Craft Project: July 4th Seashell Photo Frames

July 4th is truly a great American holiday. The spirit of America comes alive with festivities to celebrate the season. All across the United States, you will find people having picnics and barbecues, hosting family get-togethers, and going to the beach.... You will see festivals, with game booths, karaoke competitions, children's activities, and delicious food... In the evening, the display of fireworks in every town across the nation brings amazement. This is a wonderful time to enjoy summer, and to be thankful for America's independence from Great Britain.

So, here is an idea for a summer July 4th craft, one that representssummer AND commemorates the July 4th holiday.

Picture, if you will, a photo frame with red, white and blue shells around the border. This craft project, when completed, will give a summer feel to the photo frame as well as being made up of patriotic colors!

What you will need:

Small seashells, preferably small tellin or clam shells
(you will need at least 20 tiny shells or at least 10 small shells)
Some plain photo frames, preferably with black borders
(these will need to have borders that are big enough to fit the shells on)
Quick-drying glue
Sparkly red fingernail polish
Sparkly blue fingernail polish
Opal fingernail polish, or sparkly white fingernail polish

What to do:

First, you will prepare the seashells....

1. Get your seashells together.

2. Start placing the shells around the edges of the photo frame, to get an idea of how many you will need for the project.

3. Space the shells however you would like, in a way that is visually pleasing.
If you have very tiny shells, there will be room for probably twenty shells or more, depending upon how close you put them.
If your shells are just small, you may need to use less overall.
You could make a pattern, where the four corners have small shells and the areas in between have tiny shells, for instance.

Now you will decide the design of the shells themselves, and how to paint them.

4. Look at the shells on the border of the photo frame.

Photo frame with black borders and seashells painted red, white and blue

Credit: Christi Bowers

Copyright: Christi Bowers, 2007