Crafting adventure: Shell painting

So I have been wanting to do this for a   whileeeee.

I don't know why, but as usual, I was bored at work one day, and thought it would be cool to paint designs on shells, so I came up with all these cool ideas to paint on them. So then of course by the time I actually got some shells, I lost the list, and tried to remember all of these fabulous ideas and came up with a few. Thankfully I had emailed myself links of prints I liked so I used that at my starting point.

Being from the Capes, shells are always EVERYWHERE, or so I thought, on the beach, in cvs you can buy a seashell mug and at the coveted christmas tree shop you can usually get seashell anything, lamp, nutcracker, table you name it, you can find one covered in star fish and clam shells. So of course I chose the winter to emark on a shell crafting adventure, and my precious clam shells were nowhere to be found in the christmas tree shop, not in the craft store, or cvs so I settled for scallop shells, which I love, and think are much prettier, but not as ideal for painting. So then finally thanksgiving rolled around I headed home and black friday we were blessed with some unseasonably warm weather..so of course I headed not to the shops but to the beach. It was a tad windy, but to be walking around in a blazer at the beach the day after thanksgiving was awesome. So I went on the hunt for clam shells, and luckily found tons! yay!





So I headed back to the city with  my bag full of clam shells..which might have stayed in the trunk of my car until monday..whoops..

So finally! wednesday I decided that it was shell painting time! I had the paint the shells anda few frames so I started..

I'm using acrylic painting cus after googling what to paint shells with the best concencus was acrylic.

My friends will find it funny that I'm making shell decor because usually I'm anti-anything shellaqued with shells and nautical sealife, once again i think its the years I spent surrounded by it.

So I started off simple with some letters, then I tried a lock and key, the lock was not so successful, and then the one that is still in progress is the black in white paisley-esq design that I want to paint on 4 shells and kind of frame together.

So this is what I have so far..

I kind of wish I had painted the key in the other direction, because then I could but some ribbon through the little whole and it would be a really cute ornament!

I plan on giving the L.O.V.E. one to my mom for christmas and not sure about the others

Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions!