Holiday Wreath: Shells and Spruce

Finally, it’s holiday time! And I’ve got a super neat non-traditional wreath to share with you today while I get over my jet lag.

When I was in Maine over Thanksgiving, I made this wreath for my parents’ front door. They have the best front door for wreaths – a cheery red door on a big white porch. They always wrap the pillars in garlands and twinkly lights.

This wreath was a welcome addition this year. Shells and spruce in the shape of a narrow snowflake. So cheery!

Here’s what you’ll need:

big piece of cardboard
scissors
hot glue
100 shells (I used mussel shells)
evergreen boughs
twine

I collected 100 mussel shells from the East End Beach in Portland, rinsed them and dried them in the oven for 10 minutes on low heat. I drew a snowflake on a piece of cardboard, cut it out and hot glued the shells onto the cardboard. I just made sure to keep the shells flipped the same way and pointing out from the center of the snowflake shape.

Then I grabbed a few boughs of spruce, snipped them into 1 and 2 inch lengths, and used them to fill in all the spaces between the shells. I could have hot glued these in, but I was running out of hot glue and I had them wedged in pretty well.

Finally, I tied a piece of twine around the snowflake and hung it from the front door. That’s how easy.

My dad and brother were out surveying the snow from the porch while I was taking photos. Isn’t that snow stunning? I’m so glad I got a real wintry few days in Maine – but back to rain this morning in Dublin!