Painted Seashells - Garden Decor - How To DIY

For as long as I can remember, my family has gone to the ocean for vacation and relaxation.  One of my favorite activities as a girl was collecting seashells.  I had my seashell guidebook to help me identify each type of shell.

In fact, I still collect seashells when I'm on the beach.  Back then, I would show off my collection while the young entrepreneur in me was trying to think of a way to sell them; oyster shells with a natural hole were strung on yarn to be worn as a 'necklace.'  In more recent years, I have brainstormed ways that I can turn shells into home decor.

After researching and testing, I narrowed in on three ways to feature seashells; ornaments, magnets, and now garden decor.  I found that due to their light weight, seashells make ideal canvases for hand painted Christmas ornaments. With the aid of gorillatough Gorilla Glue®, I turned smaller seashells into magnets; seashell beach magnets Etsy listing.  And most recently, I am using larger shells to make garden decor.

In this week's blog, I am providing a tutorial on how to make hand painted seashell garden decor. For this DIY, you will need:

• seashells - I prefer clam shells for their round shape.
• small paint brushes - size 2 and smaller
• medium flat paint brush
• acrylic craft paint
• Mod Podge
• paper towels

Step 1: Clean the shells with a damp paper towel to remove excess sand or sea salt.

Step 2: After planning and sketching out your design, begin to apply the acrylic paint.  For this design, I painted the black first on the shells with lettering and I painted the orange first for the Oriole Bird shell.  Once that was dry, I painted orange over top of the black lettering.  Then I sketched in the Oriole Bird design with a small brush.  Last, I filled in the black sections of the bird, making sure to put extra coats where needed.  

Step 3: The final step is to coat the shell with Mod Podge.  This seals the acrylic paint design and protects it from the elements.

These painted shells will make their way to my brother's house.  He is a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan.  But you can paint any team motto and mascot on your garden decor shells!!

Let me know how this goes for you!  Leave a comment below or send me a message.