Shell Art Made From Shims

I was out shopping at Ace Hardware one day when I ran across a piece of art that I fell in love with. However, it was out of my budget at $30 for a piece that I knew I could probably make for a lot less. It was made from beadboard and they used some other components that I could not get so I decided to do a "knock-off" of sorts.
Mine is made from shims bought at Lowe's and some Dollar Tree frames with shells I had on hand - costing me less than $10. I think it turned out even better than the one I saw at Ace.
These are the shims I used. If you are unfamiliar with shims they are a piece of thin tapered wood used in construction. I had bought them thinking they were slats and found I could not use them for the project they were intended for. But they had the right amount of rusticness that I wanted for this project and I found if I arranged them just right they would be perfect for the look I was going for.
Then I used a dry brush of Valspar's Journal Blue paint on them hitting and missing so as to give them that long time on the beach weathered look.
I added some small Dollar Tree gold frames...
that I put some burlap and seashells in....
And this is the finished piece of shell art. I love the way it turned out - even better than the original in my estimation. You can find all the details of the project by clicking on the URL below.
Cathy @Vintage, Paint and more....
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Ruth Wolery Ruth Wolery on Aug 29, 2014
    @No search results.Cathy,good job...
  • Superbee Superbee on Aug 27, 2015
    This is beautiful. I love sea shells and you've showcased yours beautifully. Congratulations for successfully sticking it to Ace Hardware (no offense, Ace!)
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