Crab Art

Today I was hoping to refinish some chairs that were listed on Craigslist for $10 a pair, but hubby didn’t think we needed anymore chairs, so sadly I didn’t get them. I still wanted to create something amazing while he was off helping some friends move furniture & I was here with the kids during nap time.

So I went shopping in the basement. And I found this cabinet door that I bought for $1 last week at the re-use center, some acrylic paint in green, red, yellow & gold left over from a Christmas project from 2 years ago, and some modge podge which I think was from that same project. hmmm…

I needed inspiration. Where else to turn but my new favorite plates? : )

First I sanded the door then I pulled some newspaper out of the recycling bin & modge-podged it to the middle. I tinted the modge podge with gold paint to make it look aged.

Then I took some of my green paint and used newspaper to apply it around the outside “frame.” When the green was almost dry I used more newspaper to remove some of the paint & give it a distressed look.

Then Abby woke up, so I had a little helper for the rest of my project. 🙂

I free-handed the shape of a crab, and later a starfish and some seaweed.

Then I ran into a little problem because I didn’t have black paint. What to do, what to do? hmm…use a Sharpie!

I outlined the shapes of the crab & starfish in the same sketchy style as my plate and also traced the edges of my “frame” in black.

Ta-da! Recycled art work. I actually think it turned out pretty well, except for the starfish. If I was going to do it over again I would have skipped him. Unfortunately it doesn’t go with my decor at all, so I have no where to put it. I think I might give it to my 14-year-old brother who was with me when I bought it & was teasing me about what I was going to do with an old cabinet door. Merry Christmas, Trey! (Maybe)