Ombre Seashell Seahorse

Have you ever seen a Seashell Seahorse? Or better yet, can you SAY Seashell Seahorse? This fun and unique piece of summer beach decor takes real Florida seashells and combines them with an ocean colored Ombre effect that would make a great nautical, coastal, or beach house conversation piece!

Ombre blue and teal background with a seahorse made out of seashells and pearls and marbles for DIY decor for a summer nautical, coastal, beach house.

Last time we went to Florida to visit my Mom and Sister, one of my Twinsies, Justice, collected a whole slew of Florida seashells! The thing with shells is that they are oh so pretty, but they always just sit there collecting dust. So for this one, I dug them out and put them to good use!

Don’t worry if you don’t live by the beach, or if you don’t have any seashells lying around like I did, you can still totally make this using the bag of shells from Dollar Tree. In fact, I mixed the real shells with the DT shells to make this Ombre Seashell Seahorse (shhhhh don’t tell!).

How cute does this Ombre Seashell Seahorse look with that Ombre Mermaid Tail!? It’s an Ombre party!

Seashell Seahorse hanging on the wall next to a mermaid tail craft and a summer theme tiered tray.

This project was part of a Summer crafty event that I did over on Facebook called the Fakers and Home Makers Summer Fun event. And it was just that…..FUN!

As I was making this, I planned to have the dark blue at the bottom of the project, but in true Manda Panda fashion I got distracted and messed it up. So now, the blue is on the top and I am loving it!

Now you can’t really tell when looking at the Seahorse, but underneath those awesome seashells is a Crafty rice paper printable from my friend Cathy’s shop, Digital Deco Designs.

I needed the shape of the Seahorse to use as an outline so that my project actually looked like a seahorse. I actually thought you’d be able to see the print through the shells more, but you can’t, and that’s ok! If you want to see another project I made where this print is the STAR of the show, then check out my Dollar Tree Ombre Beach Decor! (Yes I have a thing for Ombre!)

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Supplies Needed to Make a Seashell Seahorse

Target Dollar Spot slatted wooden frame
Digital Deco Designs print “Message in a Bottle”
Variety of Seashells
Blue marbles/half marbles
Pearls
Sequin embellishments
Blue, Teal, and light teal paints
White paint
Twine
Hot glue gun

How to Make and Ombre Seashell Seahorse Decor

I made this gorgeous Seashell Seahorse on video, so you can WATCH me make it HERE or click on the picture right below.

Amanda holding the completed project on a facebook live thumbnail.

Watch the video here

First things first, let’s get the wooden slatted frame painted with our Ombre! I chose 2 different colored blues and teals and then did some mixing to come up with 4 Ombre shades that I loved. This was the longest part of the whole project, although it wasn’t hard. You just have to take your time so that you don’t get the paint all over the edges of the frame.

I tried to take the back off of the frame, but Target had that baby on there good!

Wooden frame with a slated background with 4 parts, each one painted a different shade of blue or teal for an Ombre effect.

I found a free template on Pinterest for a Seahorse and cut that out. I used it to trace onto my ‘Message in a Bottle” rice paper printable and then glued the print to my frame. This is my outline that I used to shape the seashells into a seahorse

Close up of just the seahorse made from Florida seashells, marbles, pearls, and some sequins

Little by little, shell by shell, hot glue the shells to the rice paper. This was kind of like doing a puzzle. I laid them out and got an idea of where I liked them before I started gluing, and I used some of the unique shaped shells for things like the snout (does a seahorse have a snout lol?) and the spikes on his back.

Top portion and head of the seahorse made out of seashells, marbles, pearls, and sequins.

Fill some of the gaps in with your marbles, pearls and sequins. This gives it some color and really brings it all together. Don’t worry if you can see through to the paper underneath, that’s what its there for!

Bottom portion and tail of the seahorse made out of seashells, marbles, pearls, and sequins.

How incredible is this!? A beautiful Ombre Seashell Seahorse! This is a conversation piece for sure!

Are you going to make a Seashell Seahorse? Shoot…are you gonna make any Summer projects at all?! If you do, I’d love to see it! Pop on over to our free Craftspiration Facebook group, and join in on the fun by posting a pic of your Tiered Trays, DIY’s and crafts. I just love to see all your creative and crafty creations!

If you’ve got a million projects on your crafting ‘to-do’ list like I do, than you need my FREE Craft Project Planner so you can plan to make *all the things*! When you sign up for the craft planner, I’ll also send you lot’s of fun, easy, and budget friendly ideas for you to fill it up with!