Last month we started remodeling our small home office and as I type this…it’s about 60% done. We’re replacing the flooring, painting the walls, adding new lighting and getting new furniture. My husband loves the remodeling process, but I love the decorating!
We decorate our home (inside and outside) in a coastal cottage style. I love the neutral color palette and it reminds me of summertime at the beach. I like to break-up the neutrals with a few punches of tropical colors here and there.
One thing that I needed for our small home office was a few coastal looking desk accessories. Since I couldn’t find what I wanted, I decided to make my own. Our Coastal & Beach Desk Accessories Set includes a pencil & pen holder, a trinket dish and a clam shell paper weight.
Oyster Shell & Clam Shell Trinket Dish
This dish can be used to hold paper clips, erasers, staples, postage stamps, business cards or whatever.
Large Oyster Shell
Large Clam Seashell
Metallic Acrylic Craft Paint
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
E6000 Adhesive Glue
4MM or 6MM White Glass Pearl
We painted our large oyster shell with a turquoise color metallic acrylic paint. We gave it 2 coats of paint, front and back. Let dry for 2 hours. Silver metallic acrylic paint was used to paint the large clam shell, 2 coats on both sides, let dry.
Once the paint is dry, use the E6000 Adhesive Glue to attach the oyster shell to the clam shell. You want to be generous with the amount of glue that you’re using. Add a little bit of glue to one side of your glass pearl and glue it onto the oyster shell as shown in the photo. Let the entire trinket dish dry for 4-6 hours.
Ocean Pebbles Pencil & Pen Holder
Pint Size Glass Mason Jar
50-100 Smooth Ocean Pebbles
E6000 Adhesive Glue
Faux Glass Pearls
Clear Glass Bobbles
Use the E6000 Adhesive Glue to glue the smooth ocean pebbles onto the glass mason jar. Use random sizes and place them close together, sort of making a mosaic pattern. We found it best to use the smallest ones around the top and bottom edges. Using a hot glue gun didn’t work as well as we had hoped, but the E6000 Adhesive Glue worked perfectly!!! It will take a few hours to fully dry.
Once your pebbles are dry, randomly glue on a few faux glass pearls and a few clear glass bobbles. We like the “beachy look” that these baubles added to the overall look. Let dry for 2-3 hours. Once dry, fill it with your pencils, pens and markers.
Coastal Clam Shell Paper Weight
4″ to 5″ Wide Clam Shell Seashell
Metallic Acrylic Craft Paint
Paint Brush, Waster Dish, Paper Towels
Paper Motif (We used a fish)
Scissors
Mod Podge in Glossy Finish
We cut out our tropical fish from roll of wrapping paper that we had on hand. He fits perfectly onto the front of our clam shell. You want to cut your image out close to the edge, set aside.
Paint your clam shell in your desired color. We used turquoise colored acrylic craft paint with a metallic finish. Give your seashell 2 good coats of paint, front and back. Let dry for 1-2 hours.
Use the Mod Podge to lightly coat the back of your image. Place image down onto the front of your clam shell. Use the Mod Podge to coat the entire front side of the clam shell and let dry. You need to do this step to seal down your paint and to seal down the top-side of your paper image. Let dry for about 2 hours. That’s it, you’re done!
Notes: This 3-piece Coastal Beach Desk Accessories Set is really easy to make! You can change up the colors to go with your own decor. It won’t cost you a lot of money to make them, since you’re using found objects from the beach. Looking for a unique and one-of-a-kind teacher’s gift? This would be it and would be perfect sitting on the teacher’s desk!
As I previously stated, I don’t recommend using a hot glue gun for these projects. You don’t get a permanent bond with a hot glue gun. I highly recommend that you use the E6000 Adhesive Glue. Yes, it takes longer to dry, but it is indeed permanent!
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This set is so cute and a lot of people would love to have these objects in a coastal theme.
That is such a cute set. Honesty I love these crafts and if they were gifts from kids they would be treasured. I like the color you did these in o me it is perfect.
You are so industrious and it sounds like you have already done a major part of remodeling your home office. I especially like the coastal pencil holder.
I love this and you can make it any color you need. What a great idea. Thank you for the new inspiration.