A Brave Walnut's Journey

I'd like to tell you a story!

Here goes...

Our Freshman year, T would always bring me sweet bundles of wildflowers from his Biology labs in the woods.

Fields.

Bogs.

Mountains.

Lakes. Come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure where his labs were.

Anywho... One day, he brought me half of a black walnut shell instead of a bundle of flowers. 

He sure is sweet!! Just look at him! 

I stared at the walnut shell for a couple of days and excitedly told T my idea: 

Let's take advantage of the fact that this walnut shell looks like a heart, dye it red and hang it around my neck!

After showing him an online example, he was on board and we began to ponder the concept. How do you take something so rough (and dirty... and rough.... and did I say dirty?!?) and make it wear-able while maintaining that "rustic" ESF-y feel? 

That's a good question. 

We've got it down to a science now! Here's the short-of-the-long of how we do it:

Step 1:

Don your "Shelbylicious" apron that your boyfriend's mom and Grandmom made for you.

Step 2:  

Use your extra toothbrush and scrub all of the dirt out of the inside of the walnuts.... making them squeaky-clean for step 3!

Step 3: 

Put your walnuts in the microwave to dry them out... But that's another story for another day. Don't try it at home, I'm pretty sure that I just got lucky that time!

Step 4: 

Burn your fingers on the hot (but now dry!) walnuts. Hand them over to the ESFr who is eagerly waiting to use his shiny Dremel tool. 

Step 5:  

Use your shiny Dremel tool to sand the roughness off of the face of the walnut, revealing the beautiful patterns in the shell of the nut. 

Step 6: 

Pretend your Dremel tool is a light saber. 

Step 7:

Switch your sand-y Dremel to a drill-y Dremel and do some kind of angled thing that allows you make it necklace-y. This is the hard part: The Lord doesn't make every walnut the same thickness, so most of the time they splinter off and break. 

Which makes T and I want to cry. 

And by T and I, I mean just me.

Step 8: 

If it broke- cry. If it didn't- take celebratory pictures!

Step 9: 

Do some things to make it colorful, sealed/protected, and hang-y (I can't reveal ALL of my secrets!)

Step 10:

Ta-Da! We did it! Make T cookies to celebrate the success (might as well while you have your apron on...)

There it is, in all of its glory! Want one? Check out our Etsy Shop for more information. 100% of profits go to a good cause! More on who the proceeds go to will be posted soon!

'Till then,

Shelbylicious

(SL)