One of my favorite cross designs I used sea shells.  I’ve collected these shells from trips over the years to beaches in North Carolina, Texas and Costa Rica, and friends have also shared their sea shells with me. As I mentioned in my post on my “Sea Shell Angel Ornaments” I have been creating with shells for the past twenty-five years making other items like wreaths, sculptures, various types of ornaments and characters.  The cross art designs are my most recent creations using sea shells. The two featured above I received first place ribbons, on at the 2015 Washington County Fair.

I arrange the shells on a bed of crushed shells, that I glued first to a painted wooden cross. I found the sea shells and beads attach and hold positions better by having this rough foundation. My next step, after allowing the crushed shells to dry, is to place the blue flat marbles, which remind me of the ocean water.  Then I pick out my center focus sea shell and begin building from there, keeping in mind a balance color and texture in the design.  I use an all-purpose craft glue (Aleene’s Tacky Glue) rather than the hot glue. You WILL end up with a hot glue string mess, in using the craft glue it may take longer to complete the cross design, but well worth the time.  Oh, and it dries clear, so you notice the shells and not the glue.  Once again, I have attached the hanger on the back of the cross before I begin designing.

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This Sea Shell Cross Design I made for my husband and me with sea shell memories of our trip to Costa Rica in 2011. Most of the shells were from our trip. I did use a few shells from North Carolina, some star fish and small sand dollars for texture and color accents.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post.  I’m sorry it has been several days from my last post, but if you read my last Sunday post on “Time to Write” I think you’ll understand. We are enjoying family here from out of state. Until my next post…. God Bless You!