Summer is drawing to a close and my darling Little C starts kindergarten next Thursday. We had a good summer. While we didn’t go on any extravagant vacations, we were able to head to the local beach a few times, hit up a lot of our local playgrounds and take a short trip to Calgary for a couple of days. We had lots of great family time and special moments with our three girls!

Summer Memories

(Aren’t they the sweetest?!)

One of my girls’ favourite summertime activities is collecting shells and rocks. We don’t have any stunning shells to collect here on the Alberta prairies, but sometimes they’ll find the odd precious snail shell or sparkly pink rock that they want to keep as a souvenir of our adventures.

Here are a few ways that I’ve preserved some of our summer beach memories by displaying shells and other treasures:

Blue mason jar filled with seashells

A shell collection displayed in a blue mason jar makes a pretty decor accent! My girls like to dump the shells out every now and then to sort them though.

DIY summer keepsake necklace filled with beach treasures

Using the same concept and instructions from my Jitter Glitter Necklace tutorial, you could make a shell or beach treasure necklace with a vial and some string.

DIY summer sand dollar art made from a picture frame, fabric and string

This pretty sand dollar was a treasure brought home by my parents from one of their adventures. When Little C accidentally broke hers, she was devastated. I quickly assured her we could fix it and make sure it didn’t break again! I glued it back together, strung some twin through its holes, and then glued it onto a fabric covered photo frame for some instant and special artwork.

Make your own Kinder Photo Strip

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Kinder® Canada this year, and another way you can preserve some summer memories this year is by giving their new photo-strip app a whirl! Here’s how:

Step 1: Fan KINDER® on Facebook

Step 2: Start your photo-strip

Step 3: Upload your photos

Step 4: Choose a fancy KINDER® frame

Step 5: Choose a filter (make yourself looksilly)

Step 6: Save & share

Add #kindersmiles to any photo-strip and you can see your smile in the app’s gallery view.

How do YOU preserve your summertime memories? Do you display any of the treasures your kids find in a special way? Happy last week of summer!

Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.