell ornaments and their packaging.

I made these ornaments as a thank you. They are from shells I picked up at Cape Cod this summer. 

It was really fun to come up with simple, elegant designs.  I made four the "same", as the same as shells can make something. Then I made each a special ornament. Included in the final package is 2 of my beechnut ornaments as well. As you can see, I have a really great time with wire. I love the shapes and forms you can make. The simple, elegant lines that can be created with both practice and a little bit of luck.

 Now, on to the packaging!

I had a lot of fun with the packaging. I guess I figure If you are going to do it, do it well (and don't be afraid to go overboard!).

When I put together the packages, I wrapped up each ornament in newspaper. I used pages and parts that were highly text intensive, I thought it would have a more interesting look to it. I used a fun stamp of some camels and a blue ink pad on the news paper then folded the ornament in and tied it closed with some jute (something I can never have enough of!) On the ornament that was all the same in each, I put the place and date, since that was the point to begin with!

On Pintrist, I found a way to make boxes out of the plastic gallon milk jugs. I traced it back to Comparte Tus Ecoideas. Yes, it is a spanish blog, but luckily pictures don't need to be translated. So I was able to figure it out just fine. It took me a few times to really get it down, but now I'm a pro.  

Instead of milk jugs, I actually used Lipton Tea plastic gallon jugs. At first, I was skeptical. I wasn't sure it would work the same way the milk jugs worked. They are shaped a little different and the plastic isn't quite the same. But I gave it a try. And they worked! I used a hole punch and put two holes in each layer of the closure so I could tie the box shut.

If you want to try to make these cool boxes for yourself check out the tutorial. I can think of so many cool things to use them for! I think I'm just going to start making them and saving them, after all, Christmas is coming up soon.

shell necklace

On top of the ornaments, I also made a shell necklace for a special girl I know. 

With a little creative wire twisting, a few beads and some feathers I think I came up with a interesting design. Simple, but fun. 

Daisy helped model the necklace for me. She's such a super star. She'll be impossible to live with after this one.

I made a little box, just like the ones I made for the ornaments. This time I used a half gallon plastic milk jug. From the remnants of the jug after making the box I made some packaging for the necklace. wrapped it up in some newspaper, put a stamp on it and put it in it's little box.

I was very happy with the way it turned out. Here's the tutorial on how to make these cool little boxes. The picture shows it being made with a gallon jug, but the theory is the same with a half gallon.

girls night: craft edition

Sara, and I got our craft on Monday Night... O ya, Brennan helped, well, sorta.

We made some beechnut ornaments. And of course watched Anne of Green Gables, well, I guess that's only a partial truth. What we really watched was Gilbert, but Anne was there too.

 After making many ornaments and getting some of our fill of Gilbert, we went for a walk! Sara doesn't live far from the house I grew up in (we moved when I was in 4th grade). So we took Brennan for a walk past my old house for fun. 

It's strange, I barely recognize it. I mean, it looks the same I'm sure. Maybe a bit of a different color, but the hill in the back yard is still there, but I swear it shrunk. The stairs going up the hill, well, weren't there more of them? It's strange how the memories of our childhood differ so much from the reality we realize as we grow up.

 After our walk, like every good Girls Night, there was FOOD! Sara made me pasta, you can never go wrong with pasta.

 After we ate, while getting more of our fill of Gilbert we made a few more ornaments, exchanged some of the ones we'd made took a few more pictures of Brennan and I said good night.

All in all, it was a perfect girls night. ( I think Brennan would agree.)

beechnuts

On luzia pimpinella's blog I found these wonderful flowers made from beechnuts, beads and wire. They are absolutely beautiful! We have a beech tree right outside our front door and we have thousands of the nuts in the grass, in the road and on the side walk. So I went out and scooped some up!

(no lie, this is what our sidewalk looks like.)

First I had to make some of the flowers. I made them a little different then luzia pimpinella, but I think they still had a nice charm about them.

After I tried my had with the flowers I just had to take the idea and run! And so I did. I made ornaments!

There is nothing like home made ornaments and I feel that these turned out particularly wonderful.

They are fun and easy, so if you've got a beech tree that annoys you when it drops it's nuts, now you have a use for them!