Sea Shell Wind Chime

During the month of July, my husband and I took our three boys to St. Augustine Beach, Florida.

It was our second time visiting there (we are beach goers) and we just love the city so much.

For those who may not know, St. Augustine is the oldest city in North America. If you are history lover like I am then you cannot pass up a chance to go to this unique part of our country.

Here we are on the beach.

The whole time we were there on the beach I became obsessed with picking up seashells. My husband thought I was crazy because its something I have never took much interested in, even though I've been to the beach more times to count. 

I took 3 sand buckets full of seashells home to north Georgia with us. Not knowing what I was going to do with them when I got home, I scoured pinterest for help. 

At the moment we are adding some "curb appeal" to our front porch and when I saw a picture of a sea shell wind chime, I knew it was the project I wanted to do. 

This is how I did it. I am sorry for not having any step by step photos but it is pretty simple and straight forward. 

1. You have to find an anchor. I used an old branch/stick that I've had laying around in my photography studio. I was going to use to to hang snowflakes on but alas, never got around to it. 

2. You will need in addition to your anchor, a type of string. I used twine and fishing line. Twine is good because its pretty, fishing line is good because it makes the shells look as if they are floating. 

3. In addition to the above two steps, you can find embellishments to go with the shells. This is totally optional. I used the blue/clear jar filler stones. 

4. Dont forget your sea shells. If you do not have sea shells on hand, you can find them at craft stores, eBay and etsy. 

5. Measure out your sting. Here is when you decide how you want your wind chime to flow. Does it go diagonal? In a zigzag? Or uneven levels? It is totally up to you. I did mine unevenly and it turned out really pretty. Just make sure that your strings are not too close together, where they can tangle and not too far apart, where they can't chime.

6. Tie the strings to the anchor. If your using fishing line, make sure to tie them real tight. Fishing line likes to come undone sometimes. 

7. When you look for your sea shells, pick up all the ones with the little holes in the top. This is where you are going to thread the string through and tie. If you have sea shells without holes, you can glue them on also with the embellishments. 

There are MANY things to make sea shells out of. I've made ornaments for my Christmas tree and I have saw refrigerator magnets. If you need any ideas just look up pinterest. 

If you have any ideas leave me a comment, I have plenty of sea shells left!