Painting or decoupaging shells is fun, but a shell in its natural state is a thing of real beauty.  I’m getting a jump on the holidays by putting together a garland of natural oyster shells. I did add a little paint – some golden highlights along the edge of the shells.  A holiday garland needs a little sparkle!

I started by collecting a bunch of oyster shells all around the same size – about 2”.  This is a very easy size oyster shell to find on my town beach so I picked a few up every time I’d walk at the beach.  I rinsed them off but they didn’t really require any additional cleaning – the ocean did that for me!

On a rainy day, I spent some time drilling a hole in each shell.  I used a masonry bit to make a hole in each shell in the center, about a ½ inch from the top.  This is super easy to do by putting each shell, one at a time, into a vice to hold it still while drilling.  It only takes a few seconds to make each hole.   This way, there are no accidents if the drill slips – it may take a little longer, but safety first!  I also wear eye protection.

I estimated I would need a couple dozen shells for this project.  I could always go back and get more if I decide I needed them.  I intend to use the garland on my fireplace mantel, and I thought a couple dozen would be a good number since I wanted to string them between natural wood beads.  My plan was to alternate the shells with the beads on some fishing line.  (By the way, fishing line is a must have for decorating – it blows string, thread, twine etc. away in the strength department.  I use it so much in my decorating – particularly at the holidays and it has been invaluable setting up store displays.  I learned this very young because my dad was a boat owner and also an avid fisherman – there was always fishing line handy in our garage!  The larger the number or ‘test’, the stronger the line.  The number indicates how many pounds of a fish the line can hold before breaking!)

I purchased some wooden beads in 3 sizes.  I decided on a pattern for my garland in advance by laying out the shells and the beads on a table and deciding what looked best.

Next, I added a little holiday bling!  Using a champagne gold metallic paint and a thin paint brush, I painted a thin gold edge around the perimeter of each shell.  Aren’t they beautiful?  One of these shells would look gorgeous mounted in a shadow box frame!

Next, with the assistance of some skewers and some paper cups, I painted some of the wooden beads with the same gold paint I used on the shells.

I decided to white wash the largest size bead.  I did this in the same way I painted the gold beads, but I used a 50/50 white paint/water mix.

After all the beads were dry, I strung them in my decided upon pattern onto the fishing line.  The shells would be tied on last.  I didn’t want more than one hole in each shell – if I strung them with a single hole they would not hang the way I wanted – so, I tied each one on with fishing line after the beads were all strung.

A very easy project, but oh so satisfying!

I think I may have a seaside theme to my holidays this year – I’ve been collecting some miniature bottles for another ‘beachy’ project!  Maybe paint a few more oyster shells with added gold script names to use as place cards for the table?  Glue a faux pearl to the inside?

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous weekend!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie