Craft Project: Painted Seashells Seasonal Outdoor Yard Art Designs

If you’ve been following this blog you’ll already know that I love to collect seashells and use them in various craft projects around my home. Shells are a free resource that you can collect from the beach and paint on them to decorate your home or use them as garden yard art.

When collect shells you ONLY want to collect the ones that have been abandoned by the occupant. If you find an animal still living…please put them back where you found them. ONLY collect empty shells! After you’ve collected them you need to give them a good bath in hot, soapy water, rinse and then let them air dry. They need to be thoroughly dry before painting on them.

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!

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I was inspired to make a set of 4 painted seashells (clam shells) that I could switch in and out as the seasons change. I wanted simple wording, colors and designs…nothing too elaborate, just classic designs. All of these are super-easy to make and you don’t have to be a professional artist to make them. If you have children, let them get in on the fun too!

Craft Project: Painted Seashells Seasonal Outdoor Yard Art

Large Clam Shells Seashells
Acrylic Craft Paints
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer
Acrylic Paint Pens – Medium Tip

Protect your work surface with a drop cloth or old plastic table cloth. Painting shells can get messy!!! I recommend “plastic” so that your wet shells won’t stick to it.

For this project we used clam shells that were 5″ to 6″ wide. You’ll want to base coat all of your seashells with 2 coats of acrylic paint in your desired colors. Let them thoroughly dry before decorating them.

I’m not going to go step-by-step on how I made them. I think the photos are pretty self explanatory. I found it easier to use my medium-tip paint pen to write out the wordage. I left them dry for about 60-70 minutes. I then used acrylic craft paints to paint on little designs (easy ones) to represent the season. If you want to add a decorative border around them you can dip the end of your paint brush into paint and simply add some colored polka dots. You will need to let all of the paint dry (about 3-4 hours) before sealing-in the color.

To Seal the Shells: Take them outside and spray them with 1-2 coats of the clear acrylic sealer. I use sealer with a glossy finish but you could use a matte finish too. Let them dry for 3-4 hours. This will seal-in the color to protect from cracking, chipping, fading and crazing. I highly recommend this step!!!

Design Ideas:

Winter – Snowflakes or a Snowman
Spring – Flowers, Sunshine, Bumblebees, Ladybugs
Summer – Beach Scene, Sunshine, Flowers
Fall – Pumpkins, Leaves, Trees, Ghosts, Bats, Acorns

You can come up with your own design ideas. As I previously stated, I wanted to keep mine simple and classic. These shells look really cool displayed in your flower beds, garden areas, front porch, deck, etc.

Additional Tips: Using paint pens is the EASIEST way to do your lettering. They do take some time to dry but totally worth using them in my honest opinion. If you’re a good artistic painter, you can “paint” on your wordage but for non-professionals like me…paint pens are the way to go! Next, make sure you WASH your shells! Get all of those little grains of sand off of them and let them thoroughly dry. I recommend letting them dry overnight and preferably outside in the hot sunshine. To make perfect polka dots – dip the opposite end of your paint brush into the acrylic paint and dot them on. You can also use the end of a cotton swab or the eraser on the end of a pencil to get the perfect sized polka dots!!!

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