Preserving Summer Memories

Signs of fall, the upcoming change in seasons, and the start of the new school year are everywhere. Halloween decorations and costumes are on display in some stores and I've already read in several articles about how many days are left until Christmas. While autumn is one of my favorite times of year, and I adore the holiday season and all it has to offer, I am not quite ready to relinquish the last few weeks of summer just yet. While some plants in our vegetable garden are starting to wilt and dry up a little, overall it is still producing a large bounty for us several times a week. While acorns and even a few leaves have started to fall from some trees in our yard, the blooms on most of the other plants still look great, and butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds and lightning bugs are still frequent visitors to our backyard oasis. I am determined to enjoy these lasting signs of summer and relish these small blessings.

 

 

 

 

Since we just returned from a week long vacation at the beach in south Florida, I wanted to share something we created as a way hold on to these seasonal family memories. From the time my kids were young, they enjoyed collecting shells and searching the shoreline for other treasures. Even though they are young adults now, there is still something about the search for the perfect item and the competition of seeing who can find the best token that entices them. We were lucky enough to find a nice collection of sea glass, shells, and even shark teeth while snorkeling or while just walking on the beach this year, and my daughter decided that she wanted to make a bracelet as a souvenir of  one of our favorite family vacation spots. My son had created some beautiful jewelry out of sea glass for his girlfriend in the past, so Pam enlisted the help of her artistic older brother to help with this project.

  

 In addition to the found sea glass, they used wire and some charms that they obtained from A C Moore to create the bracelet.

 

 My daughter began by selecting the piece of sea glass that she wanted to use, as my son began fashioning the bangle style bracelet out of the wire. They used needle nose pliers to wrap some of the wire around the chosen piece of sea glass so that it could be attached to the bangle.

  

 Next the charms were added to the bangle...

 

Once the competition of finding the perfect beach treasure was over, I think their combined creative efforts resulted in a beautiful souvenir bracelet that will bring back memories of many great family vacations for years to come. Their finished project was actually as nice or even nicer than much of the jewelry we saw for sale in shops near the resort or at a local craft fair. The fact that they crafted it together and that it contained sea glass that they found themselves makes it even more special than a store bought souvenir,

 How are you enjoying the final days of summer, and what are your favorite ways to capture and hold onto memories of special times?

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