She sells seashells…

I have some fun new projects to share with you all very soon. A new inspiration board for summer, a new line of goodies for Storia HOME, a cool new opportunity to share… But that all is still in the works and so I will only tease you with it for now. The blog and the business and who I am and what I do is something that is always changing and evolving. Most of me wishes that I had more control over it all – a lot more actually- but being a creative self-employed person is not something that comes with a lot of security or promises. Of course one of the upswings of this unpredictability is the surprises. The good phone calls or emails that bring new clients and fun projects. The conversations that turn into great ideas and the new products that come out looking even lovelier than you imagined. The feeling that everything is going to be OK, that this is my sunny spot, that I really am talented and people do like my work – those are great moments that help pull me through the ones that are filled with empty email boxes and checkbooks and lots of self-doubt. On the good days I feel like I can say the tongue twister “She Sells Seashells Down by the Seashore…” over and over, faster and faster, feeling the groove that comes with something that is fun and easy an. On the bad days I can’t even get past “She sells” no matter how hard I try. And I can try really, really hard. And sometimes it only makes things worse, or at least seem worse…Trust me. But then another day will come and the inbox will fill up again, and the sun is shinning, it’s just that there is no way to predict when those days will come and how long they will last…

In honor of the ever changing nature of my business and my life, and for those sweet “she sells seashells” moments that can bring both joy and frustration I thought I would share a little seashell project of my own…

This is a fun project that I recently did for a kid’s bath at a clients home.

These are inexpensive white frames that I have added colorful scrapbook paper too for color and contrast. coordinating with the other fabrics and accessories in the room. The finishing touch is a shell that is attached to the outside of the glass with hot glue.

My favorite thing about this project is how easy it is to change out seasonally or just because you want to. For this client I cut out papers in 3 different color schemes – Summery Oranges, Fall Neutrals and Spring Blues. Changing the look of these pieces is as easy as changing a picture and thrifty too…

Other ways you could alter this look would be to use fabrics instead of papers and to hot glue another type of item on the outside of the glass- for an office you could glue huge paper clips, typewriter keys or rulers. For a baby’s room you could hot glue baby booties, vintage diaper pins and a silver baby spoon. The options are endless…!

ENJOY!