My happy place is being out in nature, and the place that has always brought me the most tranquility is the ocean. Since childhood, I’ve always brought a piece of the ocean back home with me. As an adult, I’ve gotten more creative with how to do so. Of course, I have decorative plates, cups, jars, and many other different types of vessels to hold my ocean treasures that I’ve collected over the years. However, just bringing home rocks, shells, sea glass, and other trinkets that I’ve come across just never seemed like enough for me. Then last year a friend and I were getting ready to take a trip to the beach. I was planning on picking up some jars from Target (my personal go-to for assorted jars) to take along, and then it hit me! Why don’t we create our own personal, miniature ocean that we're able take home with us?! We can fill the base of the jar with sand from the beach, then place the rocks and shells that we find on top of the sand, and then fill the rest of the jar with ocean water. Bam! With that, my dream of taking every trip to the ocean home with me was born. To me, it was only fitting to coin the name, “Mermaid Jars”, as it reminded me of Disney’s Ariel, from ‘The Little Mermaid’, and her collection of treasures that she kept under the sea. This past weekend, one of my best friends, Melissa, and I decided to take a trip to Rye Beach, New Hampshire, dress up in some of our favorite Mountain Artwear ocean themed t-shirts, and document the process of creating Mermaid Jars to share with the world.
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We spent our day on Rye Beach, in our home state of New Hampshire
This was by far one of the most beautiful beaches that I've ever been to.
This was the one Mountain Artwear t-shirt that we both loved so much that we both had to take a picture in
The t-shirt is called, 'Unleashed', and the design captures a giant Octopus about to lash out at a sail boat in a storm. It's fascinating and terrifying to know there is a whole other world beneath the dark ocean waters.
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This tree was so beautiful, it was the one thing that I wish we could have taken home with us
Here I captured Melissa admiring how completely beautiful the tree was. This spot was truly amazing to see and be in.
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I will admit, I was getting some serious Goddess vibes, and being in a gown would have totally completed my fantasy
This view was so incredible, and just past these steps (that dropped off onto the rocks below), is where we did all of our treasure hunting.
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As if we weren't already in our element, look at the sail boats in the background...
The rocks and shells surrounding us were all so completely captivating.
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Narwhals...because they're the Unicorns of the ocean
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This post wouldn't be complete without the two Mermaid shirts that we picked out...
There was no way we could create our Mermaid Jars without our Mermaid shirts.
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We were certainly harnessing our inner Mermaids for our final outfit change
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Let the treasure hunt begin!
The tide pools and rocks were hiding a lot of these little (and big) guys!
It was really hard not to take everything we found home with us, and just narrow it down to these buckets
I snagged these buckets for $1.00 each at my local Target. Great find for the occasion!
Source: www.target.com
We found so many tiny shells!
Warning: Always make sure to check to see if something is still living in the shell you're thinking of taking home with you.
This was the start of Melissa's Mermaid Jars
So many great finds...
Between rocks, shells, coral, and sea glass...there's just so much beauty
We had Melissa's fur kids who were eager to help in any way possible, including Miss Elsa...
And Sir Abel...Such happy little helpers!
My Mermaid Jars:
This time I used cheaper jars, and that is my one regret. If you're going to make your own Mermaid Jar, I HIGHLY recommend using some type of Mason jar, as the seal is much more secure than other bargain jars.
Melissa's Beautiful Mermaid Jars:
I LOVE that she picked up some gorgeous red seaweed, which really made her jars pop.
And there you have it! Mermaid Jars! I think Melissa's take away from the process was spot on:
"My favorite part of the day was finding treasures in the tide pools to put in my Mermaid Jar. I'd turn over a rock and see 5 or 6 little crabs scuttle over to the next rock. They were so cute! I still had my Mermaid T-shirt on from The Mountain, which made me feel connected to the ocean and its wildlife somehow, so the crabs were my little buddies that I'd have conversations with. With my best friend by my side, it was a perfect day and I can't wait to do it again!" -Melissa