Be My Sailor's Valentine

As you can probably guess from the title this project has two main thoughts behind it—love and the sea. I got the idea for this project while working at the Headley Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky. Our founder loved to collect things and seashells were part of one of his collections. We had lots and lots of seashells to work with and this was one of the ideas that actually was good!

Sailor’s Valentines have a wonderfully sweet story attached to them. The tale goes that as sailors would be away from their loved ones, they would collect shells from the lands that they traveled to. Then they would spend candlelit nights arranging the shells in boxes so that they formed flowers and hearts and other pretty things. As wonderfully charming as it is to think of these big burly sailors hunkering over a bunch of seashells every night instead of doing other things, chances are it didn’t quite happen like this. Instead, they probably bought them while docked in Barbados which is still a great story because it means they were thinking of their loved ones while away. So either story you tell, it’s a delightful tale.

If you’ve not been to a beach to collect shells, you can pick them up in any craft store. They’re really pretty so you don’t have to worry about not collecting them yourself—you and your giftee can look at it and dream of warmer days on a beach somewhere.

Sailor’s Valentines

Materials and Supplies:

~ Seashells

~ Hot glue gun and glue

~ Wax paper

~ White ribbon

Directions:

1. Pick an assortment of shells in various sizes. Since Sailor’s Valentines are usually worked in the round and shaped like flowers or hearts, I try to pick 5 to 7 shells of one type for each layer. You’re really not limited in size so just play around with the shells until you find a combination you like.

2. Arrange the foundation set of shells in a circle so that all the shells are touching on the sides.

3. See how the shells form a big circle in the middle? Squirt a big glob of hot glue there. This will be hidden by other layers of shells so it doesn’t have to be perfect.

4. Pick out your next layer of shells. Depending on the type and size, you can try to glue these all at once but I usually glue them down one or two at a time.

5. If you have room for a third (fourth, fifth, etc.) circle of shells, go ahead and glue those down, too.

6. Pick a nice sized shell to glue in the center to hide all the glue.

7. Flip over and repeat steps 1 through 6 on the back OR glue a cut to size piece of felt on the back to hide all the glue. Whichever you prefer.

8. Glue a looped ribbon on so that it’s an instant ornament.

Extra idea?

Depending on your means, I can’t think of anyone that would turn down a trip to the beach. :)

Since I can’t exactly promise a trip to the islands for the people on my gift list, I included a little card or bookmark to go with it telling the giftee how much they mean to me and how even when we’re a part, I’m thinking about them.