Hand-Painted Pet Memorial Seashell Garden Yard Art

Over the past 5 years I’ve posted at least 100+ art and craft projects that utilize seashells. I love working with them because they’re a FREE resource from nature. You can paint on them, string them together to make jewelry, place them in baskets to use as home decor, turn them into windchimes, garden plant markers, and all sorts of other things.

Millions of Americans own a pet and once our pet passes we like to remember them by placing a memorial in our garden. Some people place stepping stones but I like to use painted seashells. The one that I’m featuring today is quite large…a 5″ wide clam shell that I collected from the beach in New Jersey.

Hand-Painted Pet Memorial Seashell Garden Yard Art

Before painting on seashells you always want to give them a good cleaning with liquid dish soap and water. If needed, use an old toothbrush to losen up sand and debris. Take them outside and let them dry in the sunshine for 2-3 days. They need to be completely dry!!! I recommend and use Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. It’s great for removing sand, debris and fishy odors.

You can get as fancy as you want with your design. I like classic and simple. I base coated the clam shell with 3 coats of navy blue acrylic craft paint, allowing 30 minutes of drying time between coats. Use Google to do an image search for free dog bone image or clipart. I found one and then resized it before printing it out. Use scissors to cut around the design and then traced it onto my shell using a pencil.

I used white acrylic craft paint with a paint brush to make the dog bone. I had to use 2 coats of paint. Once dry I used a BETEM black medium-tip acrylic paint marker to outline the bone and add the dog’s name. While that was drying I added polka dots around the border of the shell using orange and yellow paint markers.

You need to let everything dry for 2-3 hours or until the paint is no longer tacky. Take it outside and spray it with 1-2 coats of clear acrylic spray sealer. I used one that gives your shell a glossy finish. This will protect the painted design and allow you to place your new memorial in your garden.

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