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I have been super anxious for this summer for months, now. It’s not that summer is one of my favorite times of the year, because it’s really not. In general, I don’t like to be hot. And I take medicine that means that I’m not really supposed to get hot, but what do you do when you live in Houston and the summer climate is straight up yucky sticky heat? And so when I do get overheated, which, is like every day, I get this crazy red face and it looks like I’m GOING TO DIE. It’s not a good look, people.
But I do love the summer, in spite of her sweaty weather, because it’s also when my nephews are out of school and come to visit me. Huzzah!
For the past few years now my nephews and I have gone on a “Texas Tour”. It came from the fact that I had moved SO FAR AWAY (literally 699 miles when traveled through Houston) and being so far away meant I rarely got to see my favorite people in the world, my nephews. So when summer came around and they were out of school I’d negotiate with my sister for as many weeks as I possibly could to take the boys and show them a good time.
The first year the boys were so stoked to go on an Auntie A led vacation but they were a little bit nervous about traveling because they hadn’t really been very far from home before. And so, during vacation negotiations that year, we decided that they were only comfortable going one state away from Oklahoma. Luckily Oklahoma and Texas are side by side and fit the bill, but, at the time, neither kid realized just HOW BIG Texas really is!
I drove to Houston, grabbed my Ma, traveled up to Oklahoma and collected the boys and then took them on a big ol’ circle tour of Texas. Like, for real. Just getting from town to town, and not including travel to the attractions and restaurants and whatnot, we drove over 2,100 miles that summer. Knowing that this kind of epic journey required a name, this trip was dubbed our very FIRST TEXAS TOUR.
We spent SO MUCH time at the beach that summer and every summer since. It’s cheap, everybody loves to go and both of those reasons are reason enough for us to go often!
I always make my way back home from the beach with an absolute TON of seashells and I found a big bag of them collected (and by collected I mean mostly purchased at gift shops!) by my nephews for me when I was packing up for the move. I knew that I needed to use them and so I’ve got a TON of seashell fun beach crafts coming your way.
And today is the very first of these fun seashell crafts. Today we’re making a Charming DIY Seashell Bracelet that will jingle and jangle and bring the beach with you wherever you might travel this summer. In all honesty, it’s one of my absolute favorite bracelets right now and, guys, it’s SO easy to make.
Now if you’re worried that seashells might break, because they can be somewhat fragile, just be sure to make a few extra “seashell beads” and tuck them away to replace any that might break. And use common sense when choosing to use it to accessorize your best beach looks. For example, it’s not a fab thing to wear if you’re going to be slammed around on roller coasters all day. But if you’re going to museum hopping or out to dinner, this is DIY shell bracelet is the PERFECT summer accessory!
Dust the beach sand off of ya and gather together those shells, it’s time to make a DIY Seashell Bracelet!
For this project you will need:
- Jewelry making tools
- Open jump rings
- Seashells
- Cordless drill and Tiny bit (I used the smallest from this set)
- Empty charm bracelet
Just to make things easier on this project, I’m suggesting you purchase an empty charm bracelet all ready to go. You can always use chain, jump rings and a clasp to make your own but buying one ready to go is going to make this project SO EASY. And, dude, I just LOVE a good and EASY summer craft!!! If you’d prefer to make your own bracelet,
Turning seashells into beads is a super easy business but it’s a little bit repetitive. Take a tiny bit (I used the smallest from this set) and load it into your cordless drill. Apply a very small amount of pressure with the bit touching the shell and gently drill through the shell. With a lot of pressure you’ll just straight up crack the shell, so take care to be gentle. You might be sure to have an abundance of shells in case you break a few. All in all, I only punched too large holes in 3 shells so it’s not like you’re looking at a ridiculous amount of waste if you’re careful.
p.s. I got myself a new drill because in the move I’ve misplaced my old one. My Black and Decker was fab but they didn’t have one just like my old model so I got one that looked fairly similar and was inexpensive and guess what? I LOVE IT. It’s super lightweight, which is good because I’m not exactly Ms.Upperbodystrength AND it charges fast because I’m also not Ms. Patience :)
Using 2 sets of jewelry pliers open up one jump ring. (p.s. you can also use 2 pairs of inexpensive needlenose pliers from your big box store if you don’t want to invest in a set of jewelry tools right now, just take care because hardware pliers have “teeth” or something that are jagged and help hold, but that can mar the finish on your rings if you get very aggressive with them.
Slide the ring into the seashell via the hole you drilled.
With the jump ring still open, slide it in through one of the chains on your bracelet. Twist the jump ring closed. Repeat.
Now as you can see, I filled my bracelet UP with seashells because I just love things that are full. If you also want yours to be very full you might need to add an extra 1 or 2 jump rings to make them stagger on your chain. Instead of closing up the jump ring through the bracelet, run it through another jump ring. Attach the second ring to the bracelet to extend that shell down a bit.
For my bracelet, the bulk of my shells have only 1 jump ring attaching it directly to the bracelet, but I also have a few attached with 2 rings and a few with 3. Because I’m super OCD, these days, I actually used this pattern: 1 ring, 1 ring, 2 rings, 3 rings… repeat :)
Remember that not all shells are going to be the same size. But as long as you kind of spread out your smaller and larger shells throughout the bracelet (rather than lumping together all of one size) you’ll find that the varying sizes add a lot to the design!
So what do you think? Beach-ready? Heck, yes!
