Seashell Fragment Wreath

Every summer we seem to acquire an overwhelming number of shells. Little clam shells and river mussels from the creeks around our house, snail shells around the garden and a whole array of shells when we visit the beach. The kids and I will both often collect little bits and fragments of shells, they might be super shiny or have an interesting pattern of shape. They all have their merits, but all those broken bits scooped into a bucket, toted home and left to sit have tendency to just kind of disappear. I wanted to do something with them that would showcase them up close, the same way you hold them in your hand close to you when you are finding them on the beach. I wanted to emphasize those colors and textures that had spurred us to collect them in the first place. Thus this small wreath was born. Its dead simple to make, but ends up looking very chic.We have it on our nature table, but it also looks fantastic hanging from a sturdy branch or hung on a wall. Kids can make them, adults can make them, you could even make a wreath to commemorate specific vacations of locations.

Materials:

• bits and pieces of shells
• cardboard
• scissors
• hot glue or white glue (hot glue is much faster, but won’t bond permanently with a material like shell. White glue will take much longer to dry, but will bond better.)

Method:

Cut out a circle of cardboard to the size you want your wreath to be. You can use a plate or bowl to draw a perfect circle on teh cardboard. Cut out the center so that you have a wreath shape. Your cardboard should be about an inch or two in width.

Arrange your shells and fragments around the wreath covering all the cardboard.

Once you are happy with your layout, glue everything in place. Allow to dry and hang!