Craft Project: Mermaid Seashell Hand Mirror

A few weeks ago my granddaughter and I were shopping at our local Dollar Store and picked up a few things that she needed. One thing that we picked up was this aqua-colored hand mirror. It was very plain looking, so we decided to turn it into a Mermaid Seashell Hand Mirror with just a few craft supplies that we had on hand. Our new mirror was completed in just one afternoon.

If you enjoy painting on seashells or crafting with seashells…you’ll find over 70+ seashell craft projects right here on the Two Classy Chics blog! We will be sharing more seashell craft projects in the future too!

Mermaid Seashell Hand Mirror

Hand Mirror from the Dollar Store
2 Scallop Seashells
Metallic Acrylic Craft Paint (we used pink)
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Self-Adhesive Faux Half-Pearls
Self-Adhesive Rhinestones
Quick-Drying Craft Glue
E6000 Adhesive Glue

We painted our 2 scallop seashells with pink metallic-finish acrylic craft paint. It took the paint about 70 minutes to fully dry and we gave each seashell 2 coats of paint. Make sure they’re thoroughly dry before gluing them onto the back of your hand mirror.

Seashells are “weighty” so you’ll want to use the E6000 adhesive glue to add them onto the mirror. This glue does take 2-3 hours to dry. Hot glue and regular craft glue don’t work well for gluing “weighty” things onto plastic or metal.

We framed out the hand mirror with self-adhesive half-round faux pearls. To make sure they wouldn’t fall off after use, we added a dab of quick-drying craft glue for the added protection. We went around the entire perimeter of the mirror, added 3 of them down the handle and then accented each side of the seashell motif with a half-pearl.

To finish it off we added 2 turquoise flower-shaped rhinestones onto the handle of the mirror using craft glue. Let all of this dry for several hours to make sure you get a strong bond. You need all of the glue to be thoroughly dry before using your new Mermaid Hand Mirror.

If you were hosting a birthday party for young girls this would make a great make-n-take birthday party favor for the girls to make. They can decorate their mirrors with self-adhesive jewels, stickers, buttons, charms, paints, etc. I could collect a lot of bits & pieces and let the girls get creative and come up with their own designs.

Buying Note: We purchased our hand mirror at the local Dollar Store and it came with an additional small compact mirror too. While plain looking, they can really be decorated a ton of different ways and make for an inexpensive craft project.

* This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may or may not receive a small commission which helps to support this site.