This hand painted Gingerbread Girl seashell decoration is a great beginners project. It can be done by older children or adults. You really don’t need any fancy painting or artistic skills. I really like the simple and clean design of this little girl that was painted on a large 4 1/2″ wide clam shell picked up from the beach.

You can use these painted seashells as Christmas decorations inside or outside your home. They look pretty sitting on a table, bookshelf, as place settings on a holiday table or place them out on your front porch or back deck. Super cute! You can find hundreds of free Gingerbread face templates online, we wanted the design to be “child-like” so just winged it using no pattern or template.

Preparing Seashells – Soak all seashells in a sink with hot, soapy water. I like to use Dawn liquid dish soap. It does a great job at removing sand, debris, and fishy odors. Rinse clean. Let them air dry for 2-3 days. They need to be fully dry before painting on them.

Hand Painted Gingerbread Girl Seashell Christmas Decoration

Large Clam Seashell
Acrylic Craft Paints
Acrylic Craft Paint Pens
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Clear Acrylic Sealer, Glossy Finish

The background color needs to be a light color so that the chocolate brown will show up. We used a turquoise blue color and put on 3 coats of paint. Make sure you allow for 30 minutes of drying time between coats. If you want to save time, you could spray paint them.

For the head we made a simple round circle using chocolate brown acrylic paint. The body is just a rounded off square that touches the base of the circle. We used 2 coats of chocolate brown paint and left it dry for about an hour. Once it’s dry you’ll add the rest of the features.

Since we’re not professional artists we did the rest of the design using acrylic paint pens. White was used around the head and upper body to appear as white frosting. Dot on 2 black eyes and then white inner eyes. We gave her a red nose and white dots at the end of her mouth. The bow at the top of her head is a simple dot of green paint in the middle and red triangles on each side. Use a toothpick dipped in white paint to add the little polka dots. Finish her up by using a red paint pen to write the words Sugar and Spice. Let dry for 2-3 hours.

Take the painted seashell outside and give it 1-2 coats of clear acrylic spray sealer in a glossy finish. It will give it a nice shine and protect the painted surface for chipping and fading. Once protected you can use them to decorate inside and outside of your home.

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