Seashell Heart Door Hanger: How To Craft With Shells
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Celebrate summer with a Seashell Heart Door Hanger! This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to cover a wood heart with shells, pearls, and rhinestones.
Hello Kenarry readers! We’re Jennifer and Kitty from Running With Sisters, and we’re in a beachy mood! We love going to the beach, and collecting shells is our favorite part. They are like little works of art with their swirly shapes and pearly colors.
We decided to show off their beauty by making a summery door hanger covered in shells. And what shape should it be? A heart, of course, because we love seashells! If you love them as much as we do, and want to make your own Seashell Heart Door Hanger, just follow the steps below. And remember if you have any questions or comments while you’re working on your project, you can post a comment and we’ll respond. We’d love to hear from you!
How To Make A Seashell Heart Door Hanger
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Materials
- Wooden heart, 10″
- Seashells (we used about 120)
- Starfish, 2½”
- Martha Stewart Crafts Gesso Primer
- Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-surface Acrylic Craft Paint, Mother Of Pearl
- 8 Pearls, ivory, 4mm
- 8 Pearls, ivory, 6mm
- 40 Swarovski flatback rhinestones, 3mm
- Satin ribbon, ivory, 1½” wide
- 2 D-ring hangers, small
- G-S-Hypo Cement Jewelry Glue (optional)
- E6000 all-purpose adhesive
Tools
Here’s What To Do
1. Use the screwdriver to attach the D-hangers to the back of the heart near the top. Prime the wooden heart with a coat of gesso. Let dry. Paint the wooden heart Mother Of Pearl. Let dry.
2. Sort the seashells by shape and size. Paint some shells Mother Of Pearl. (We painted any shells that weren’t white.)
3. Choose a shell you have a lot of and glue them around the edge of the heart. We used small conch shells, and we painted them all to make the look clean and tidy. To glue a shell to the heart, dab the E6000 onto the back of the shell and place on the heart. This glue sets up pretty quickly, but you will have time to wiggle the shell into the right spot. Continue gluing the shells around the edge of the heart.
4. Select your largest shells and make a few clusters on the face of the heart. Glue the shells down. Next layer smaller shells onto the edges of the clusters so the shells overlap. Don’t worry if you leave some small spaces empty. Continue until the heart is covered with shells.
5. Fill in any small spaces with the smallest shells. If you have small scallops or clamshells, turn a few upside-down and glue them into spaces between shells like little cups. These are fun to glue a little pearl into!
6. Glue pearls and rhinestones onto the shells. To glue tiny rhinestones, use tweezers to pick up a rhinestone. Add a tiny amount of G-S Hypo to the back of the rhinestone using the precision applicator. Alternatively, use a toothpick to dab a small amount of E6000 to the back of the rhinestone. Then place the rhinestone using the tweezers.
Here’s a little video we made to show you three of our favorite tips for handling and gluing little gems.
7. Cut the ribbon in half and tie an end of each piece to one of the D-hangers. Pull ribbon up and tie in a knot, then finish with a loopy bow.
If you’d like to share this idea, you can pin this photo:
Still feeling beachy? Here are some of our favorite home accents made with swirly, pearly seashells!
Beachcomber Seashell Candleholder
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What’s Next?
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How heavy is your heart/seashell wreath?
Hi Marie,
We just weighed it (Jennifer keeps it in her beach-themed guest bath!). It weights 1 pound and 6 ounces. Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Jennifer & Kitty
How thick should the heart be and where did you buy your heart? I was thinking 1/2-3/4 inches? Is that too thick?
Hi Milla,
Great question! You can find unfinished wood hearts like this at most craft stores, like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. I’ve also seen them in the craft section of other department stores like Target and Walmart – especially around Valentine’s Day. You can even find them on Amazon. You could use a 1/2-3/4 inch thick heart if you choose, but it doesn’t need to be that thick. Using a thicker heart, you will likely see the edge of the wood when it’s covered with seashells, but that might look kind of cool! Whatever your crafty heart desires. 🙂
Best wishes – and happy crafting!
Carrie
Thanks!
Hi is the mother of pearl waterbased? Won’t it go off the shell after a while, and do you have to spray something “over it?
Hi Romana, the mother of pearl paint we recommend is a multi-surface acrylic so it would be waterbased. Once it’s “cured” to the shell it shouldn’t come off easily. There’s no need to spray something over it unless you were going to put this outside.
Happy crafting!
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry