Making sailor's valentines was a common craft in the early 19th century, practiced mainly by men on sailing ships at sea for months on end, as gifts for their sweethearts or mothers and sisters back home. You can continue the tradition with just a few readily available supplies and the design can be as simple or detailed as you choose to make it.
You'll need:
a sturdy box (cigar, wooden, papier mache), scissors,
seashells and glue. Foil paper trims and lace are optional. We're using a papier mache heart shaped box from Germany. We don't use glue guns, but prefer a quick drying glue like Alene's.
Keep your design simple and don't worry about perfection - no two shells are exactly alike and that makes them even more beautiful. When placing the shells, we work out from the center.
We've glued vintage lace to the base and trimmed it close to the box edge.
A band of paper Dresden foil trim finishes that edge. We've also added a band of paper foil inside the box, to continue the design from outside.
A vintage brass stamping of an angel finishes the top.
This box works well for small jewelry and other treasured pieces.
Keep in mind that you can paint your box or work directly on the original surface; Dresden trims come in a large variety of widths and colors; you can find a huge selection of seashells, both natural and colored, in
our etsy shop.
Be sure to visit Mary over at
Little Red House for more mosaics!
Can you ever have too many seashells? I think not! It's easy to find pretty ways to store them -- jars, bottles, boxes. Here are some of my all time favorites stored in a vintage seed box with tiny iron animals keeping watch.
Zooming in on the box, above and below.
Zooming in a bit more to see the shells.
Making sailor's valentines was a common craft in the early 19th century, practiced mainly by men on sailing ships at sea for months on end, as gifts for their sweethearts or mothers and sisters back home. You can continue the tradition with just a few readily available supplies and the design can be as simple or detailed as you choose to make it.
You'll need: a sturdy box (cigar, wooden, papier mache), scissors, seashells and glue. Foil paper trims and lace are optional. We're using a papier mache heart shaped box from Germany. We don't use glue guns, but prefer a quick drying glue like Alene's.
Keep your design simple and don't worry about perfection - no two shells are exactly alike and that makes them even more beautiful. When placing the shells, we work out from the center.
We've glued vintage lace to the base and trimmed it close to the box edge.
A band of paper Dresden foil trim finishes that edge. We've also added a band of paper foil inside the box, to continue the design from outside.
A vintage brass stamping of an angel finishes the top.
This box works well for small jewelry and other treasured pieces.
Keep in mind that you can paint your box or work directly on the original surface; Dresden trims come in a large variety of widths and colors; you can find a huge selection of seashells, both natural and colored, in our etsy shop.
Seashells, wooden boxes, millinery flowers and embroidered runners - all mementos and projects that feather my nest and stir happy memories of days gone by...
I've filled this seashell box with old fashioned flocked paper forget me not millinery flowers.
At Christmas, the flowers will be replaced with greenery, berries and tinsel spikes with beads - an easy way to fit everyday items into the holiday decorating.
This is the time of year when we gear up for the next four months to get all of our ornaments made and ready by September. It's all glitter all the time around here!
We've recently added a large selection of natural and dyed shells to our etsy shop in various sizes and shapes:
