Ombrè Glittered Seashell Ornaments

Trim your tree with treasures from the sea. These shell ornaments are dusted with two shades of glitter and blended for a dazzling ombré effect.

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Add a touch of the tropics to your Christmas celebrations with these easy to make, colorful seashell ornaments. Whether you hang them from your tree this year or give them as gifts, this bright DIY project is just the thing to liven up holiday décor.

What You'll Need

Materials

  • Fine glitter in various colors by Martha Stewart Crafts ($29.99, michaels.com)
  • White craft glue
  • Seashells ($4.99, michaels.com)
  • Spoon
  • Dremel drill with 1/16-inch bit
  • Metallic cord, 1/16 inch, in gold and silver
  • Faux pearl beads ($2.97, michaels.com)
  • Small baking cups (to hold glitter)

Instructions

  1. Select two colors of glitter and mix them in varying proportions to form several gradations. We combined a deep color with gold and made three blends for a range of five shades; far left is the pure color, far right is pure gold, and the blends are in the middle. We combined a deep color with white gold (instead of pure gold) and made three blends for a range of five shades.

  2. Brush white craft glue across one end of a shell (such as an Irish deep scallop shell). Use a spoon to sprinkle the glitter, starting with a shade at one end of your color range. Gently shake off excess and continue applying glue and glitter in sections (no drying time is required) until the final color in your range is applied to the opposite end of the shell. Let dry. Then turn the shell over and glitter the reverse side with one solid color.

  3. To hang the seashell ornament, use the Dremel drill and a 1/16-inch bit to drill a hole at one end of shell. Then insert a loop of metallic cord into the hole and knot it inside the shell. For spiral shells, just hot-glue loop inside shell. Then slip a pearl bead over the loop and secure with a dot of craft glue.

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