A quick craft for coastal decor

So this past weekend it was gorgeous and I was finally feeling better plus getting things out of the nursery to start organizing it I found things I had been meaning to make. I grabbed the bag of trees, glue gun, shells, sea glass, shells and headed for the back deck. I set up on the table and soaked in the sunshine and cool temps. I have seen these trees around town and some of them are overpriced and I figured heck I can make that way cheaper than that. These are some examples of ones I have seen and wanted to replicate. Mine will be used for Christmas season but some people leave them out year round. Trying to get decorations that go with my house decor and paint scheme and less red and green traditional christmas decor.

 Here are my supplies that I got months ago and they have been sitting in a closet and I got tired of moving them around so I did them and now they can be stored until Christmas in those storage bins. The oyster shells were soaked in bleach for awhile and then left to dry out then stored, they don't smell and are all clean now. I may spray some shellac on them to make them more shiny or put some Modge Podge on them.

 2 bags of sea glass from Pier 1

shells from Joann's Fabrics

 glue gun I ended up getting a bigger one in the middle of this because I ran out of small glue sticks and I have a ton of normal size ones. 

these are the forms I used got them on clearance after Christmas for cheap, I shook and beat them to get the glitter off of them.

 I used the bigger ones around the base, need two more big ones which I will get from the boat dock down the street.

the sea glass I choose the one with diff colors instead of one solid color

I got the mini starfish for the top

this is the one with all the shells, still debating if I like it or not

after almost a few hours and some sun (should have used sunscreen) these are finished. I love the oyster shell and sea glass ones the best.  I may buy a small one that will go with these if I find one I like and the price is not too bad.

Shrimp and Creamy Grits

I have been under the weather so this post has taken a little longer than I planned to post.

I love my mother in law's grits they are so rich and creamy and I have been working on my grit making skills to make mine that way. She uses chicken broth instead of water and that adds a richness of flavor that is well worth it.  We also found stone ground grits along the way somewhere and that is all we use. You can use these techniques with instant grits I am sure and they would turn out great. I have been trying to perfect the grits for a while.

I use the directions on the bag of grits and I sprinkle in a a few more grits, the longer they cook the better they are the more creamy and rich they become, it is hard to wait at least the 30 minutes for them to cook but promise it's worth it.

My lovely husband got the shrimp and deveined them. The great thing about this recipe is you can add what you want to it or leave out things you do not like.  I sometimes add more grated garlic and cheese to the grits when we have them for breakfast.

You will need:

 mushrooms, bacon, cheese, 2-3 garlic clove, 1 pound of shrimp, green onions

we use mushrooms with a little butter and red wine and let them reduce for while, I also grated some fresh garlic in the pan.

1 pound of shrimp cleaned and deveined, sprinkle with Old Bay and cook with a tad of butter and old bay, you can add some garlic too

I bake my bacon in the oven and start it when I start the grits, I like crispy bacon so I cook it a tad longer, you can cook it to your liking.

these are the directions for the stone ground grits, use broth instead of water....game changer

 I have used my handy dandy microplane to grate some garlic in these and cheese

I also sliced a french baguette and used soften butter a tad of salt and grated garlic to make garlic bread. 

Scott made a sauce with the mushrooms, the shrimp, a splash of cream and this is where you can add some Rotel and the juice here. You can cornstarch to thicken if you want or you can leave it a creamy liquid to pour over the shrimp, grits and bacon. You can also sprinkle with some chopped green onions.

You can serve these on a platter for a crowd and it looks great or just scoop it into a bowl for a smaller group...or 2. This meal goes a long way and is very filling.

This was the best batch of grits I have made and the hubby agreed these were so good, it does make a bunch so we got a few meals out of them plus I got some breakfasts out of them as well. They were good all by themselves with a little sprinkle of pepper.  I hope you enjoy!