Next week we’re hosting a backyard bbq and pool party at our home. I painted a dozen clam shells in a tropical beach design to use as table decor and party favors. Guests can take one home with them or I can keep them as summer decor and use them again and again. All of the designs are easy-to-do and great for beginners. You don’t need a ton of art and craft supplies to make them. Don’t have access to seashells? You can do the designs on smooth river rocks or landscaping stones too! Check out the TCC blog for over 300+ painted seashell designs.
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Wash all seashells in warm soapy water. I like to use Dawn Liquid Dish Soap because it does a great job at removing sand, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water. Let them air dry overnight.
Base coat each clam shell with 1-2 light coats of white acrylic craft paint. You’ll need to allow about 45 minutes of drying time between coats if you’re applying two of them. Let dry until the paint is no longer tacky. By base coating the seashells it will allow the other paint colors applied on top to be more VIVID in color.
For the sunset design…I brushed-on a combination of yellow, orange and red acrylic craft paints. I used yellow at the bottom, orange in the middle and red at the top. You want to keep brushing the colors together so that they blend-in with one another. Let dry. For the rest of the design I used Acrylic Paint Markers that I purchased from Amazon. I added the blue water first and then added the palm tree and birds. Very simple design. You can get more elaborate if desired.
The smaller clam shell was done in a similar way. I used a pack of BETEM Acrylic Paint Markers to make the sunset, the beach sand, palm tree and birds. The BETEM Acrylic Paint Markers have dual-tips…a medium and a fine tip. They’re great for painting seashells because no priming is required, no drippy messes and no foul paint odors. Plus, they dry fairly quickly.
One of my favorite’s is the Seashore Sandcastle Design that I made. This one took me more time to do. I used my Cricut to cut out a sandcastle shape from tan colored cardstock in a size that would fit onto the front of the seashells. I painted the shell with a light beige color for sand, turquoise color for water and a light blue color for the sky. Once the paint was dry I went back over it and added white to distinguish where the water was hitting the beach. Oh yeah, a little yellow sun is located in the top right corner. Let the paint dry.
All of the painted seashells need to be sealed with a Clear Acrylic Sealer. You can use a Spray-On Acrylic Sealer or a brush-on like Clear Mod Podge Sealer. I like using one with a glossy finish. Let dry. For the paper sandcastle…you’ll adhere that to the clam shell with Clear Mod Podge or Gorilla Glue.
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