Looking to make a few stocking stuffers for the upcoming Christmas holiday? If so, consider making a few of these adorable painted seashell keychains and purse charms. You’ll need to collect a few 2″ wide small clam shells from the beach. The ones that we collected already had a hole in them…so no drilling was required which made the craft project even easier!
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If you enjoy painting on seashells or crafting with seashells…you’ll find over 150+ seashell craft projects right here on the Two Classy Chics blog! We will be sharing more seashell craft projects in the future too!
You can paint whatever design you want onto the seashells. I kept it simple. My granddaughter and 3 of her friends are learning in school about China and the Chinese culture. I decided to make LUCKY seashells for them. The Chinese character for the word LUCKY is shown on the shell along with the English word.
I liked the natural beauty of the seashells so I painted them with a clear acrylic paint that had micro-fine sparkle glitter embedded in it. I had a hard time getting that to photograph correctly…but the colorful sparkles are there! I painted 1 coat of that to start. Let it dry until it’s no longer tacky.
Then use a black fine tip paint marker. I used BETEM Acrylic Paint Markers. They’re fabulous! No priming, no leaks, clogging, drippy messes, etc. They dry super quick too! I used that black paint marker to make the Chinese character and to write the word LUCKY. To add a little color…I used Gorilla Glue to glue on a plastic charm. They’re self-adhesive but don’t stick long…so please use the Gorilla Glue to adhere them.
Once everything is dry…brush on another clear coat with glitter sparkles over-the-top of the shell. I went heavier with the second coat. Let it dry for 1-2 hours or until it’s no longer tacky. Then add your little ball and chain keychain holder by just threading it through the hole. That’s it, you’re done!
You can really get fancy with making these. Paint any design you would like (hearts, flowers, ladybugs, polk dots, stripes, whatever you like). You can glue on all kinds of little rhinestones, buttons, charms, etc. If you don’t want to mess with painting a design…you could certainly use paper and decoupage to add the design that you like. A fun way to get creative.
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