Sand Dollar

A couple of summers ago, my mom, my grampy, and I took a road trip up to Seaside, Oregon.  During one of our morning walks on the beach, my mom and I collected scads of sand dollars; my mom picked up more than 20 whole sand dollars!  I, on the other hand, gravitated towards sand dollars that had been broken in half.  I thought it would be interesting to use the halves of two different sand dollars to make a complete sand dollar.  I also thought that framing the sand dollars would be a fun DIY project as well as serve as a memento from our trip.

Over two years later, I've finally gotten around to framing the sand dollars.  I began with a black, shadowbox frame that I purchased from Ikea a few months back (I can't remember the exact price of the frame but I want to say that it cost $5-10).  In order to add some pizzazz, I decided to scrapbook the inside of the frame thus creating a nice background for the sand dollars to rest upon.  I found some beach-y scrapbook paper from my mom's vast collection of craft materials and placed them on top of one another to create a layered effect.  I then mounted the halves of the sand dollars onto the paper using double-sided scrapbooking tape.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with the final product.  I like how the sand dollars don't exactly fit together and how the split between the two halves is visible; the fact that the sand dollar is not perfect adds character and a unique element to the picture frame.  I wish I had a profound quote about how flaws should be embraced and imperfections should be celebrated to close this post.  Unfortunately, nothing of the sort comes to mind.  I guess I'll just end with this...

Live long and prosper.

(When in doubt, Star Trek it out.)

- M.