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glittered seashell ornaments

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I made some of the easiest coastal Christmas ornaments yet.
A few weekends ago when I went on my little shore excursion, I came home with a random collection of sea-ness. I posted about the adventure here.

I even found a fully intact light bulb that I turned into an ornament here.

And used some sea urchins to make super cute snow(wo)men ornaments here.

For all of the little shells I was left with I went with a super simple upgrade. Drill a hole, glue on some glitter, add a red ribbon hanger and voila.

Cuteness!

Now, the drilling was not fool proof. There were quite a few shell (and even one drill bit) casualties in the process. I ended up using a drill bit intended for use drilling concrete. It worked to get through the shells, but sometimes the little suckers still just fell apart.

After drilling I brushed glue around the edge of the shells and just coated it with glitter.

Super simple. And just the right amount of bling to turn basic natural items into ornaments for our rustic little coastal Christmas tree.

I also took a few shells that weren’t the pretty white color and painted them red and beglittered them for a few more coastal Christmas touches.
While doing this process I also figured I could use the glue and glitter to cover up some bauble blemishes.
Have you guys all seen the beautiful ornaments that Miss Mustard Seed has made? Including this one…
I ended up with a similar result on my green baubles, and the glitter covered up all the scratches that had been there. Score!

I also glittered the top piece that holds the hook in because it was gold and my glitter was silver. I just coated it with glue and let the glitter set.

All of these items were so simple it’s hard to even call it a project. The glittered green baubles have my favorite trait of intentional imperfection and I always love when I can use natural elements in my decor.

I also played around with using sand as “glitter”. I did it here with my salt dough starfish and I also used it on some silver baubles because it actually showed up better than silver glitter. I used the same glue and glitter technique as with the green ones and then I also created some holly on the beach baubles.

Hello reflection photography! 😉

The silver baubles actually started as scratched green baubles. I tried to cover one with torn book page pieces but it didn’t work out that great. And the glue/water mixture took a lot of the green covering off of the bauble. So, I just used water to get the rest off, and actually “clean” off all the green from a few others. That would have been an even easier upgrade, to just leave them plain silver.

TIP!!!  Keep that in mind if you find scarred baubles at discount shops or yard sales. You could either use the glue glitter technique or maybe even just wash off the entire scratched finish to unveil a beautiful new bauble. How easy is that?

So, what do you think of the creations? Do you like the addition of the glitter to the shells or just prefer them au natural? Do you think it’s the right amount of bling or just tacky? What about the sand as glitter?

I am sharing this project here, here, here and here. Check ém out!

Comments

  4. I really like how these all turned out. Glad you mentioned something about drilling through the shells. I’ve had a hard time with that before myself and was wondering how your process worked.

    SO interesting that you can just wash the scratched finish off those ornaments. Very cool to know… and adding some glitter like you did is definitely a great fix for the scratched surface.

    I’m thinking of doing a roundup of ornaments from crafty challenge participants. Can I use a picture or two of yours and link to your projects?

    • Yes, of course, please use some of my pics. 🙂 I actually just posted my finale this morning and put all the project links and some pics in that one post, might be an easy place for you to find what you’d like to highlight.
      As you’ll see in the post today, you may need to give me some guidance on my final budget number. I really have no idea what to allocate for cost toward items I used that I had on hand.
      But, I absolutely loved the spirit of the challenge and as I pointed out in today’s post it really kicked me into gear this holiday season. I’m so glad you came up with the idea! Thank you, thank you!!

  6. Fantastic idea! I just love the shells with glitter. I’m a new follower too, so I don’t miss a thing. Warm wishes

  8. What a fun, clever way to keep old ornaments when they get worn! It’s sad to throw them away and have to buy new ones when the only thing wrong with them is scratches.

  10. Oh. my. goodness. You’re a girl after my own heart. I’ve taught my 3 year old to repeat “Glitter makes everything better,” and I loooove beachy decor. I’m crazy about your ornaments, and I totally love the glitter on them. The sand effect is neat too. Great post, great projects…thanks for sharing at Shine On Fridays!

Trackbacks

  3. […] 2. Beglittered Tea Lights – This would even work with the LED tea lights.  Brush on some glue or mod podge and add some bling to your centerpiece.  I had silver, but think gold or copper would be a fun glitter color for this idea.  (Full disclosure – My very creative cousin, Deanna, gave me this idea last Christmas when I declared that “glitter makes everything better“.) […]