Unless my calendar marks “September”, my mood will remain in summer mode, no matter what. Today is August 19, so that gives me just enough time for some last minute, easy summer DIY with all the beach treasures I brought back from Greece. The truth is that I haven’t done much in the house because we’ve been away most of the summer. Before leaving for Greece, I had mostly concentrated on the backyard, which we enjoy most of the year, as well as a little something for the front porch, a very little something in the guest room bathroom, and, I almost forgot, those summer placemats that I loved. Now that I’ve listed everything, I realize that was quite a lot actually!
Today I’m done unpacking and life seems to have gotten back to normal, so I thought that working on my summer beach findings seemed like the perfect thing to do.
From the long beach walks in Greece, I brought back home some white pebbles that I arranged at the bottom of a small vase filled with water. I added the only green that was around, an olive tree branch. I’m sure you’ve seen already seen this vase setting many times before and have always wanted to do something similar (I have), but have you ever (I hadn’t until today). With the pebbles collected from my favorite beach, this little arrangement became so special to me.
No need to run to the beach for pebbles. You can find them at your local hardware store or at the craft store. To make the small branches stay in place in this square vase, I arranged them in a smaller glass containers (from spices).
In my suitcases I also sneaked in a couple of rocks (and luckily we didn’t have to pay any overweight fees!) which I found on the beach.
I covered a smaller one with gold leaf and turned it into a precious gem. For instructions on how to work with gold leaf, see here. Just make sure to give each side of the rock at least 12 hours for the gold leaf to set and dry completely.
For a larger one, I used a gold leaf pen and marked “2014”. This rock will always remind me of this past summer.
My daughter told me that it looks like it’s a New Year’s item and I realize she’s right! What a great idea for a New Year party favor – especially at a beach house, too!
I will use mine as a paperweight for my desk.
As for the driftwood that I also brought home from my vacation, it will go, with some other beach decor, on the entryway table. I filled up a clear glass plate with various beach related items that I’ve had for years: some large shells from my cousin’s wedding, starfish from my starfish wreath that was on my porch (I took it down since I was going to be away for so long), other pebbles from the beach, pieces of driftwood that I got from the craft store, and a sliver starfish I bought last year from Pottery Barn. So, I added my driftwood from Greece with all of them.
Gather a collection of summer related objects and place them all on a table.
You still have some time before fall makes its big entry!
