by Julie Finn May 2, 2011, 7:30 am

On our vacation, even taking care to collect shells ethically, my little girls and I ended up with at least a bucket of seashells.

First, of course, we’ll use the shells in our homeschool–cleaning, sorting, identifying, labeling, and displaying them. We’ve got big plans for studying the life cycle and anatomy of the bivalve, and the ocean biome in general, and so you can’t have too many shells for that!

In my house, however, homeschooling only just barely wins out over crafting in terms of priorities, and so you can bet that at least half of our seashells are going to end up sacrificed to the greater good that is the handmade project.

Do you have a seashell collection just burning a hole in whatever closet you stuffed it in after your last vacation? Put those souvenirs to use, and create a handmade object that will forever remind you of your special vacation. Here are five crafty projects to get you started: A good way to show off an entire collection (and a good way to use up a whole bunch of shells at one time), is this seashell display box, tutorial courtesy of Craftlicious, turns a boring plain shadow box into a work of art with embellishment.

The key here is to use stash paints and scrapbook supplies to really personalize your shadow box–you could also use photos or postcards from your vacation to make this project really special.

If you don’t already have an old shadow box taking up room somewhere in your house, haunt this summer’s garage sales, or use the kind of windowed box that some store-bought items come in.

[The image on this page is the property of Craftlicious.]

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I'm a writer, crafter, Zombie Preparedness Planner, and homeschooling momma of two kids who will hopefully someday transition into using their genius for good, not the evil machinations and mess-making in which they currently indulge. I'm interested in recycling and nature crafts, food security, STEM education, and the DIY lifestyle, however it's manifested--making myself some underwear out of T-shirts? Done it. Teaching myself guitar? Doing it right now.

Visit my blog Craft Knife for a peek at our very weird handmade homeschool life; my etsy shop Pumpkin+Bear for a truly odd number of rainbow-themed beeswax pretties; and my Google + for links to articles about poverty, educational politics, and this famous cat who lives in my neighborhood.

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