Ornaments Made of Seashells and Salt Dough

Whenever I am at the beach, I can't help but collect some seashells. They serve as souvenirs of my day. When I touch their smooth surfaces or symmetrical ridges, I feel the energy of the sand, sunshine, water, and wind even if I'm at home, faraway from the shore.   

Here are some of the seashells I've collected:

I remember my Grandma had a similar collection but she had bigger ones like conch and nautilus shells. She kept them inside decorative glass jars on the coffee table. As kids, my cousins and I weren't allowed to touch them, "Look only," was the stern warning. I never asked my Grandma about that collection -- where they came from and what stories were behind each shell. But I always remember her whenever I see seashells.  

I don't particularly display my seashells but I often use them for crafting. I've used them to make jewelry like earrings, pendants for necklaces, and a bracelet...TADA!

I've also incorporated seashells in my embroidery...TADA! 

Today, let's make these seashell ornaments that we can add to our Christmas Tree.

Start off by making salt dough disks. You can find the detailed tutorial here.  

I painted the salt dough disks with acrylic paint and a small paintbrush. I chose this shade of pool blue. I used about five coats of paint (with some drying time in between each coat) and let them fully dry.  

This is not only a Christmas Tree ornament but a memento to remind us of which beaches we've visited. At the back of each salt dough disk, I wrote the names of the beaches from where the shells came from using a permanent marker. 

Then I added hanging strings (I used skinny yarn). 

These are the shells I'm using (I made sure to make a salt dough disk big enough to fit each one).

Attach the shells to the corresponding salt dough disk using a glue gun.

And that is how I turned seashells and salt dough from blah to TADA!

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