Show off your shell collection Have you ever been on a tropical vacation and picked up a whole bunch of shells on the beach? But what do you do with them when you get home? Dusting up in the closet is not the way these beautiful oceanic masterpieces should be displayed. Here is how you can show off your vacation treasures while decorating your bathroom. Decorating tool: scissors, glue gun
1. Bring out all the shells. Purchase beads, crystals, sea glass, aquarium decorative glass orbuttons that you want to use for this project. You will also need a surface which will hold all of these materials. This could be anything like a wooden plank, a decorative plate or a picture frame. I used floor tiles of different patterns, which are great because they provide a color background that shows through the shells. 2. Turn the tile so that the back of it is facing you. Cut a piece of twine 3/4 the size ofthe tile. Glue each edge 2 inches away from each end of the tile. Let the glue dry. Now you have the hook, which will allow your picture to hang on a wall.
3. Now turn the tile so that it faces you. Make the frame of the picture first by arranging the shells or beads around the tile's edges. When you like the way it looks, glue those in place. Next, pick out the bigger, prettier shells. Lay them out in the middle in a few different ways until you like what you see. This is the focal point of the picture. Glue those in place. Glue a few beads around or inside the center arrangement that you made. All you have left to do is to evenly space out left over smaller shells between the frame and the center. Once that's completed, glue some more beads in between those shells. When everything is glued to the surface of the tile and dry, you can paint over the shells with clear nail polish to match the glossy look of your tiles. Or if your bathroom walls are painted, leave the original texture of the shells to match the matte effect.  |