Don't throw those old paint chips out! Arrange them artfully into a mosaic of paint chips to hang in your living room and you'll be decorating on the cheap with this paint chip craft from Jennifer Neill.
Materials:
- Plywood or a pine panel (my board is 20x20 inches)
- Paint chips
- Spray adhesive
- Acrylic paint
- Mod Podge Matte-Mat
- Stain
Instructions:
- I began by painting the sides and edges of my board black. I used a pine panel, because I had it cut out to use for a frame already, but plywood or MDF would also work. (For some reason, I began this project at nightfall, so the photos are on the dark side.)
- Here is my paint chip collection, but you could easily cut squares of scrapbook paper for a similar effect. To get the randomness right, I simply shuffled the chips several times like a deck of cards:
- I laid out the cards to get an idea of spacing:
- The next step is to simply spray a line of adhesive and stick on the paint chip squares. Now repeat, again, and again:
- See? All finished! Now, let this dry well. Go over it once in awhile to smooth any edges that might begin to come unstuck.
- Once the adhesive was dry, I touched up any sticky spots on the painted edges with more paint to even out the color.
- Now, apply 3 coats of Matte Mod Podge to get a nice smooth surface.
- Let dry overnight, then rub stain over the whole piece with a rag. Make sure to really get it into all the cracks and seams so they look darker and defined.
- Layered behind the photograph on my mantle, it gave the punch of color and textural interest I was looking for. And, for $10 total, the price was right, too!
