Conch Whelk Seashells

We found this small spiral sack on the beach and brought it home, I told the kids it was full of
baby conch shells. I don't think they would have survived if we left them on the beach, they were washed all the way up by the high tide line and already dried out.

It takes years for the conchs to grow big, usually the bigger the shell the older the conch is.

The conch's I hand paint have no living snail inside when I collect them, I only pick up the empty ones. They are only found (here in New Jersey) on the coldest days in the winter usually after a huge storm has passed up the coast.

They are beautiful left natural too!

~~~~Celebrate~~~~

Come and take a second to celebrate with me! Time, patience and persistence has really paid off this week for me and my Sea Shell endeavors. I made sales! 7 in the past 4 days! Two were off to North Carolina to be included in a beach wedding ceremony, and 5 are off tomorrow morning to Texas! We can't forget the black and gold conch that went out last week too and found a new beautiful home in California, thank you Therese :) You can see it here, on her super duper treasure hunting blog http://ladolfina.blogspot.com/ she has an amazing sea shell collection to, scroll down to see how she displays them, La Dolfina truly has inspired me.





Don't forget to feed the fish, and follow :)

::::::: The Thrill of the Find :::::

Some trips to the oceans edge are better than others. This winter I have come to salvage quite a few conchs, not as many as I would have liked but enough to fill a few pages of my Etsy shop. They range from huge "gorilla conchs" as my husband calls them to sweet baby conchs. It's always a thrill to find them, the winter months are the best and the prime pickins are found on the coldest days of the year. We have learned this from years of looking for them. But it is FREEZING COLD when we go and not another soul to be seen. Not so bad when the wind is at your back, but the long walk back to warmth sometimes makes me wonder if it's worth it. Then I get home, clean them up and paint them up and I soon forget all the bitter cold pain.

Don't forget to feed the fish, and follow :)