Happy Summer! I have a fun little summer knock off craft to kick the season off :)
Pottery Barn has a beautiful oversized sand dollar for sale right now (
click here ). I fell in love with it the instant I saw it. I also fell in love with the idea of being able to replicate it :) Its $99 at PB. I'm going to show you how to make one for $6. Not bad eh?
The main thing you need is a cut round piece of particle board or wood. I found this piece at home depot for just under $5. Its 24 inches, a little smaller than PB's 30 inches, but they didn't have a bigger size. I'm sure you can find them somewhere. I know they had a wood one, but it was $11 and I wanted to be on the cheap end :)
Next is to make it not so round with a sander. I also used a jigsaw to cut up the edges a little bit. I wanted it to be somewhat irregular and not so round. The best thing about making this is that the imperfections don't matter. I sanded a lot more in one area than the other and used the jigsaw to cut random angles on the edge then of course sanded those a ton also.
You can probably take the next few steps in a different order, but this is what I did. I drew somewhat of a crazy flower with a pencil. I changed some of the petals once or twice. I found that it was easier to smudge and erase (ish) the pencil lines with a piece of paper towel rather than trying to erase it which didn't work at all.
Next I used some white craft paint and painted the whole piece of particle board except for the around the penciled design.
Next I used a mixture of some tan and white paint and painted over the penciled design. I didn't really care how nice this looked. I was going for a more un-uniformed look. This color was a little darker than I wanted it to be....I should have added a little more white :) but it works.
I used these steps to try to make the 'flower' part look inset and the white part to look raised. You can probably just do this next step first then paint over the sand. Its up to you.
So, take some glue and some sand. I got this white sand at hobby lobby for around a dollar.
Take the glue and spread it all over the white paint with a paint brush. Do a few sections at a time.
Once you are done with one section, gently drop the sand onto the wet glue. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture, but on the left side, I just poured the sand out of the bottle directly onto the board. On the right side, I poured the sand through a sifter and sifted it onto it. I got a more even look using the sifter, just an FYI.
Wait for all of that to dry and adhere. Pick it up and hit off the excess dirt.
And there you go! A super cute, easy...and cheap...Pottery Barn knock off sand dollar.
You may notice the glue was thicker in some spots than the rest or that the sand is heavier in places...or your missed the sand all together. I think these imperfections make it more interesting and beautiful :) I also add a little line of glue in the middle of the top pedal to imitate a real sand dollar.
I think my mantel is now ready for summer! I figure....since I'm thousands of miles away from the beach, why not bring a little it to me. Right? The lantern I got from a thrift store in San Juan Island. By the way...best and most beautiful vacation yet :) If you like quaint little towns...and peace and quiet..I would totally recommend going there. The nautical knot ball I made, I'll have to show you how to make one eventually :) The bottles are from hobby lobby. And the vase is from Tai Pan.
I love this clear vase. I think I need to put a rolled up message in there :) It reminds me of something you would find washed up on a shore somewhere.
Don't you love the inspiration Pottery Barn continually gives us?? lol. I love it. I have like ten ideas just waiting to be knocked off right now :)
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