Remove about half of the clay from the package, enough to make 4-5 houses.
Knead briefly to soften. Break off small, working amounts of clay. Form into a ball and then roll to ¼” thickness.
With straight edge tools, cut out house shapes using the pattern guide to help. Make houses as large or small as you like - these were about 2-3inches in size.
Add doors and windows to the houses and embellishments such as scallops, hatch marks, and shiplap.
Smooth edges (dampening with a bit of water will help). Let dry completely, around 24 hours.
Cut one end of a popsicle stick to make pickets for the fence. Trim the other end to about 3” long. Make 6 identically sized pieces. If needed, sand the cut ends.
Line up the cut pickets in a row to resemble a fence. Glue another popsicle stick across to hold them together and then add another popsicle stick closer to the top. Trim the popsicle sticks to the length of the fence.
Cut ends of two popsicle sticks at a diagonal. Glue these pieces to another popsicle stick to form a sign.
Paint the surface of all the clay houses in white acrylic paint. Let dry and repeat on the other side. Refer to the printable project guide for how to paint the houses in beachy, coastal colors.
Blend the paints with white to create different shades of color.
Use a sharpie or fine tip marker to add details to the painted houses, such as on the windows and for writing on the sign.
Pour sand into the fishbowl and smooth out so it’s level. Place the houses inside the bowl, layering them inside with the tallest in the back and the shortest houses in the front.
Add the fence, sign, palm tree, and some seashells. Keep rearranging the pieces until you’re happy with the placement.
Video
Expert Tips & FAQs
You can make the palm tree pictured in the post by wrapping clay around a styrofoam ball as the "leaves". Create a log out of clay to use as the base of the tree. Paint the palm tree leaves in green and paint the tree trunk in brown. Let dry and then glue the pieces together.