I had the pleasure of teaching how to make a Coastal Christmas Sea Shell wreath today LIVE on Christmas Decorating and DIY’s Facebook page hosted by Thistlewood Farms Karianne Wood! It was really fun and little scary to be LIVE but I got outside of my comfort zone and I DID IT!
How to make a coastal Christmas Sea Shell Wreath
Use an old wreath from the thrift store, garage sale or one you haven’t used in a long time sitting out in the garage! My mom had this old green wreath sitting in her garage so I snatched it up! Gather up sea shells that you’ve collected or purchased. Next you will need some cotton piping! This stuff is fabulous to work with and it comes in lots of different thickness and best of all it’s super cheap too! For a little sparkle I used a battery operated string of ball lights. To put it all together you will need a hot glue gun and fresh greenery if desired.
How to begin
First you will need to attach the lights to the wreath. Using a wired green wreath allows the lights to just sit inside the wreath and not fall out. You can however wire them in if you desire. Once they are where you like them you can add the Cotton piping. I used about 4 yards of the cotton piping and tied knots every so often to give it more of a nautical feel. Tuck the piping in and around the wreath holding it up every so often so you can see how it will look when it is hung up. Make adjustments as needed.
Adding in the Sea Shells
Start with your largest shells first and tuck them in all around the wreath. I like to turn the shells in different directions to show off the texture, color, the pretty white insides and the outsides of the shells. Once I like where they are I hot glue them in place. For my wreath I used 7 bigger shells and 8 of the little shells but you can add more. Again, just place them around first and then once you like where they are hot glue them in place.
Add in Fresh Greenery to your Coastal Christmas Wreath
I really like to add in just a touch of fresh greenery to my wreaths to make it look more life like and add dimension. Simply tucking in a few sprigs of greenery from my yard made a huge difference. The fact that they have red berries on the stems was a total win!! Use what you have growing in your yard.
Where to hang your Coastal Christmas Wreath
I chose to hang my wreath on a chalkboard in my dining room! I do not have great handwriting so I asked my cute daughter to write Happy Holidays underneath the wreath and it looks adorable! You could hang your wreath on your front door or over you fireplace. I think it would be really cute on a cake stand and serve my beautiful salted caramel chocolate cake in the middle of it! YUM!
I am so excited to share all the details about how I created the entire Coastal Christmas dining room this week!
Anna Price says
I am so impressed that you went live with KariAnne on her FB page. That is so brave. Live videos always make me so nervous. I love your coastal wreath and I also love how you displayed it against a chalkboard background. I used to live in Delaware, close to the beach and I so miss the coast and all it offers. Thank you for submitting your post to our Home Imagined Link Party.
Marie says
This turned out great! Love how you hung it on that big chalkboard space. Bravo for doing the live tutorial!
Karins Kottage says
Marie,
Thank you! I love how it pops off the chalkboard too! Thank you for your sweet encouragement on my LIVE video. It’s always a tad bit nerve wracking 🤪
Merry Christmas,
Karin
This is so pretty! I love the lights. I’ve featured it at the TFT link party. Thanks for sharing it!
Thank you so very much!! I really appreciate that! 😘
Hugs,
Karin
How cute, what a clever idea using the cording.
Thanks you Karen! It really turned out so cute and I love the big fluffiness of the cording! Plus its super cheap!
Thanks for stoping by and saying HI 🙂
Gorgeous dining room and wreath. I like that you up-cycled a wreath from mom.
Have a great day,
Kippi
Thank you Kippi! I love how my dining room turned out. It is always so fun to recycle isn’t it? Something so gratifying about making do with something you already own and turning it into something even better! Thanks so much for always linking up to Centerpiece Wednesday! I always love to see what you have been up to!
Hugs,
Karin
I am loving this Karin! I love to incorporate shells into my decor no matter what time of year it is because I live on the beach. And I am so impressed that you did this live today! Thanks, as always. for the inspiration!