Charlie the Crab Gets a New Home

We found "Charlie" on our trip to Hobbit Beach in Florence, Oregon back in July.  (You know how it is.  You go to the beach.  You pick up things that are so cool that you just can't live without them, like 36 rocks, 78 shells, a piece of driftwood, and a crab.  You have no idea what you're going to do with them, but you still MUST have them...so you take them home.) 

 

Charlie has been patiently living on our counter for the past month and a half.

 

I found this shadow box frame at the thrift store. (This is the same thrift store that I found a pink Joan Rivers trench coat on the day she died.  Though I really wanted to, I did not buy the coat because I already have two coats and I couldn't justify buying another one when I'm not working ....Hmmm...Yet somehow I can justify buying a shadow box frame. Well, what can I say. Charlie needed a home.) 

Back to the crafting:

 

The shadow box frame was perfect, except that it was ugly. I chose one of the pictures that I took of Hobbit Beach and printed two identical black and white copies.  I used a whole lot of cheapo gluestick to adhere those babies to a piece of cardboard and a picture mat. I set the cardboard piece aside while I tackled the mat.  Using a utility knife, I cut the picture away from the hole in the mat.  Does that make sense?  The hole is already in the mat so that it frames a picture, but since I had covered up the hole with my black and white copy of Hobbit Beach, I needed to cut the middle of the copy away so that the middle was open again.  Basically, what I did was cover up the ugliness of that reddish and gory dark green. (OK, back in the day, I was one of those people that adored burgundy and green, but not so much any more.)

 

Now pop that mat back into the frame.

 

Next, I put a little hot glue on the edge of Charlie's shell and attached him to the picture on the cardboard. Since it's a shadow box, it was all set up with the 1-inch thickness for Charlie to fit. Plus, that 1 inch gives a really cool effect to the picture. 

 

 

Charlie is feeling like he never left home as he is once again lounging on Hobbit Beach...right where we found him!

Disclaimer:   Don't worry. No animals were harmed in making this. Charlie was long gone from his shell before we ever found him at the beach.

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Carol

Lion Art

 

Create your own lion art! It's fun, super easy, and a great project for both adults and kids alike.

What you'll need:

• Blank Paper
• Yellow, Orange, and Red Watercolor Paint
• Eyedropper (Optional) or Paintbrush (Optional)
• Drinking Straw(s)
• Black Marker, Crayon, or Colored Pencil
• Air!

What you need to do:

1. Take the eyedropper, paintbrush, or straw and blot some paint on the paper in a circle. Make sure there is enough paint on the paper so that the paint will spread easily.

2. Use the straw to blow the blotted paint out towards the edges of the paper. You may have to blow pretty hard to get this to work! But if you're getting dizzy, add some more paint to the page and try blowing again.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with different colors (or even the same color if you want) until you're satisfied with your lion's mane.

4. Draw a face on your lion in the blank white space inside the mane and voila! Your lion art is complete!