When I was in Tonga, one of my favorite things to do was collect shells on the beaches. After a while, I had accumulated quite a few, but wasn’t really sure what to actually do with them. I came upon this ideas of making little flower magnets. It’s fun and was a cute, inexpensive, and lightweight gift for friends when I left. I think they would also make great drawer pulls or just decorations for the house.
For those of you who are interested, here’s how to make them:
Materials Needed:
1. Cardboard
2. Scissors
3. Tacky Glue (or another strong glue, but I don’t prefer hot glue)
4. Small shells (I collected mine but you can also buy them online on sites like this one and this one)
5. Magnets (optional)
STEP 1:
Find a circular object a little bit smaller than you want your flower to be. I used the lid of a salt container. Trace around it on the cardboard to make a circle and then cut out.
STEP 2:
Get your shells and decide on which ones you want to use for your design.
STEP 3:
Position your outer ring of shells on the cardboard before gluing anything. I found it is best to have them touching each other and halfway hanging off the edge so the cardboard is properly covered up.
STEP 4:
Move your shells and apply a thick ring of glue.
STEP 5:
Stick on your shells and adjust them until they are positioned properly (the advantage of using Tacky rather than hot glue). Let this dry for a few hours.
STEP 6:
Select your next ring of shells. I chose contrasting ones for this flower, but it depends on the look you want.
STEP 7:
Again, stick them on, adjust, and let dry.
STEP 8:
Stick on the center shell and you’re done. After it’s dry you can glue a magnet on the back, if you want to.
Hope you enjoyed this post! If anyone uses this for their own shell flowers please leave a link in the comments! I’d love to see what you come up with!
