Coastal Bookends from Dollar Tree Items: Cheap, Easy & Beautiful!

Welcome! I hope that you’re having a wonderful summer so far. Down here on the coast summer heat is in full swing. For the second year ever, I’m using coastal/beach decorations for the season. I know. It’s absolutely insane that I live less than a mile from the beach, and I’m just now using beachy decor!! Since I don’t have a full set of coastal items, I’ve been busy making some new ones that I can add throughout my home. A few years ago I found pearl colored shell shaped Easter eggs at Dollar Tree during spring (they had them this year as well). I’ve been saving them for a while because I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Lo and behold, inspiration struck, and I made some beautiful coastal bookends (or tabletop decorations). Let’s take a look at how to make them.

Supplies for Coastal Bookends:

2 shell shaped Easter eggs (That’s the only thing I can think to call them, but they’re not simply eggs.)
BBQ skewers or other dowel rods
pair of large foam dice from DT or wood blocks
acrylic or spray paint: I used metallic copper Krylon spray paint.
hot glue gun or Mod Podge: I ended up using the hot glue gun alone.
beach/coastal themed fabric or cardstock (optional): I used the fabric that I made my DIY pillowcase and DIY rope tray and coaster set.

Coastal bookends supplies: copper spray paint, 2 BBQ skewers, 2 shell shaped Easter eggs, Mod Podge, and coastal print fabric.

Coastal bookends sitting on either side of a group of books.

Add a Hole in the Dice

Before you can paint and cover the dice and skewers, you need to make a hole in the top of the dice. I made the “4” side of my dice as the top because it’s very easy to center the skewer. Press the pointy end of the skewer right in the middle of the four dots. Remove the skewer once the hole is made.

BBQ skewer stuck in the center of the foam die to form the base of the coastal bookends.

Paint the Shells & Skewers

To begin you need to decide what you want to do with the foam dice that will be the base of your bookends. You can cover the pair of dice in fabric or cardstock or simply paint them. I covered mine with my beachy fabric.

Use your spray or acrylic paint to paint the shells and BBQ skewers. To paint my skewers I stuck them in the ground outside so that I could cover them easily. It only took one coat of Krylon metallic copper spray paint to cover the shells and the skewers.

Coastal bookends sitting on top of and next to books.

Cover the Dice

While your shells are drying, cover the dice in your fabric or cardstock if you didn’t paint them. I simply covered them with the fabric the way you would with wrapping paper and used hot glue to attach it. Cut little slits at the corners to allow you to fold the fabric or paper in neatly. Trim off any excess fabric off of the bottom.

Cutting slits in the fabric at the corners of the foam dice that are the base of the bookends.

Squeezing hot glue on the foam die to cover it with fabric.

Assemble the Coastal Bookends

When your pieces are fully dry and covered, it’s time to assemble the coastal bookends. Since the holes in the dice are now covered, you need to make a hole through the fabric or cardstock. I used my Cricut weeding pick to make a tiny hole right through the fabric and into the hole in the foam. You can easily feel the hole that’s in the foam.

Now you can insert the BBQ skewer into the hole.

Placing a BBQ skewer through the fabric into the foam die forming the base of the coastal bookends.

There is a small hole at the bottom of the plastic shells that you can insert the skewer into. I did cut one skewer down to about 3.5″ and the other to about 3″. You can make them the same height or staggered. I liked the look of them being a little different because I may place one on my coffee table and the other somewhere else as well.

Place the skewer into the hole and squeeze a little hot glue where the shell and the skewer meet. If you need to, you can open the shell and add hot glue that way. I took a picture of both ways, but just inserting the skewer through the hole is the easiest.

Inserting a BBQ skewer into the hole on the bottom of the plastic shell.

Adding hot glue to the opening of the plastic shell to glue the skewer in place forming the coastal bookends.

That’s it! Set your books up and place your coastal bookends at each end!

Can you believe how easy and beautiful these are? They take less than 30 minutes of hands-on time and pack a huge beachy punch. You can use these as bookends or as tabletop decor. Here’s mine styled either way:

Coastal bookends sitting on top of books.

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