Collecting Sea Shells to Create a Wind Chime

After collecting a massive amount of sea shells on our recent holiday to a very quiet beach I thought to make something rather than put them in dish to collect dust... What a great way to remember our holiday too!


These gorgeous shells came from just one small stretch of beach near Byron Bay, NSW. 

I used only shells that had holes in them as they were far too thick to drill through.  I found a variety of colours, textures and sizes. 



I had collected a few peices of driftwood also which made a perfect holder to attach my shells.  I used garden twine to keep with the natural hand made look.

A double knot through the holes in each shell keeps them in place.  I mixed colours, shapes and sizes of shells.

Final touches were a braided peice of twine tied around the drift wood.  I ended up making 3 variations of my wind chime and gave one to my Mum for Mother's Day. 

Now, what to make with the rest of the shells!

Home-Made Carob "Chocolate" Chip Dog Treats

Our Olive LOVES the chocolate (chocolate is highly toxic to dogs so naturally we never give her any). We know this because anytime we open a block of chocolate, the sound of the foil makes her run from the next room to watch hoping we give her a peice. 

I once bought a box of carob dog treats from the supermarket which she loved, but after reading the ingredients I thought there must be a healthier alternative.  The supermarket brand contains hydrogenated palm oil - not only palm oil which contributes to deforestation in Indonesia, Malyasia and Papua New Guinea, it's threatening the lives of Orangutans. 

After a little Googling I found some recipes I adapted to make a more eco-friendly and healthy version for Olive. The recipes I found were typically for humans and all contained sugar, I just omitted this ingredient.

3/4 cup carob powder
1 cup coconut oil (we use unrefined, virgin coconut oil)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (alcohol free for doggies!)

Add all ingredients and mix - super easy!

Pour into a grease-proof paper lined tray and put in the fridge

Once set, take out of the fridge and break up into bite-sized peices

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Coconut oil melts in warm weather so always keep these in the fridge.

These carob treats are delicious, even without the sugar!  Us humans ended up eating quite a few...Olive loved them too...