THE DAINTY SQUID
  • blog
    • all the posts!
    • stroup mansion
    • some of my favorite posts
    • plants + gardening
    • beauty, fashion + hair
    • reviews
    • window shopping
    • explore everywhere
  • about me
  • contact
Tag:

found on the beach

found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup July 8, 2021
beach trash arrangement

For years and years, I’ve been picking up trash on the beach and collecting interesting pieces. I never meant to start a trash collection but there was just something about all the colorful pieces I couldn’t resist. Any trash trash like wrappers, balloons, plastic bags, etc goes into a garbage can. Toy soldiers, hair clips, and fake food? That sort of stuff comes home with me.

I’d always knew I’d like to do something with it but just never really felt very motivated to do so. I have a large tote bag jam-packed full of goodies that has moved with me from apartment to apartment. When we bought our house, I briefly considered tossing it all before moving but just could bear to part with my potential art supplies.

I’ve been working hard on renovating the house since the day we moved in. Literally, the first day in the house we started kitchen demo! Over the past eight months, my focus has been more on renovations as opposed to actually decorating but recently, I’ve been bitten by the decorating bug. I’ve become super motivated to finally hang things on the walls. We had too much stuff to hang on the walls of our apartment but the house is so much larger that we are in serious need of some new art.

The main focus on the walls in my office is two large prints from my favorite graffiti artist. See a peek here. The color scheme is a little bit different than what I’m normally drawn to for things I’d decorate my own space with so needless to say, I didn’t really own anything else that fit with them. I’ve been hunting down art with similar colors but kept coming up short on something large… so I made something of my own!

beach plastic
plastic pollution from lake erie

I could not be happier with how this turned out. The colors work perfectly with the rest of the art in my office and it’s so nice to see some of my trash actually get used. The only downside here is that shadow boxes aren’t cheap and now I’m obsessed with the idea of making more.

rainbow beach trash arrangement
CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup April 8, 2020
found on the beach

Although I want to, I’m not going to list the things I’m missing right now while we’re stuck at home. I’m sure you’re missing a lot of the same things. I will tell you one thing though – I am glad I had the forethought to get a couple of good long beach trips in before the stay-at-home order went into effect. Saving myself some photos to edit was a nice little treat and definitely helped a tiny tiny bit.

beach plastic

Both of my trips had great finds and I ended up with lots of photos I really love. On the first trip, a couple weeks back, I found a small plastic trumpet, a tiny fake blow drier, a few toy soldiers, a horseshoe, a hair barrette that says “69” and… a penis straw, among many other things.

It felt like each find was better than the last. Plastic soldiers are always a favorite of mine but how could I not love that trumpet or the very very questionable children’s hair barrette. Seriously, whose idea was a ’69’ hair clip? And the penis straw. I wish you could have heard the snort I let out when I realized what it was I picked up.

It’s the little things, y’all.

…the little purple, aggressively veiny things.

found on the beach
Wendy Park, Cleveland

Can you spot the solider below? It drives me wild with excitement how many treasures could be buried in the driftwood. I normally scan the beach twice – once walking to the furthest end and then of course, on the way back. It always amazes me how much stuff I find on the walk back that seems like it was in very clear view. I can only imagine how many fun things I just miss.

Favorite finds of the day.

CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

boots by Joules

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup March 11, 2020
Lake Erie beach trash

A colorful little arrangement of beach treasures from earlier in the week. Nothing more, nothing less.

beachcombing Lake Erie
Lake Erie beach trash arrangement with Joules boots
found on the beach

Sometimes I make arrangements, take a bunch of photos and then never do anything with the shots. It’s a bummer because once it goes on to an external hard drive I’m probably not going to see it again for a very long time. So, here’s my most recent arrangement. It’s nothing spectacular, not going to make this blog famous or anything but I enjoy the photos and the beach is a tiny bit cleaner.

CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup January 8, 2020

30 minutes and one pass of the approximately 900ft beach. Just a quick arrangement because surprise surprise! it’s cold at the lake in January. Mostly broken shards of plastic today. Sometimes the larger, more interesting things seem to have been cleaned up but there are always tiny pieces littering the sand.

I will forever love making a colorful little arrangement against the dark moody beach!

Other fun finds from the day…

Two pieces of pottery with lettering left on them. Felt like such a treat because I most certainly wasn’t looking for them. Certain beaches have certain treasures, this isn’t a normal place for me to find pottery so when I glanced down not once but twice to have letters looking back at me, it was a surprise. A wheel. The legs of a plastic soldier. Chuckie Finster’s head. Not my largest haul but any day I find a plastic soldier is a good one in my book!

CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

beachcomb with me

by Kaylah Stroup November 12, 2019

For years and years... and years and years making videos is something I’ve wanted to do. I quickly figured out that photography and videography are two very different things though. I feel confident in my photos but video? Nope! I’ve wanted to learn but its just so overwhelming.

Finally, this year I’ve begun experimenting. It’s hard and at times, super frustrating but it feels good to finally be learning a new skill. I’m already seeing improvements in my work and feeling more a tiny bit confident.

This is where I tell you – hello, I have a YouTube channel! Check it out.

Point being, the one idea that I really had in mind that I wanted to play with was a sort of treasure hunting series. Obviously the word ‘treasure’ here is subjective. It only takes a few minutes on my blog to figure out that I’m excited by some pretty silly stuff.

This is my second attempt at making a video for my ‘beachcomb with me’ series. The first video was an utter disaster. I tried making something right after getting my GoPro and I didn’t really have a vision so the video was kind of all over the place.

This final product isn’t necessarily everything I have in mind for the series but I’m actually really really excited about how it turned out. This is a great starting point. I’m excited to look back on this in a year and see how far I’ve come.

In the future, I’d definitely like to talk in these videos and maybe expand the treasure hunting methods – some dump digging, metal detecting, etc. Right now my whole family is super into ‘treasure’ hunting so it’s honestly, a big part of my life right now.

Hope you enjoy! xoxo

favorite find of the day!

More found on the beach posts can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup July 24, 2019
plastic pollution found along the shores of Lake Erie

One venti Starbucks cup full of plastic ‘treasures’ found along a short stretch of Lake Erie. Less than half an hour to fill!

Normally I carry a tote bag for all my beach finds. Lately though, the things I tend to gravitate toward picking up are much smaller. On my last visit, shortly after arriving at the beach, I spotted a Starbucks cup. Perfect! I filled it up in no time flat. Seems like it wouldn’t hold very much but after laying out an arrangement I was shocked to see how much was still left in the cup!

found on the beach
plastic pollution
plastic found on the beach
I got new Tevas! I have seriously never loved a pair of shoes this much. They’re cozy and match everything!
Lake Erie plastic pollution

A quick found on the beach FAQ

  1. You found all of these in one trip!?  Sadly, yes.
  2. What do you do with all after your done? Normally I toss it in the trash or recycle if appropriate. Sometimes I may take certain pieces with me if I think they’ll look cool in a future arrangement or if it’s something I collect. Toy soldiers & all other tiny plastic characters come home with me! I also collect plastic plants, leaves, and flowers.
  3. Do you wear gloves when you pick all this trash up? No, I don’t. These are things that are washed up from the lake, not just left on the shore. They’re no dirtier than the sand or water. That’s not to say I don’t sanitize my hands as soon as I get back in my car though…
  4. Are all of your beaches this gross? No, absolutely not. We have lots of gorgeous, clean and downright picturesque beaches along Lake Erie. This one in particular just seems to collect all the debris from the lake. I have yet to find another this bad in the area.

Below are my favorite finds of the day (& what I actually kept!) I still haven’t figured out what those yellow things with numbers and letters are. I have a pretty decent collection of them. I’ve been finding them for years and years. They’re not as common as toy soldiers or anything else that I find regularly but they still wash up quite often. Last time I asked if anyone had any idea what they were nearly everyone responded “crime scene markers!” but I’m not convinced. More than likely they something to do with shipping.

CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

beach combing

by Kaylah Stroup May 8, 2019
beachcombing on Lake Erie

One beach, a half hour of wandering, twenty-eight objects to get the tangles out of your hair.

Wild, isn’t it?

I also found a handful of barrettes and a weft of braided hair that had to be at least a foot and a half in length.

beachcombing
Beachcombing in Cleveland
beach combing
found on the beach

A quick found on the beach FAQ

  1. You found all of these in one trip?  Sadly, yes.
  2. What do you do with all after your done? Normally I toss it in the trash or recycle if appropriate. Sometimes I may take certain pieces with me if I think they’ll look cool in a future arrangement or if it’s something I collect. Toy soldiers & all other tiny plastic characters come home with me! I also collect plastic plants, leaves and flowers.
  3. Do you wear gloves when you pick all this trash up? No, I don’t. These are things that are washed up from the lake, not just left on shore. They’re no dirtier than the sand or water. That’s not to say I don’t sanitize my hands as soon as I get back in my car though…
  4. Are all of your beaches this gross? No, absolutely not. We have lots of gorgeous, clean and downright picturesque beaches along Lake Erie. This one in particular just seems to collect all the debris from the lake. I have yet to find another this bad in the area.
combs found on the beach
Boots by Joules. (I highly recommend them!)
CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

found on the frozen beach

by Kaylah Stroup March 7, 2019

Only 13 days until spring!

Lake Erie is still frozen. New treasures appear each random (and 100% appreciated) day of warm weather tha allows some of the ice built up on the shore to melt.

Nothing too spectacular on my last visit. Not even a single toy soldier. I appreciate any burst of color this time of the year though.

xoxo

CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

found on the frozen beach

by Kaylah Stroup February 7, 2019

Another day, another colorful little display of lighters found in the sand.
… or the snow.

We had some impossibly cold temperatures last week. (Here’s Klaus to prove it. Technically that ‘proves’ nothing but he’s really cute all bundled up.) Then right after that, the temperatures came right back up to nearly 60 degrees. Sitting in my office watching people walk by the window without their winter gear on hard to watch. I needed a piece of the action. It was one of those days I had to go to the beach. The snow in our front yard had promptly melted but the beach was still frozen. It was warm but the sand was still covered in up to a foot of iced over snow in some spots. It had apparently melted a bit though as new treasures were within view. I picked up lots of random odds and ends to be put in the trash but once again, was left wondering why in the world there are always so many lighters.

beach plastic, lake erie, wendy park, cleveland ohio lake erie, wendy park, coast guard station, beach trash

CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts

About Me

About Me

Hello!

I'm Kaylah! Renovating a 150-year-old home in Northeast Ohio. Likely found in my garden.

Categories

  • all the posts!
  • beauty, fashion + hair
  • explore everywhere
  • plants + gardening
  • reviews
  • some of my favorite posts
  • stroup mansion
  • window shopping

currently crushing

more fun finds here!


disclosure

click to drop down
The Dainty Squid is a for profit blog. and we participate in a number of affiliate programs meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase through one of those links. For more details click here

new rug, fresh floor, polished furniture! gah! it’s just so pretty. 🥲🖤

#stroupmansion
one of my favorite things to do is pull my chair o one of my favorite things to do is pull my chair over directly in front of the fireplace in my office, snuggle up under a blanket and read. Without fail, every single time, within ten minutes Professor joins me! It’s one of those things where I always think “I wish I could get a picture of this!” 

Well guess who finally remembered to set up the tripod before getting cozy! 🖤
my favorite four books I’ve read so far this yea my favorite four books I’ve read so far this year! ✨ have you read any of these? any great reads in 2023 yet?! 📚🖤

(As always, I’ve got them in my stories if you want a screenshot. If you see this after the first 24hrs, they’re in my saved stories under ‘books!’ along with a bunch of others. 🖤)
Combining my old interests (cemeteries!) with my n Combining my old interests (cemeteries!) with my new interests (this old house!) 👻🏚️ Can’t tell you how excited I was to find that the original owner of our home is buried a short drive away. Had to go say hey and let him know about the heavily tattooed, green haired gal working on the house now. 😜
🐢!!! Okay, now to make stands for everything el 🐢!!! Okay, now to make stands for everything else that isn’t easy to display because this turned out so cute!!
the spare room throughout the years! ✨✨✨ 1. the spare room throughout the years! ✨✨✨
1. Today. 🖤
2. 2022 - Refinished the floor, handmade custom trim, fresh walls I spent 99 years mudding and sanding to smooth out and repair.
3. 2021. Peace out carpet squares. See you NEVER!
4. 2020. The room on the day we moved in. 
5. The room in 2013 while the house was abandoned.
just a nice little photodump ✨✨✨ cats, the h just a nice little photodump ✨✨✨ cats, the house, rainbows, lake erie 🖤
now vs when we bought ✨ plus some bonus plant ph now vs when we bought ✨ plus some bonus plant photos because yesterday was plant maintenance day and everything is looking 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻!
slowly but surely! 🖤✨ slowly but surely! 🖤✨
If you never hear from me again, it’s because I’m embossing all my books! 💁🏼‍♀️📚📚📚✨ For real, I’m obsessed! I’ll share a link in my stories as well as a better shot of what mine looks like.
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Youtube

copyright 2022 the dainty squid / kaylah stroup. please contact me about photo usage.


Back To Top
THE DAINTY SQUID
  • blog
    • all the posts!
    • stroup mansion
    • some of my favorite posts
    • plants + gardening
    • beauty, fashion + hair
    • reviews
    • window shopping
    • explore everywhere
  • about me
  • contact