Sea Shell Windchimes

In movie of Sense & Sensibility, Margaret, the youngest daughter, makes the coolest sea shell wind chimes when her family moves to a cottage by the ocean. She inspired me, so as I watched the movie the other night I created my own wind chimes from shells I'd collected over the years.

Creating is one of the best ways for me to raise my spirits. It breathes life back into me. It's a wonderful, healing addiction!

To begin my project I gathered together the following:

-shells with a hole already in them
-shells with some sort of an indentation where a drill bit would stay put to begin drilling
-twine
-power drill
-1/8-inch drill bit (or the smallest you can find)
-Sense & Sensibility DVD and my laptop

I'd never used a drill before, so it felt quite empowering to be sitting crossed legged on my living room floor holding a power tool in my hand while watching Jane Austen on the big screen. Some shells were thicker than I thought and took longer to drill through. What? Another lesson on patience?

After making a hole in the shell, I'd lay out the shell on the carpet with the other shells to envision them hanging together. I knew I wanted the shells to be staggered in how they hung, and I knew I wanted some shells to be tied onto the same strand of twine, so I made some twine strands longer and some shorter. I tied the shells onto the individual strands of twine I'd cut, and then when I had all the shells in place, I tied each individual strand onto a longer strand that they all now hang from.

Makes me so happy to see my sea shell wind chime every time I go outside!