Souvenirs from our travels fill my office and our home, reminding me of how blessed we have been to explore the world to the degree we have. I can’t pick a favorite (a troll from Norway who keeps eyeing me from a shelf nearby must think it should be him).
However, I’m very happy with the latest addition to the collection from a creative visit to the beaches of South Walton County Florida. What makes me smile about this one — I made it myself!
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South Walton County Florida Beaches
First of all — all of South Walton County Florida is a perfect beach destination. They boast 26 miles of perfect white sand beach and, while boasting is not an endearing behavior among humans, this place can get away with it because the beaches are indeed so perfect.
South Walton County oozes in its own creativity. Lots of art galleries and studios and experiences that are worthy of documenting in oils, sculptures and other media. Just check out #southwalton on Instagram to see what I’m talking about.
We stopped at Mary Hong’s Gallery in Santa Rosa Beach. She’s a good Midwestern girl from Wisconsin who eventually found her way to the beach where she captures its beauty in broken glass.
It’s a combination of oils, broken glass and other items that most of us would put in the trash or recycle bins. And it’s lovely.
Make Your Own Souvenirs
To prove that we all have a bit of creativity in all of us, Mary operates The Shard Shop next to her gallery where the colorful collection of glass bits indeed gives you the itch to make something pretty.
She has a number of patterns to work from or you can just eyeball it and work from your own vision.
I really like the sea turtles my friend Gabi made. You can clearly see that the bodies are the broken ends of a Heineken bottle. Gabi snipped more broken glass for the flippers and then chose lots of clear glass for the ocean water. Stick in a few gold or other colors for the sparkles of the ocean.
It took us about an hour, then a staff person carried our boards to the back where they gently covered them with a lacquer finish. And voilà – the next day we had a fabulous souvenir of our getaway to those beautiful sandy beaches of South Walton County Florida.
Tip: Check out this rather interesting souvenir we made while visiting Pigeon Forge, TN.
