Crafting-- Seashell Decoration

My family took a little vacation last week to Galveston; a small island off the east coast of Texas. As much as we enjoyed seeing dolphins, finding hermit crabs, building sand castles, and swimming, it was clear that my kids had the most fun finding seashells. As a result, a fair few found their way home with us.
I decided to make a little seashell decoration for our back porch out of some of the shells from our trip. 
I'm going to walk you through how to make it, in the event that you see this decoration and fill with envy.

​Time to make: 30 mins

Supplies:
scissors
jute or fishing line or hemp
seashells
a basket

I love when I can make a craft with supplies on hand.

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​We had this basket sitting vacant in our closet ever since I picked it up at the dollar store a few months ago.  I like the way the rustic look of it matches the jute, but I imagine fishing line would hold up a little better, and look equally awesome.
You can find baskets at dollar stores and in abundance at thrift stores. Sometimes you can get a basket full of seashells at a dollar store. Or at the very least, quite cheap.

-First take all the shells and group them by size. This will prevent your decoration from being lopsided.
I took the biggest shell and tied the jute to it through the hole. For the biggest or prettiest shell, tie it into the very center of the basket. You can even add some other pretty ones at slightly different lengths depending on how busy you want the decoration to be.
Most of the shells we found had holes in them, but for the ones that didn't you can usually find a good, secure place to wrap around the shell and tie it instead of going through.  

This one had a big hole I could work with.

For this shell, I just wrapped the jute and tied it.

The smaller ones I tied inside the basket, always doing my best to keep the weight evenly distributed. While I didn't measure, you certainly can. 

See how pretty they look all tied up.  (Snip off the extra strings at the knot.) 
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- Loop some jute through the top of the basket like this, tie it, so it can't slip, and then made a large loop to tie off at the end.

Be cautious that your strings don't get too tangled, and untangle them right away so that you can avoid frustration or, worst-case scenario, you have to cut some strings and re-tie the shells. Not that bad of a worst-case scenario if you ask me.    

I love the way this little decoration reminds me of finding those shells with my little girls on the beach and our family vacation, but for you, it could simply be a nice reminder of your own trips to the beach, or a little piece of some paradise to bring to your own back porch. 

Have fun!