Drift Wood Jewelry Rack

When we lived at the South Beach house and I visited the ocean every day I was able to gather beautiful pieces of drift wood.

For this project I used large smooth pieces at least three feet in length. Then I took those little hooks and screwed them in. I eyeballed all the measurements. At the top I screwed in closed eyelets and threaded thick twine through.

All that was left was to hang them up. This was an extremely easy, visually stunning craft project. It took me a total of maybe a half an hour and that's because I took my time dusting them all off. The studs in the wall took a while to find, too. 

The result is a beautiful jewelry rack that reflects the time I spent enjoying the beach. This is by far my favorite craft project to date. 

Glass Float

Justin bought this gorgeous purple glass float for me from a second hand store for $15.  I tied knots around and around, dream catcher style. I think the end result is pretty fabulous. 

Maternity Ward/Nursery

Justin was working on the fish tank, cleaning the filters out and noticed that there were two babies in there. One of the platy had fry! The other fishies in the tank are quite a bit bigger. I was worried they'd gobble up the babies. After all, there were only two in the tank and they should have many more.

In order to save the remaining babies and any future fry I decided to build what I am affectionately calling the maternity ward. Here's how it went:

I found one of Jasper's old wipes cases. Poked a whole bunch of holes in it with a push pin. Holey jeez I poked so many holes. I even made a goldfish on one side for decoration. You know, *The snack that smiles back UNTIL YOU BITE THEIR HEADS OFF!*
Then I attached two fishing bobbers on either end with some thin thread and voila! Expecting mommies will be put in there to have their babies and then removed so they don't follow through with the previously mentioned jingle.

Once the fry are large enough not to become fish food they will be released into "general population".

Operation Fishy #2

Operation Fishy Day 2

Jasper and I went to the beach after I got off of work today. The only bags they had down there were huge. I didn't think I'd fill it, but don't you fret! People are messy and there was plenty of garbage to go around. Unfortunately, my phone died towards the end so I didn't get to take any final pics. Bummer! I stuffed that bag FULL and it was colorful.There were so many more pieces of garbage shoved into that bag. I filled every nook and cranny. It was like an amazing junk bouquet! Stupid camera phone. :( So I didn't get to take a pic of those plastic tubey things I mentioned before. We shall try again next time.

On the trip North we walked the water line and looked at all the sea treasures that had washed up.

A sand dollar with its hair still on. These pics don't show it well at all but it's purple. A pretty shell.

On the trip back we walked closer to the hill where driftwood and crud washes up. That's where the Operation Fishy "treasures" are. One minute I was telling Jasper all the neato junk I was picking up. He would look at it and smile. The next time I tried to show him something he was like this.

My tired little baby.

Washed up garbage:
HUGE length of rope. It filled up my bag pretty full.
Swirly, curly Q plastic. Like it was drilled out of a big chunk of plastic.
Tent stake
Plastic tubies of multiple colors.
Lids - milk jugs, soda bottles, anything else you can think of.
Shotgun casing
Cap for plumbing
VHS case - half of it anyways. Who uses those anymore anyways? I guess that's why it was washed up.
More laundry basket chunks - different colors this time.
Styrofoam - bunches and bunches.
Plastic of all different kinds. I picked up hard, squishy, melted, soft.
Board from a building
Plastic industrial straps
Plastic bag - wrapper of some sort?
Cap to a seasoning bottle - salt or pepper
Spork
Lighter with fluid in it - in all fairness, it could have been sea water.
Grizzly tobacco chew container - the whole thing
And, of course, I'm sure I'm leaving some out.

Be a part of Operation Fishy and remember: Anemones aren't enemies!

Operation Fishy

Day 1 of Operation Fishy

I love that saying from Disney to Make A Wave. Meaning do your part and help us create a better world to live in. We've been walking on the beach quite a bit since the move to our new home. I wasn't surprised to see all the garbage that had been washed up there. Our chunk of beach isn't frequented too often so along with the really cool treasures there is also a lot of crud. I got to thinking, you know, I could help make this beach cleaner.

You see, there is a little park area at the beach access point. Two benches, a fire pit, trash can and some signage. There is also a sign that has doggy doo-doo bags and a board with holes drilled into it. In the holes someone (plastic bag gods?) fill all the little holes with one plastic bag each. Like the kind you get from the grocery store. There's a small sign that says something about helping keep our beach clean. I can do that. Why can't I do that? So I did that. Did you get that? Lol, I'm rambling tonight and you needed to hear THAT one more time ...that.

This is only the beginning. How much trash do you think I'll pick up by the end of the year?

Washed up garbage:
Lots and lots of rope in many different colors.
Round plastic tubes cut up in half inch pieces. Anyone know what those are? I'll take a pic next time.
A bouquet of dead balloons.
Batting - like the kind inside of a teddy bear.
Hard plastic pieces all broken into palm sized chunks or smaller in different colors.
Toothbrushes - more than one. Eeew.
Plastic lids to containers of all different sizes.
Parts of a laundry basket.
Water bottle
A few other unidentifiables.

Be a part of Operation Fishy and remember: Anemones aren't enemies!