A Bit of the Sea & Some "JunkingTreasures"

Ever since this past weekend, after purchasing some trash-to-treasure items at a neighborhood garage sale, I have been tweaking a few things around our humble little home. It is amazing how much fun you can have with a few tubes of acrylic paint and a hot glue gun! ;) I have enjoyed rearranging different spots in our living area the past couple of days, and I've done this while my sweet son (pictured below when he was almost 8 months old) has played happily right next to me. It has been nice to enjoy mommy & son time and "me" time all at once!

Here is my $2 blue Ball Perfect Mason jar that I got over the weekend. I also found the tiny little picture frame for 50 cents...of course it has gotten a make-over since, and looks perfect in this little spot.

I added some mother of pearl sea shell chips to the jar, and after painting my little frame with a mixture of pure white, jamaican sea blue and expresso brown, I decided to add some jute webbing laid over linen and topped with my sand dollars and a *store-bought* shell to complete a coastal chic look! ;)

I also painted the frame that my son is in with the same mixture as the small sea shell frame. It used to be a dark-stained wooden frame...but I thought that this spot in the room needed some lightening up, especially since the walls are so dark.


This is my favorite spot to rearrange. It formerly looked like this, but I wasn't fully satisfied with the look of the DVD's being out, among other things, so I changed it up again to what you see now.


And of course no cozy little spot is complete without the warm glow of a lamp nearby!


The sand dollar shadow box was made using a inexpensive "naked" frame that I bought and painted white. Burlap and a hot glue gun were all I needed to finish it up...oh, and the sand dollars of course, which I found out in the ocean! The little ivy jar is a repurposed nutmeg spice bottle, wrapped up in some of my jute webbing and tied with twine.


A photo of my sweet sister and myself rests inside a tarnished little silver candy basket. I could polish it up, but I sort of like the aged look that it has right now.


The small jar holds a tea light, nestled in mother of pearl shells...this is the first candle that I light every morning when I wake up. I love the glow that it gives, especially when the flicker of the flame reflects off of the mirror. It makes the atmosphere of the room quite cozy in the early hours of the morning when I'm the only one awake, and the house is so still and quiet.



My son found the sea shell that's attached to the candle on one of our trips to the beach. He actually brought it up to me...what a little sweetie! He was so proud of his little sea side treasure! More shells (I'm sad to say, purchased from a store) reside in the small silver vase.


And here is my baby when he was just a wee 3 weeks old or so, along with my sweet husband. This frame also got a make-over, and went from ugly dark brown to coastally white!


Here is another 50 cent make-over...sorry, bad photo...another paint & glue gun job gone right! I just love my little framed sea shells!


Can you tell that I'm liking shells? Haha! This is my sea shell shelf...say that 10 times fast...and like the frames that I've just shown you, this one also got a paint job and a coastal looking insert of jute webbing and shells. Oh, and another candle to add to the coziness of the room for my early morning rendezvous with my coffee and the computer!


The jute webbing reminds me of an old fish net. I love the texture of it!


I was given this book by my grandfather several years ago, and seeing that I have a great love for candles, the title fits in beautifully with the candles displayed on the shelf. The book is copyrighted 1891, and is very near and dear to my heart.


I really need a new lamp shade on this sad little wrought iron corner shelf...any ideas???