Beach lovers and beach house owners will love this DIY Shell Wall Decor idea that can be personalized for any letter or shape. Discover tips on how to create this puzzle like piece of decor that is fun to put together and even prettier hung in your home.
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My parents recently sold their long time family home in NJ and purchased a new single level home in Delaware. This new house has a more beach house vibe. My mom has been collecting sea shells for years which she displays in glass jars around the home. When I had the idea of using some of these shells to create some decor, she was all in and lent me some of these jars to pick out some shells. I decided on creating a DIY Shell Wall Decor series featuring the first initial of each of the 5 grandkids so that this series of art had extra meaning for her.
DIY Shell Wall Decor Supplies:
- Canvas
- Shell collection
- Acrylic paint and small brush
- Pencil
- Stencil for your shape
- E6000 adhesive
First, decide what letter or shape you want to feature on your piece of shell decor and create a template. You can do this by drawing a template or using a cutting machine to cut to shape. I did the latter with my Cricut Maker.
Paint your canvas with two layers of acrylic paint color of choice and allow to fully dry at least a day or two. Lay the template onto the painted canvas and trace it. Use another color of acrylic paint (I used a high shimmer metallic gold color) to paint the stenciled shape.
Next comes the fun part – sort your shell collection! You can choose to go by size, shape or even color. Consider choosing shells that are lighter weight and more flat so they can easily glue onto the surface. I decided to make each of the 5 canvases have their own color palette.
Begin laying down the shells within your template shape. When you like a certain arrangement, use E6000 glue to secure. I thought this strong adhesive would hold longer and better than using hot glue that can sometimes give out over the years.
Note: E6000 can have a strong odor so you might want to do this with an open window or set these out in a garage or someplace with more air flow while they dry and cure.
Tip: some shells have different colors on the inside and can be attached upside down to feature this other color! I actually love that mix in each of the canvas pieces!
I just LOVE how each of these pieces of shell wall decor came out! They look cool individually and even better as a collection!
We hung all 5 of these DIY Shell Wall Decor canvases over their bed as there’s a personal touch and meaning behind the pieces. Together the colors bring in more of a beach house vibe. They use shells my mom has collected over the years, it features all 5 of her grandkids and it is another piece of decor for the home!
I could see this as a fun craft for a family during a beach vacation (after cleaning/drying the shells, of course) or as a girls night out activity. Consider doing it in different shapes (hearts are always good).
Tag me if you end up making your own version of a DIY Shell Decor for your home!
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