I had been walking for hours up and down the shoreline in the rain and cold ocean in sweatpants wading knee-deep in the ocean waves. Looking for sand dollars a friend told me they had at this beach. Being sad at the passing of my beloved dog of almost 17 years, it was the first time in half my life I had Christmas without her. In a very big bubble of grief, I stood looking out into the ocean. I stopped and prayed "Maybe if I just find one sand dollar, I'll know she is with me always."...

Then I found one, and another and another. The excitement of finding a sand dollar was pretty awesome, as I have been going to the beach since I was old enough to walk and never found one. But after a whisper in the salty air a wish, it was comforting.
Then I flew back down, a few more times, to find hundreds and hundreds more each time. In disbelief, I found hundreds just in 2 days. (Mind you they were already passed away and never take sand dollars alive).

My mother and I carefully got them back to the house, cleaned them up, my mother bleached them, couple rinse baths, dried them and wrapped each one up put them in a container then packaged them up, said some prayers, and shipped them to Ohio. Where I unwrapped them, coated them front and back, learned resin, and created little pieces of art.

Sand dollars can live up to 6-10 years, they aren't the prettiest of things when they are alive so the beauty of them comes in death. They turn white and the rings around them are just like a tree, you can count how old they are. I have since done a lot of reading about sand dollars in the 9 months I have been working on this project and grow even more love for the ocean and these beautiful sand dollars each day.

A portion of each sale will be donated back to the beach.