Coquina Jewelry Box, Part 2

"How do you clean those stinky shells, Moxie?"

Well, no one asked that question besides myself. I took one whiff of them and was like, "Eew, how am I going to clean these putrid things?"

Everyone knows that anything that comes out of the ocean is going to stink. So, here's my gentle way of cleaning those shells that you don't want to clean in bleach.

1. Get a cute little water pail, bucket, sifter, and your shells.



2. Put your shells in the sifter. Place the sifter on top of the bucket.



3. Fill up your cute little water pail with water.

4. Pour the water onto the shells. Repeat.



5. Let the shells soak in soapy water over night.

6. Repeat step 3 and 4 the day, pouring the water on the shells until most of the soap is gone.

7. Let the shells soak in clean water over night.



8. Repeat step 3 and 4 COMPULSIVELY!

And there you go. They should be clean. And if they still smell... Do it again. If not, use the last resort... Mild bleach solution.

Coquina Jewelry Box, Part 1

"The Box, before awesomeness"

Surprise! I am starting a very new project. I am making a jewelry box COVERED in Coquina Shells that I found while I was at the beach.

I am going to take you step by step through this project. What does this mean? I will update you periodically about how the project is going, what I am doing, and of course, pictures! It'll be like watching a baby grow up. :3

So, here are some pictures of the box. Enjoy!




The box full of stuff. The heart shape box is my old jewelry box that one of my sisters made for me. We aren't on good terms right now, so looking at the box kind of gives me pain. Plus, it's way too small for all my jewelry. That's why I am making this new one, because it will remind me of the place I love; the ocean!


I dumped everything out so you could see how deep the box is. It's pretty big! Can I fill it? DUH!

Shell Pendants

Here's a flashback from the past!

Almost a year ago, I made these shell pendants.



They have holes drilled in them (by hand, mind you), and doo-dads glued in with 527 glue. I am yet to make them into necklaces, but once I do, I will post the final result.

I am also thinking about posting up tutorials on some of the craft projects I have on this blog, but... More on that later. ;)

Ring Pop Creations?!

I know what you're thinking. "Ring pops? You mean those rings with the delicious candy on them that you suck on for hours, but you never can lick it all off?! You can make something with that?!"

And the answer is, yes.

A year ago, while my cousin and I were hunting for Cape May Diamonds, and we had a marvelous idea. "We could totally make a ring out of these," I said. My cousin and I found a plastic part to a ring pop, but weren't aloud to pick it up because it was dirty.

So, this year, before I went to New Jersey, I went to my local dollar and bought 3 packages of 4 ring pops. (Thats $3 dollars plus tax for 12 ring pops. How much are they at the grocery store counter? Like, 89 cents?) Anyway, once I got to New Jersey, I handed my cousin a bag and told him to start licking!

We went to Cape May, found some diamonds, and brought them home and made these:


Yes, if you must ask, that is ME modeling the ring. On the top of the ring, there is a piece of clear seaglass.


This is the same idea, only we added that weird looking shell, which we also found on the beach.

I must also note that we had to use 527 glue to glue all the diamonds/shells/sea glass on the rings. And 527 glue is very, very smelly.