Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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,

8 comments:

  1. What a lovely way to capture the memories! A beautiful keepsake! xo Karen

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    1. It will be a nice keepsake for my daughter to wear. I love to scrapbook and enjoy having photos as a way to capture special events and important moments, but it is fun to see the unique ways my children are preserving their memories. Thanks for stopping by Karen :)

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  2. You have some gorgeous veggies there! Your family is so blessed to have beach trips each year. Thanks for sharing your treasures with us. Blessings~
    Kim @ Curtain Queen Creates

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  3. We have been lucky enough to get away for some great beach vacations over the years, but as you know the real blessing is the time spent with family and friends, regardless of the location.
    Our garden graced us with another batch of great veggies again yesterday. The plants are looking much less lush as the end of the season sneaks in, but they are still producing like crazy.
    Thanks so much for stopping by and saying hello!

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  4. its a lovely way to keep summer all year round. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. xo

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    1. Thanks for hosting such a fun Blog Hop Katherine. It is always filled with so many creative ideas and fun sites to visit.

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  5. Dorene, the bracelet is beautiful! Your kids did an amazing job. Looks like something you would find in a shop. My daughter made me some earrings out of beach glass one year for my birthday. I have never been lucky enough to really find much when I have been at the beach. Last April I bought a jar full of it at a yard sale for $1. I was thrilled! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    1. We got very lucky with finding sea glass this year (and even a few shark teeth). We've created a few more jewelry pieces that I'll share in the future, but with the calendar showing September, I think it's time to move onto some fall items now and save the rest of the summery jewelry for another time. Thanks so much for stopping by Jann and taking the time to comment.

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