How To Make A Seashell Heart For Your Door

We grew up in Florida and our summers were filled with beach walks. Our grandparents lived near the beach and we collected shells every visit. We still love seashells! Pearly colors and swirly shapes. Who could resist?

How To Make A Seashell Heart Door Hanger

Materials
Wooden heart, 10″
Seashells (we used 120 or so)
Starfish, 2½”
Martha Stewart Crafts Gesso Primer
Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-surface Acrylic Craft Paint, Mother Of Pearl
8 Pearls, ivory, 6mm
8 Pearls, ivory, 4mm
40 Swarovski flatback rhinestones, 3mm
Satin ribbon, ivory, 1½” wide
2 D-ring hangers, small
E6000 all-purpose adhesive
G-S-Hypo Cement Jewelry Glue (optional)

Tools
Screwdriver
Tweezers
Paintbrush
Toothpicks
Scissors

Steps

1. Use the screwdriver to screw the D-hangers to the back of the heart near the top. Prime the heart with a coat of gesso. Let dry. Paint the heart with Mother Of Pearl. Let the heart dry.

2. Sort the shells by shape and size. Paint some seashells with Mother Of Pearl. (We painted any seashells that weren’t white.)

3. Choose a seashell you have a lot of and glue them around the edge of the heart. We used little conch shells. We painted them all to make the look clean and tidy. To glue a shell to the painted heart, dab the E6000 glue onto the back of the shell and place on the heart. This glue sets up pretty quickly, but you will have time to move the shell into the right spot. Continue gluing the seashells around the edge of the heart.

4. Select your largest seashells and make a few clusters on the face of the heart. Glue the seashells down. Next layer smaller seashells onto the edges of the clusters so the seashells overlap. Don’t worry if you leave some small spaces empty. Continue until the heart is covered with seashells.

5. Fill in small spaces with the smallest shells. If you have little scallops or clamshells, turn a few upside-down and glue them into spaces between shells like little cups. These are fun to glue a tiny pearl into!

Here’s a video we made to show our favorite tricks and tips for gluing tiny gems and pearls onto shells.

6. Once all the shells are glued down, glue pearls and rhinestones onto the seashells. To glue the tiny rhinestones, use tweezers to pick up a rhinestone. Add a small amount of G-S Hypo glue to the back of the rhinestone using the precision applicator. Alternatively, use a toothpick to dab a small amount of E6000 glue to the back of the rhinestone. Then place the rhinestone using the tweezers.

7. Cut the ribbon in half and tie each piece to one of the D-hangers. Pull the ribbon up and tie it in a knot, then finish with a loopy bow. Hang and enjoy!

We love crafting with our shells so we made this beachy door hanger. Do you love shells as much as we do? Leave us a comment! We would love to hear from you and find out what crafts you’ve made with shells!
Cheers,
Jennifer & Kitty

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