Decorating With Seashells

• Scour flea markets and tag sales for items that can be improved. Locating an item that needs some tender-loving care, then sprucing it up is both inexpensive and rewarding.

• If access to a beach is not feasible, bags of shells are easy to purchase--usually for less than $5.

Figure B--Shells spruce up this wicker wastebasket ... or is it something else? Turning it upside-down and cutting a hole in the top results in a lampshade, while the other end can serve as a planter.

Figure C--The most difficult task of beautifying this table is coming up with a pattern. Judge how much of a particular shell, as a border for example, there is, and plan accordingly. Again, the glue gun was the only tool needed.