First attempt at background?

Yes, the title says it all. I have tried to make a graphic of a beach, just for fun. I didn't use any reference image for the beach, only for the palm leaf. It's NOT finished yet because I think the leaves need some more detail (I was in a very lazy mood that day) and obviously a beach needs seashells and pebbles and stuff like that, but how do I draw them?
Here is the unfinished beach graphic:

If I ever finish it I might use it for a graphic.

As you can see, I've used many of my program's 'childish' functions that a good graphic designer should never use... you should be able to make the sand look natural and 3D yourself without using the 'textures' tool, and although a self-made gradient takes more time it looks better than when it's made with the gradient tool!
I still like it, although it's not perfect.

Maria/mgirl07