Vacation Jar Memento: Jamaica

Whenever we visit a beach somewhere, we like to take a little bit of it with us when we go. Not just with photos, but with physical objects, too - like postcards, souvenirs, and of course, shells. I always spend some time walking around on the beach looking for those perfect shells. Living in landlocked Illinois, it's always cool when we get to see a huge lake or ocean and have the chance to experience the beach.

Over the past few years, I've been putting together little vacation jars to commemorate each beach we visit. I fill them with sand, shells, or other beachy things I collect while we're there.

Here I am on the beaches of Corpus Christi and Jamaica, looking for shells!

I've shared a little about my vacation jars in the past. In 2012, we went on a vacation to the East coast. The first jar I made was full of shells from that vacation. In 2013, we visited Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and I made this jar as a memento. Then in 2014, we went to Texas, and I made a jar of shells I collected in Corpus Christi.

This year I finally got around to making a jar with shells from our honeymoon in Jamaica. I used the same kind of jar I used for my Corpus Christi shells. It was $1 from the Dollar Spot at Target a while back. I had picked up two of them, for this purpose. I just peeled off the label it came with and filled it with my shells.

After getting the entire original label off (I had to really scrub it with soap and water), I filled it with my shells from our Jamaica honeymoon, and stuck on a new sticky chalkboard label I wrote on with a chalk paint pen.  I couldn't find anymore of the brown labels, so I figured a chalkboard one would have to do. :)

And voila! Simple as that.

It now joins the rest of the crew, but I need to find a new place for them now that the new couch is here. There just isn't enough room in the living room for them anymore! I'm sure I'll find a place sooner or later...

Now, let's see if we visit a beach again this year. Only time will tell!