Love the beach and coastal way of life? Hosting a party in a fun tropical theme? If so, you’ll love these easy-to-make painted tropical palm tree clam shells. They can be used as table-top decorations, as party favors, place settings or display them outside when hositing a fun party. They add a nice “pop” of color and all designs were painted onto clam shells collected from the beach.

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We used 2″ wide to 4″ wide clam shells. Wash them in warm soapy water using Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. Why Dawn? It does the best job at removing sand, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water and air dry overnight.

All of these designs were made with BETEM Acrylic Paint Pen Markers which feature dual ended tips. One side has a medium tip and the other side a fine tip. No priming, leakage or foul odors with these paint markers and they dry quickly!

You want to start with the background colors first and using the medium tip in your desired colors. You can use our photograph for reference. Once you have the background done it’s time to decorate the seashells. I used a pencil to lightly sketch on the design free-handed. No template was used nor is needed. Use the medium tip to color-in the design. Use the fine tip to outline the design. Make them basic or as fancy as you would like. Let dry.

Seal the painted surface by brushing on 1-2 coats of Clear Glossy Mod Podge using a foam brush. You’ll need to allow 30-45 minutes of drying time between coats. This will give the shells a nice glossy shine plus protect the painted surface. Once dry…they can be displayed inside or outside of your home.

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Heading to the beach this summer for vacation? Live there or have seashells lying around? If so, here’s an easy arts and crafts project that you can make. You’ll need 4″ to 5″ wide clam shells and then several smaller 1/2″ to 2″ wide seashells to make this project along with acrylic craft paint. All of these designs were made in just one weekend.

Wash all of the seashells in warm soapy water using Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. Dawn does a fantastic job at removing sand, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water and then let them air dry overnight.

You’ll need various shades of acrylic craft paint: Blues, white and sandy/tan along with a flat paint brush. Follow the photographs for placement of the tan colored area and the blue colored area. The tan will be the sandy beach with the blue being the ocean water. Once those 2 colors have dried…add the white foam from the water hitting the beach. It shouldn’t be a straight line…make it wavy! Let dry.

Once the paint has dried it’s time to decorate the clam shells with smaller seashells. If you’re working with young kids I recommend using regular quick-drying craft glue. If you’re working with adults I recommend using Gorilla Glue which gives you a much stronger bond when working with shells. Glue on the small shells in a pleasing to the eye pattern. I like keeping them grouped together in one area…but you decorate as you see fit. Let dry.

Finally…you need to seal-in all of the paint! You can do it one of two ways:

Spray on 1-2 coats of a glossy clear spray acrylic sealer. If you’re using the spray…do it outside on a warm sunny day. Let dry for 2-4 hours.

Brush on 1-2 coats of glossy clear Mod Podge sealer. You can use this one indoors. I personally like brushing on 2 light coats to give the shells a great shine! Let dry for 2-3 hours.

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