Hawaii Collage

I finally finished my Hawaii collage! I originally was going to put a picture of my husband and I in the center, but I just had too many cool things that I wanted to keep so it sort of became a whole collection of things I either found or was given while on our trip in December.

• The frame is surrounded by the ribbon lei that I made on the cruise ship
• The little shells on the bottom right, seedlings on the bottom left, and driftwood on the top center were collected from the various beaches
• The shell strand lei surrounding the center frame was given to my husband at the luau
• When we disembarked in Kaua'i the locals handed us the button that you see on the right-hand side
• Other items are room keys, a coaster from Kona Brewery, my Pearl Harbor ticket, map of the ship, luggage tags, anything that you can collect for free from a Hawaiian cruise is in it!
• That is with the exception of the kukui nut lei... the beads were too large to fit in the shadow box.

Mom's Pallet Re-use Project

My mom is quite the talented lady! She just sent me a picture of her latest wall art which is a reuse of an old pallet. She is always collecting things from her travels and in recent years started collecting a piece of pottery from every new place she went. This is the idea she came up with to display her art!

The only change she made was to add the horizontal shelves with an edge to hold up her pieces. She had to yellow the wood to make it match the old pallet and I think the results are great!

The little pottery piece on the top left is the turtle plate we got her in Hawaii :)

Hawaiian Entry #5 | Pearl Harbor Benches

While we were walking around Pearl Harbor's brand new museum (seriously opened only 1 week before we visited), I noticed these really cool benches they had around the park area. It got me thinking that these babies were built to last! They might have cost a little more than traditional outdoor furniture, but they aren't going anywhere since they are built out of concrete... and they are quite comfortable!

Hawaiian Entry #4 | Woven Bowl

Living in Charleston you get used to seeing a lot of woven handicrafts around the outdoor markets and stores. Sweetgrass baskets, also known as traditional Gullah "sweetgrass baskets," are coil straw baskets made by the descendants of slaves in the South Carolina Lowcountry. It is “the” item to buy if you are touring the area, however pricey they may be.

Young boys also make what is known as the “Palmetto Rose” from palm fronds around the city. I actually used the palmetto rose as boutonnieres for the men in my wedding! They were a big hit.

While walking around Hawaii (namely Maui and then again in Kona) we saw baskets woven from palm fronds. They were beautiful, and the seller assured me they could be taken home quite easily as he demonstrated packing it in my suitcase. I had to buy one considering they were a good hybrid mix of what you see in Charleston.

The green basket above is what I bought and it has since turned dry and more gray in color, but it is one of my favorite souvenirs from our Hawaii trip!

Hawaiian Entry #3 | No Fanny Packs

This is part of a sign before you enter Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hi. It made me laugh, so I took a picture :)

Hawaiian Entry #2 | Ribbon Lei

While on the cruise ship we were taught local culture by "Hawaiian ambassadors" and made leis a few times during the trip. We made a kukui nut lei followed by the orchid lei, but my favorite was the ribbon lei.

They can be made by using any color grosgrain ribbon you choose and can be woven with up to 16 colors! I have managed to make a 6 color one, but that takes about 3 yards of ribbon and usually that is the longest that ribbon spools are sold. I would have to buy in bulk to tackle any more colors! :)

The Hawaiian culture uses the ribbon leis at graduations, weddings, and really any celebration and the best thing about them, in my opinion, is that they can be color coordinated with your school's colors! They also last forever when compared with the orchid lei.

Hawaiian Entry #1 | Mochi

Mochi, defined by Wikipedia, is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki.

While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is also a prominent snack in Hawaii, Taiwan, Cambodia, and Thailand.

My friend Tiffany told us about it and when we stopped at a grocery store in Maui, we found the golden nuggets in the frozen food section. This delicious little gummy rice treat shown in the picture above is filled with ice cream! Yum. I tried the strawberry and the coffee flavor and enjoyed both.

We didn't end up eating them all so they stayed in the car while we stopped at the beach... when we came back the ice cream was melted and all that was left were the rice sacks filled with ice milk. I will spare you the word I used to compare them to [ball sacks]. I didn't try them, but I bet they would have still tasted good!