Decoupage, Sea Glass Highlight Holiday Shell Show 

A revival of decoupage revival and sea glass made believers of the brisk crowd of seashell enthusiasts at Marco Island Shell Club’s Holiday Show at New Life Christian Church on Friday, November 29.

"We are starting to decoupage,” said Becky Miller, Shell Club president, “and we sold a bunch of sea glass Christmas trees today.”

“The sea glass Christmas trees were gone in 16 minutes,” said Cindy Konney. "All gone.”

The highly creative Konney created the unique sea glass trees and a number of other items at the show.

“Cindy is very talented,” Miller said, “she does everything."

Decoupage, the art of craft of decorating objects with paper cut-outs, seems to wax and wane in popularity. Miller says it’s back in a big way.

"I think of decoupage probably in the 1970s,” Miller said, “and now here we are again. It’s definitely back!"

Miller said people usually have specific things they're looking for when they come to the shell shows.

"Sometimes I think they're looking for things to use as gifts,” she said. "Some people come to buy things for their grandchildren. Some people buy things for themselves, some buy them for gifts. They want more tissue paper because they're sending them off. We've sold a lot of individual shells today. Shells from our very own beach.” 

Miller said it's quite common to have customers - early birds - lining up waiting for the show to open.

"Waiting at 10:00 to join us?” Miller said. “Yes! We're very appreciative of the people from Marco Island and surrounding communities that come. We enjoy what we're doing.” 

Miller said all of the shell treasures are made by members of the Shell Club.

"The members of the Marco Island Shell Club make them in January, February, and March,” she said. "We meet at Mackle Park, and that's where we make all of this stuff as a group. Some members work on things all through the year at home, making all different kinds of things. This is our first show of the year, and then we have another show March 14-15.”

Miller says there’s a purpose for all of the hard work the Shell Club members do.

“We do this for our scholarship and grant endeavors. We’re a 501c3 non-profit that uses the proceeds of our shows for scholarship and grant endeavors,” she said. "We have endowed scholarships at FGCU. We have educational programs throughout the community in the schools. We have scholarship applications on our website right now for the upcoming school years. So that would be something people should pay attention to."

For more on the Marco Island Shell Club, or to access scholarship applications, visit marcoislandshellclub.com.