tropical

Buying or Making Seashell Christmas Ornaments

Pre-tree — Image by justinrussell via Flickr

It’s that time again when we pull out the Christmas decorations and set up the tree and for those of you who live in a warm climate, decorating with seashells may be a yearly event. Anyone can use seashells to decorate their home, but living near beaches or in a tropical place can make it easier (and cheaper) to do since all you need to do is visit the beach or pull out that collection of shells.

For the rest of us, there are many options to buy ornaments made of shells – real or fake and they come in a wide variety of styles. You can make your own ornaments if you are crafty and tie them with ribbons or hang them with string. Seashells can be hand-painted, dipped in silver or gold or made from wire and beads. The scallop shell is often used as an angel’s dress and shells can be glued together to make whatever your imagination allows.

Eco-Friendly Seashell Jewelry (seashellsbymillhill.wordpress.com)
New Seashell Coloring Page: Free Printout of Shin-Bone Tibia Seashell (seashellsbymillhill.com)
Collecting the Popular Scallop Seashell (seashellsbymillhill.wordpress.com)

The Cute, Common Nutmeg Shell

The Common Nutmeg sea shell is small, only 1 – 2 inches long, or slightly larger. You will find them while beachcombing along the southern U.S. coast from North Carolina to Texas and also in the waters of Brazil.
The bumpy little shell contains spiral cords crossed by ribs which give it a latticed look. It’s nicely colored with dots of orange brown color on white. The opening is lined with strong ridges where many shells have a smoother opening.

If you want a more scientific explanation, search for this shell by it’s Latin name (Cancellaria reticulata). Click here for more pictures.
I don’t have any of these shells in my collection and the photo above was sent to me by Mike at Florida Sheller, a blog page with more photos of his Florida sea shells.

Seashells by Millhill, online gifts and stationary

The Strawberry Conch Shell

This is the only Strawberry conch shell I have and I’ve been trying to find out about it for a while now.

They can be all white outside or with marking like mine in these photos, but they all have a dark orange, red or pink inner lining with a dark brown or black border at the opening.

It is shaped a lot like a cone shell, but I don’t believe it is called a cone. I’m not sure.

Conch is the name given to a wide range of medium and large size sea snails in the Strombidae family.