This is one of my favorite old pictures.

Me and my brother Josh picking up sea shells on our first visit to the ocean,

Tampa, I think. Mid-70’s. I still have that little metal box. We were filling it with shells and I’m pretty sure that I was explaining to Josh the proper way to pick them up.

I loved scouring tchotchkes shops with my Mom on vacations selecting sea shells, but the real thrill was the hunt was finding them on the beach.

Still is.

I’m a collector. Always have been. Even as a kid.

Here’s what the beach at Cape San Blas looked like a few weeks ago on our vacation to the “Red-Neck Riviera”………

Soooooo many shells.

Even found a handful of oh-so-fragile urchins.

Here’s a pretty good sampling of what we found on those Florida beaches. We were very careful not to bring anything home that already had an occupant…….invertebrate or hermit crab.

And what, exactly, do we do with all these treasures?

Here’s how it comes together.

I buy these vintage canning jars from junk stores whenever I see them cheap….usually about 4-5 bucks each.

Then fill them with all our findings…..

(Not just shells. I’m a fanatic about finding sea glass, but we also add the occasional bottle cap or coin. This year I grabbed a handful of that beautiful white sand from the Seaside beach.)

……and label them with clear labels. (Thanks for that suggestion Heather) So we remember where everything came from.

Like Seaside 2014.

Pretty simple……

and charming for days……

 Yepp, Organized Hoarding at it’s finest.

One day, these will line the window of the master bathroom.

Great minds certainly do think alike, and my dear friend Shannon, at Bohemian Junktion, has been doing this with her family even longer than we have.

Any size or shape of jar is an eligible candidate for her……even a Corona bottle.

While we just use a label maker, Shannon takes it one awesome step further and prints labels with a picture from the trip. SO very, very clever……

OOOh, and my favorite part, all their family vacation jars are lined up on top of vintage lockers down their hall.

Check her out……