Gold painted seashell candles

We live very close to the beaches of the Puget Sound.  In fact, spending time at the beach is one of my favorite things ever!  I'm still a kid at heart and love walking the shore collecting shells and sand dollars.  The big question is, what do you do with them once you get home?  Well, I have a fun craft that didn't cost a lot of money but will help you make your shells a keepsake.





The Puget Sound isn't known for having the most incredible looking shells.  They all pretty much look like this.  That is, if you can find them before the seagulls have destroyed them! I got lucky, and this was my collection from the day. You want to find shells that don't have any barnacles on them and that aren't covered in seaweed.


Start by spraying a layer of gold spray paint on the outside and the insides of your shells.


I picked up a pack of votive candles at Wal-Mart for $2.50. I used about half of them {25} for this project. Start by grabbing the wick of your candle and carefully pulling it out of the tin that it's in. Once you pull that out, you can then loosen the silver wick base on the bottom and do your best to pull out the wick.  It probably won't come out in one piece.  That's fine.  Take your pliers and unpinch the wick base and reinsert the wick making sure you secure it again with your pliers.  Use your hot glue gun to secure your wick into the bottom of your shell.  Finally, put all of your candles into a glass measuring cup and slowly heat it in the microwave.  Start out with a minute, and then put it in for 30 second increments {checking each time} until the wax is fully melted.

Once your wax is melted, carefully pour it into your shells.  This can be messy, so make sure you have some plastic on your work space for easy clean up.  Let your wax cool in your candles and then enjoy!


I like having candles next to my bath don't you?



It was a super fun project that didn't cost a lot.  I'm always curious...how do you decorate with shells or keepsake items you find on your travels?

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