DIY: Shell Art

I mentioned yesterday that I DIY'd the shell art that is hanging in the silver frames in the dining room, and I just wanted to follow up really quickly and show you how fast, cheap, and easy-peasey this little project was!


I came up with the idea out of nowhere while wandering around Hobby Lobby. They had a section of the store that had seashell-type items for sale. I actually wanted to use 2 white sand dollars, but the few left were broken. I also thought about sea stars, but I think they would be too thick for the frames I was using. So, instead I purchased a little 4-pack of these shells for $2.99.


After scooping the shells of the rack, I moved a few aisles down to the scrapbooking section of the store and found paper that looked like sand. Cost was something like $0.29 per sheet. I bought 2 sheets of paper to be safe.

At home, I gathered my supplies, including the frames I already owned and gorilla glue we had on hand. I took apart the frames and removed the cardboard stuffing that sits inside to fill the space behind the picture. The cardboard's not needed since the shells were thick and took up the space.


I then took the glass and spent all of about 10 seconds tracing the glass onto the back of the paper. Turns out I only needed one piece of paper instead of two. Better safe than sorry, right?


I laid the shells out on the paper, just to be sure I like the look and spacing, and then dabbed gorilla glue on the back of them and stuck 'em to the paper. I left it for about 1 minute to be sure it was bonded tight (gorilla glue works fast).


Finally I was able to re-assemble the frames with the new artwork. The space was a little tight between the glass and the backing of the frame, but I got it to squeeze in there without breaking the glass.



So, there you have it. DIY art for about $3.50 and 5 minutes of time (plus shopping). Not too bad, eh?


This project leans a bit toward the Summer season of decorating rather than Spring. If I wanted to do more of a spring vibe with this project, I would have glued some dried flowers or something on different background paper. But I'm lazy and didn't want to redo the project in a few weeks. So, that's that.

I hope to create some more art for other spaces in the home very soon. I need to get my creative thinking cap on!

Have you done any DIY art projects around the house recently? If so, do share!