I love the coastal life and anything that has to do with it. The inside and outside my home oozes with the beach style. Today’s DIY craft project is really easy-to-make and you can use them all over your home as home decor accents. Don’t decorate in the coastal style? Don’t worry, these home decor accents would be cute to display just during the summer season too!
For this project we used large clam shells that we collected while on the beach. You will want to wash off all of the sand and debris. Let them dry for 48 to 72 hours before painting them. All of our clam shells measure 5″ to 7″ wide, so I suggest going big!
Easy Decoupage Seashells
Large Clam Shells
Metallic Finish Acrylic Craft Paint
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Bottle of Mod Podge Decoupage, Glossy Finish
Beach Designs on Paper
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer, Glossy Finish
Scissors
Old Sheets of Newspaper
Paper Designs: I went to my local craft store and purchased patterned paper from the Scrapbooking section. You can use beach and coastal designs that you find printed in magazines, books, from gift wrap, greeting cards, paper napkins, etc. Cut out your artwork using scissors, cutting close to the printed design’s edge. You will want to make sure that your designs fit onto your prepared seashells.
I gave all of my clam shells 2 coats of paint. I like to use acrylic craft paint that I pick up at my local craft store. I left them thoroughly dry which took about 2 hours. Metallic paint takes longer to dry than regular acrylic paint.
Use your Decoupage medium to lightly brush on a coat on the back side of your cut-out design. Place that onto your clam shell, smoothing it down with your fingers and rubbing out the wrinkles. Once you have it securely on your seashell, paint another coat of the Decoupage medium on top. Let dry for approximately 90 minutes.
You can give them a second coat with the Decoupage medium (or) take them outside and lay them down onto newspaper. Use the clear acrylic spray sealer and give them an additional coat. Let them dry for 2 hours. I prefer to give them one coat of the Decoupage medium and then spray a second coat of sealer on top…you can omit the spray sealer and just do 2 coats of the Decoupage medium. That’s it, you’re done!
Mine are simple and clean looking. However, you can get all fancy with them and paint all kinds of different designs around your center motif. You can base coat them all one color like I did, or use multiple colors. You can really get creative with them!
Display options are numerous! You can purchase clear plastic little easels and display them on shelves, a tabletop, mantle, etc. They also look cute displayed on your front porch, back deck, in your garden and so forth. If you don’t have access to large clam shells, you can do the same thing on painted river rocks too!
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I love the colorsand I can see all kinds of designs that I would love to try. This would be a fun prjoect.
Oh I love these colors. You are so talented. I could not paint one that well. Thank you for sharing.
I have liked all of the creations but this has to be one of my favorites. I honestly could see these in the garden or somewhere. You could do a whole array of fish or whatever you wished. The color is amazing too.
Love this sweet painted fish on this seashell. I was thinking earlier today what a sweet gift this would be for a child to gift to a Mother on Mother’s day or for Christmas.