Grapevine Seashell Wreath

Last week, I made the short trek to my local Michael's to find some inspiration for a summer wreath.  I checked my Pinterest boards, but I didn't really see anything that sparked my fancy, believe it or not!  I have a whole lotta Spring wreaths and Christmas wreaths saved, but nothing for summer.  I know -- weird, right?

I walked through the aisles and came across this really neat grapevine wreath -- very cool shape.  And then there was a bag of pretty white seashells down another aisle, and I knew that was it.  Just a simple nautical wreath was in the works.

What You'll Need

Grapevine wreath of any shape or size

Bag of seashells

Hot glue gun

(Ignore the ribbon -- I didn't end up using it)

Pick a shell that you want to be the "star" of the show -- mine was a starfish!  There are usually one or two unique shells in a bag of storebought seashells, so choose from one of those! I placed mine a little bit off-center.

Then, just start gluin'!

Here are my tips for hot-gluing the shells:

*On shells that you are going to be placing bottom-side up, hot glue only the two corners that will be touching the wreath.  If you hot glue all the way around, the glue will dry too quickly and since the wreath form itself is uneven, it won't touch all the way around.  Place the shell on the wreath before you glue it to really see where it is going to lay, and then hot glue!

*On shells that you are going to be placing top-side down, pile on a large dot of hot glue in the center, and place.  Hold down firmly with your pointer finger until the center of the shell is no longer hot to the touch.

All said and done, this project took me only about an hour and a half.  And it looks so preeety on my door.  :-)

Oh, and, when I looked up grapevine seashell wreaths on Google Shopping, the cost ranged from $30-upwards of $250!  Mine?  $16 (with many shells leftover !).  Oh yeaaaaah.  *Happy dance*

What do you think?  Have you attempted a summer wreath yet?

love,

maria

PS: Come back on Thursday to see what I did with all of my leftover shells!  ;-)

I'm linking up with 52 Mantels!