She Sells Sea Shells on a Sea Shore

Well I don't really. But I do like sea shells and spotted this idea how to display my collection in a interior decoration magazine or website. Not a faintest memory where. In my memory their version was more "polished".

These shells were largely collected during my morning walks along our home beach in Mbezi Beach in Dar es Salaam some years ago. There are also shells and sea glass from Northumbrian sandy beaches.(That's where we live now, just to make sure that you don't think that it has started to snow on the shores of Indian Ocean).
There is also a pretty quarts from Alpujarras in Spain where we lived a short while:

It also contains a very special shell, which my husband found for me on Zanzibar Stonetown beach after the day we had met there. It looks like a Flamenco dancer's dress.

I might add that I do like old used things and anything having a lot of departments. After a long rumination period I decided to give in and glue my shells into the typesetters tray. My inclination was to stick them with  blue tack or something, but Elf husband rightly pointed out that they won't hold and lots harrumphing would ensue if I followed that route and the shells started falling like leaves in the autumn. The upper ledge, which has originally been the draw front was given a light sanding as I didn't fancy the yellowish cream colour of it. I left some paint behind, my take on "shabby chic".

I love the little metal corners holding the slots in place. The whole thing has an air of an old zoological museum, in a good way; the old wooden draw, things sorted in there and slightly dusty looks. It reminds me of school store rooms, where one had a rare access with a teacher. One of the first schools I worked as a teacher had still some store rooms like that and they still made my tummy flutter in excitement.

For anyone worried about marine conservation, I should add that all the shells and the coral were washed up on beaches and empty/dead, no live organisms were touched.
PS. I will post a picture of this on the wall when we get our act together.