Painted Autumn and Thanksgiving Seashell Designs

These Autumn and Thanksgiving hand painted seashells are just way too cute! All of the designs are easy-to-make, so they’re great for beginners. You can use them as decorating accents inside or outside of your home. I have a few that will be placed on the kid’s Thanksgiving table and several others are lining the sides of the steps coming up to our front porch and door.

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All of the designs were painted onto large 4″ and 5″ wide large clam shells that we collected from the beach. Wash them in warm, soapy water using Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. It’s the best for removing sand, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water. Air dry.

I used a combination of acrylic craft paints with a paint brush and acrylic craft paint pen markers. Don’t use Sharpies or regular markers as the colors will run! You have to use genuine paint pen markers. No templates or patterns were used. The designs were free-handed onto the seashell using a pencil.

Scarecrow – Base coat with 2 coats of acrylic craft paint in a tan/brown color. Let dry. Use a pencil to make “light” marks where you want the hat, hair, eyes, nose and mouth. Use paint pen markers to do all of the design work.

Autumn Pumpkin – Base coat with 2 coats of a dark teal color of craft paint. Let dry. Use a pencil to make a pumpkin shape with a stem. Use paint pen markers to do all of the design work and wordage.

Thanksgiving Turkey – Base coat with 2 coats of gray color craft paint. Let dry. Use a pencil to dry a “peanut shape” for the turkey’s body. Then dry the feathers and feet. Use paint pen markers to do all of the design work.

Happy Fall – Base coat 1/3 of the shell with a grass green color and 2/3 of the shell with a light blue color. Let dry. I didn’t use a pencil to sketch on this one, I just “winged” it and I think it turned out cute. I did use paint pen markers for all of the design work.

Once the seashells are done drying take them outside. Spray them with 2 light coats of a Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer. I used one with a glossy finish. Let dry overnight. This protects the painted finish.

On the Happy Fall shell I decided to glue on a small silk sunflower using a dab of Gorilla Glue. Don’t use hot glue because that won’t last if you’re displaying them outside in the elements. When adding the flower, do so after you have sealed them.

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