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pottery barn-inspired shell garland (a tutorial)

Happy Monday, Lovelies!

Today, I want to share a super easy project with you all. It all started when I saw this in the recent Pottery Barn catalog…

 Notice that shell garland in the upper portion of the photo?
I really wanted one of my own, and, being a bit of a craft hoarder, I had everything I needed already on hand (not sure if that is a good thing or not). Either way, here’s my finished product:

 Step 1: Hot glue lengths of twine (mine were about 6″) to backs of seashells.
I used jute twine, but I can see this working with baker’s twine or even ribbon!

Step 2: Tie these lengths to your longer piece of twine/ribbon and cut off excess twine…the length of everyone’s garland will vary. I glued all the shells that I had, figured out how far apart I wanted them spaced, and used that to determine my end length.

Step 3: Hang and admire! Just one caveat, though…once hung, it’ll be a near miracle if all your shells are facing the same direction. It may not be a bit deal to you if they aren’t, but it didn’t look right to me. I took pieces of foam tape and used that to twist the shells back to the front.

Ta-da! After two craft “fails” this week-I really am happy with how this turned out!

Thanks for reading!

frances

Tuesday 28th of June 2011

Hi I loved the idea too when I saw it on the Pottery Barn website...I have been trying to find sandollar shells too use...I never though of just using a different shell ...excellent idea..and looks awesome Frances

Amanda

Monday 20th of June 2011

Very cool idea! I've been waiting for something to do with my box FULL of seashells, lol. I had collected them for a fish tank, but it turned out to be WAY too many...

Sara Stamp

Monday 20th of June 2011

This is really cute! If you have an abundance of similarly sized shells, you could also glue the two shells together around the string so that it looks the same from the front and the back. Thanks for the inspiration!