Have you heard of painted kindness rocks and seashells? If not…there are artists who paint various cute designs on rocks and seashells. They then give them out to family, friends, strangers and hide them throughout their communities for others to find. I’ve been painting rocks and seashells for 20+ years, before “it” was even a popular thing to do!

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The painted seashells that are featured today all contain positive quotes, sayings and affirmations. Two of the designs were painted onto oyster shells, one on a razor clam shell and one on a broken chunk of a large whelk shell. You need to wash all seashells and rocks before painting on them. Air dry.

Get creative with your background colors. I swirled together various acrylic craft paint colors to get interesting backgrounds (except for the gold metallic one). Easy to do with a paint brush and 2-3 complimentary acrylic paint colors. Let dry until the paint is no longer tacky.

You can look up on the internet for positive affirmations or specific themed quotes. You want to keep them on the smaller size if you’re using small shells but can do longer quotes and sayings if you’re using large shells. Keep that in mind when doing your design planning.

Writing words on seashells and rocks is a LOT easier when you use BETEM Paint Pen Markers. They have dual tips, a medium tip on one side and a fine tip on the other side. No priming is needed, no leaks or drips. No foul odors either! They contain acrylic paint in beautiful colors. I used the fine tip to write out all of the words that you see.

Once the words are dry you need to seal all of the paint by brushing on with a foam brush 2 coats of Clear Mod Podge Sealer. I used one with a glossy finish. Allow 30-40 minutes of drying time between coats. This will protect the paint and allow you to display them inside or outside of the home.

If you want to add jeweled accents (like the ones you see in the photo) I recommend that you use Gorilla Glue. Don’t use school glue, regular craft glue or hot glue. Those jewels will eventually fall off. Use a more permanent glue like Gorilla Glue or E6000. Let dry overnight.

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The Chinese New Year falls every year between January 21st and February 20th. It begins on the first day that the new moon appears between those days. It’s one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. In honor of the upcoming Chinese New Year we decided to paint some seashells in Chinese…using Chinese characters.

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Using Google image search we looked up the Chinese characters for Lucky, Harmony and Good Fortune. I snapped a picture of each image on my cellphone to use as referrence when painting the clam shells.

To get started…wash your 3″ to 5″ wide clam shells in warm, soapy water using Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. It’s the best for removing sand, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water. Let dry. If you have any stubborn debris stuck on your seashells use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to losen it up. Rinse and then dry.

Base coat the clam shells in your desired colors. For the Lucky we used a vanilla color, for harmony we used white and for the good fortune we used a dark red. You may need to apply 2 coats of acrylic craft paint to get the desired coverage that you need. Let dry until the paint is no longer tacky.

Writing the words in Chinese is done fairly easy using a black acrylic paint pen. I have a dual-tip set…with a fine tip and a medium tip. Use the photograph as reference when drawing your lines in black. While it may look difficult, trust me…these designs are EASY once you get working on them. I use the Betem Acrylic Paint Pens Set that I purchased from Amazon.

You can write the English word underneath or on the back side of each clam shell. I did them both ways as you can see in my photograph. Personally, I like it written on the back side so that the painted side looks more clean and uncluttered. Just my personal preference. Let dry.

Time to seal the seashells. You need to apply 1-2 coats of clear Modge Podge sealer using a foam brush across the entire painted surface. Let dry for 1-2 hours. Flip the shell over and apply 1-2 coats on the other side. This will help to protect the painted shell for years to come.

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