KEEPING VACATION TREASURES: Rocks, Seashells & shadow boxes

We ALWAYS come home from our vacations with a collection of beautiful treasured souvenirs; usually in the form of sandy shells, sea glass, rocks and pine cones.  The kids have always kept themselves busy combing the shoreline for the best shells.

What is a mother to do with all those glorious treasures??

I couldn't possibly keep them all..., or could I?? ... No, I can't keep it all, but I did keep a hand full or two of the best rocks, shells and gems this side of the Mississippi...and now, we even have treasures from west of the Mississippi!

I used old, clear canning jars with glass lids.  Using plain, white scrap booking tags, I tagged our vacation collections with the date and location of our adventures.  The glass jars look charming in our bookcases, nestled among our family photos.  They are a great reminder of the beautiful places we have visited, and easily accessible if the kids want to take a trip down memory lane.

On a trip the the Great Lakes, the kids collected gorgeous smooth stones.  Each rock was prettier than the next.  After returning home, I arranged them in a shadow box.  Using a little hot glue from my glue gun, keeps the rocks in place.  I picked two of my favorite lake shore photographs and had them printed in black and white... It's a great reminder of our trip.  I like seeing their small hands holding their favorite finds!

This summer (2014), we visited the Cater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.  It was hot.  It was what I imagined the deep south might feel like in mid July, and hot doesn't seem like a strong enough word do describe that kind of heat... and although it was hot, it was also very much fun.  Our family had a fantastic time digging around in the crater, searching for glints that might be diamonds.  We did not find any diamonds, but a few other families did during our visit. We brought home our sifted "gems"...they now have their very own little glass jar.

Here is an assortment of rocks, gems and quartz .  I know, some of those tiny bits look like they could be diamonds... trust me, they are not... only quartz, 

The  gems and quartz we unearthed had been floating through the house in Ziploc bags for a few weeks... today I finally put them away...

Here we are, hunting for diamonds.  (We will go back someday...and really find a diamond!)