As I combed the beach early this morning at low tide, I found a beautiful brown inside shell of an old coconut washed ashore.
As I picked it up, I could feel sea water spilling out of the hole so I held it upside down to drain the coconut of everything inside. Ohhhh. Cool BEACH BLING.
Aha! This could be an awesome flower vase! When I got home, I rinsed it inside and out with fresh water then cut some leaves and flowers from my yard. I filled it with fresh water, arranged my cuttings in the opening, then placed some miniature shells on an art-glass plate to keep it from rolling. Voila! A naturally beautiful coconut flower vase.
 While I was going bananas over coconuts, Becky from Sarasota was getting wooed by WHELKS…
Look at all the LIGHTNING WHELKS she found right by the Sanibel fishing pier… not to mention that orange BANDED TULIP and NUTMEG.
It was so nice to meet you this bright beautiful morning Becky!
Crafty Pam , very crafty ! Great finds Becky !!!
Pam, it was great meeting you!! I had such a great time shelling!! Such beautiful weather and I always love going to Sanibel! I also found my first baby’s ear and flat scallop at Blind Pass! I also found a few pieces of junonia shell. Maybe if I glue all my pieces together I can make it look like a whole shell! Lol
I hope to come back very soon. I love this site and enjoy everyone’s ideas with shells.
Love your idea, Pam! And whelks…..well…in my opinion….you can NEVER have too many!! My favorite shell!
You are so creative!! My first thought would have been to fill it with a pina colada :)
I like the way you think Donna!
Very nice!
Love those lightning whelks!! In Texas, where I’m from, they are the official state shell.
I’ve seen coconut shells on the beach but never imagined they could be this beautiful! Love the beautiful whelks, too! Happy times!
Very cool idea…I also like the wormie shell frame.
Beautiful stuff, Pam!
love it!
That coconut shell is awesome! Nice find.
So jealous! I think I was born in the wrong state!
Just love this site…can almost hear & see the ocean.
I will actually experience it some day!!
Great idea with the coconut. It already had the hole too. Thats cool. I will have to remember this. I come across coconuts on the beach every once in a while but never thought of using it like this! Usual the kids play football with em…
Love the nickernuts too!!
Thanks for the smiles!
Absolutely beautiful!
Adorable arrangement. I,too, love that shell frame. Pam, can you tell me what kind of glue you use to attach your shells to the frame? I’m going to use a wood frame mirror for my project.
The winter storms will be washing away the layer of sand from the beaches here in Oregon and exposing the gravel beds that contain the many agates and fossils that we find here along the coast. But that won’t be for another 3 months or so. Then, I’ll head out in my many layers of warm clothes and rain gear. Makes me shiver thinking about it, but that thrill of discovery is too irresistable to keep me at home.
How lucky you are to be able to comb the sunny, warm beaches of Sanibel and find such beautiful treasures. I’ll appreciate your photos and commentary even more come January!
Beautiful and simple arrangement! I love reading your emails and mostly looking at the beautiful pictures! I will be going to the 76 Sanibel seashell show and this time I will enter some of my seashell creations keep up the great work! warm regards Bea V.
Great coconut vase!! Love the whelks too. I’ve only found live ones for the most part in front of Pointe Santo. If I can get my kid out of bed tomorrow I can actually try another beach for low tide. Otherwise I have to stay on our beach here. Friday we are headed to Cayo with Capt Brian though. That will be a great time!!!
Hey Ms.Rambo! I love the vase! I just wanted to say how grateful I am of you for taking me on all of your shelling adventures! I just had an I-Love-Shelling-athon and just watched all of your 92 videos on Youtube (I’m sick, so thats why I am not in school). Thank you so much for all the videos, I absolutely love them! I feel like I am there with you. My favorite video of yours has to be “Collecting Tulip Shells in Sanibel” because of all your Oh-my-gosh’s and oohs and ahhhs! I also liked it because we got to see all these different shells, and it felt like I was there with you. Thank you so much, your videos not only make me smile and laugh but they help educate me on the importance of our ocean.
Emma, you are the sweetest! I’m so happy you found all of my videos! I had a great time making them to share with you yall.
2 Days until we are back visiting our favorite place! Save us some shells.
This is the greatest idea ever! I love it so much; it’s beautiful. So organic.
So, Pam, where are the nearest coconut palms? In the Keys? Just wondering how far the nut may have traveled.
Our whole island is full of coconut palms. We see fallen coconuts everywhere but we don’t often see them naturally peeled like this one. Cool!
Oh, interesting. Thanks Pam. I did not know that the coconut palm could tolerate subtropical weather. I know you tend to get a few rather chilly days each winter.
I expect that coconut had been in the water and washing around for a really long time to lose its outer coat and get stripped down to just the pretty shell like that.
Hi Pam, It must be shell collecting and floral design go hand in hand….my two favorite hobbies too. Great job. Now all you have to do is make some shell flowers so you can keep it all winter. Ah… forgot you have real flowers all winter. LOL
Sue Bunkin from PA
Love the whole arrangement–the wormie frame, and look at all of those tulips.