Clam Shell “Fortune Cookies”

What’s a trip to the beach without taking home some free craft supplies?  If you come here to the North Coast of Oregon, the beach is littered with shells.  I went down to my neighborhood beach this weekend and gathered a big pile of clam shells in about 15 minutes.

I went with the idea of gathering shells for a beautiful lavender clam shell wreath and needed larger shells,  but as I was picking up the smaller shells that were still attached to each other  it dawned on me they were “fortune cookie-esque”!

Since I was using a grocery bag to gather the shells, I attracted a wistful old seagull who was hoping my lunch was inside!

 

I thought clam shell “fortune cookies” would be so fun to end a beachy BBQ or any beach themed party.  Just bring out a plate of them at the end of the meal… just they do at your local Chinese restaurant.

STEP ONE:  Wash and dry the clam shells.

STEP TWO:  Use glue to make a glittery edge on the clam shell,  I made my glitter show on the inside and outside of each shell.

STEP THREE:  use glue stick to attach a “fortune” inside.

 

 

STEP FOUR: I like to cut the piece of muscle that sticks up so there isn’t a “bump” in the mandala paper.

I got this set of mandala’s from an Etsy shop.  It is a good investment to have some good clip art.  Just search for PNG mandala’s on Etsy.

 

STEP FIVE : The mandala will not lay flat on the shell surface so place some hot glue only in the center of the mandala  to attach it to the shell.

STEP SIX:  Cut close  to the edge of the shell.

STEP SEVEN:  Use hot glue to secure each edge to the shell.

STEP EIGHT:  have fun decorating each shell.  I only decorated the tops with paint pens, felt pens and of course, some Ranger Stickles glitter glue!

The clip art mandala holds the clam shell together until you run a fingernail in between the glittered edge and you can pry the two pieces apart to the see the message. I used “Sweetheart” candy quips as my inspiration for the fortunes.

I had no idea I was going to be making clam shell fortune cookies a few hours ago, it is so fun to find inspiration just about everywhere you go.  YAY!