I love shells and have been collecting them for years. I do keep a container full so that I can look through them and dream I’m on the beach collecting them. But lots have been make into garden projects.
This first shell dangler shows that even broken shells look lovely.
I took advantage of a hole in the top of one big shell as a hanger. A few holes were carefully drilled around the bottom of the shell to add other dangly bits. The wire was twisted around the shells to hold them in place.
You need:
- shells
- copper wire
- a drill to make the holes
- patience while twisting the wire
I curled the wire around pencils or pieces of copper pipe to get the curly effect between the shells.
Here is the shell dangler covered in snow. I don’t usually leave this dangler outside for the winter, but left it up just long enough to get some photos with snow on it. I actually have a curved shower curtain rod over one of the garage windows and I hang all the danglers and garden bling on it over the nasty weather months. The bonus is that every time I go in the garage I see all the bling hanging there.
Using a piece of driftwood with holes drilled in it, some pieces of driftwood bark, and some oyster shells I made this dangler too.
I took advantage of the oyster shells with ready made holes in them. They were collected on our visit to British Columbia last year. It is hard to see in the photo but there are also oval shaped pieces of bark driftwood in between the shells.
You need:
- oyster shells with holes already in them
- bark driftwood
- fishing line
- long driftwood stick
- drill for making holes in stick
- buttons
- cord for hanging
Once the shells and bark driftwood were fastened with fishing line, each piece was threaded through a hole on the long driftwood stick and tied through a button. I found I just couldn’t get a knot big enough that wouldn’t eventually slip through the hole. But adding the button stopped this from happening. A piece of cord tied to each end of the driftwood stick makes it easy to hang in the garden.
Now I’m just waiting for the nice weather to start decorating the garden. What have you made with shells?
Some other shell crafts:
Marilyn
This is a lovely way to enjoy your shells!! They look so pretty hanging! It will be great to get back out in the garden come spring!
Jennifer A. Jilks
I made one with oyster shells, one time. It was a great project.
Linda
They all look fabulous, stuff like this costs a fortune in garden centres. 🙂 x
Margie
What a neat way to use shells collected at trips!
Margie
P.S. I’m not very crafty so my small collection of shells are sitting in glass jars.
Julie
What a lovely way to use shells and other bits and pieces collected at the beach on holiday. When they were little the kids would always come home with a bag of ‘treasure’ and it was hard to know what to do with it. There are only so many shell covered picture frames that one house needs!
Becca // Pretty Piney Quilts
What a fantastic way to showcase a shell collection and add interest to a garden! Thanks for linking up to What I Made Monday.
Teresa
What a lovely idea! I have several buckets of shells at home and I could do something similar!
Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned.