She Doesn’t Sell Seashells

I mentioned the other day that I couldn’t find any shells in our town to decorate my almost-craft-fail tinted jars.

Why did I want seashells when I live 2 hours from the sea but only 45 minutes from the majestic Lake Tahoe?

I have no idea.

I think it goes along with my recent penchant for aqua and turquoise. If you’re going to use the colors of the sea to decorate with, why not use some seashells too?

Of course, one could make the argument for sand and coral and seaweed too. To which I say no, no and eww no.

Seashells, yes.

But I couldn’t find any so I thought I’d make my own watercolor seashells and stick them on some cute little tags. Why?

Again, I have no idea.

However, I like my little tags and they were super fast and fun to make. So much so that I now want to paint some large watercolor seashells. For now, I’ll just show you these little guys.

I’ve had these tags for a while that I picked up at one of the craft stores. I cut little squares of watercolor paper from one of my watercolor pads.

Then I lightly drew a scalloped shell and a starfish. Nothing fancy, ok? But if you’re not confident with your freehand skills, you can use my seashell patterns.

Then I drew over the pencil with a blue fine tip Sharpie. Most stores that carry Sharpies also carry colors too. Of course, you could use a black marker too and it’d still be cute.

Then I dipped my paintbrush into water, then into a turquoise blue watercolor and slapped it on the little squares. I wanted a horizontal stroke but the scallop was too big and took up all of the square. I don’t think it would’ve mattered anyway. Watercolor looks painterly all on its own and that’s what I wanted.

I ‘erased’ a little of the watercolor on the scallop by wetting it with clean water and using a cotton swab to lift the paint. Only it also lifted some of the paper’s fibers too since I used an inexpensive watercolor paper.

Oh well.

After the paper dried I glued it onto the tags with a glue stick . . . after I found one.

You know, now that I have this nice desk and all, I opened my drawer and expected to find a glue stick with my scissors, paper clips and scotch tape.

Seems reasonable, right?

No glue stick.

Huh.

If I were a glue stick, where would I be?

Why, in the “Adhesives” box, of course.

The only reason I bring this up is, I mentioned this in one of my online crafty groups. Sure enough, most of the gals were like me. Boxes, drawers, even a rain gutter (I didn’t ask) all full of sticky stuff and glue sticks.

Which made me feel better but I still stuck a stick in my desk drawer.

If I’m gonna sit at a desk, I might as well act ‘profeshunal’ once in a while.

 

Anyhoo, I’m kinda glad now that they don’t sell seashells in this little town because I like these watercolor seashell tags. They’d be really nice as gift tags. And wouldn’t they be cute as a bunting, if the shells were larger?

I need someone to throw a seashell themed party now.

What I really like is how you can draw something really simple, add a few strokes of watercolor paint and come up with something pretty darn cute.

My wheels are really spinning now.

What’s on the agenda this week? Are you painting anything? Do you love seashells too? Where do you go to find them? 

Colleen

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