How to remove acrylic craft paint from finished wood?

You say that you applied the acrylic paint to a finished shelf; depending on how well the original finish was sealed, water MIGHT take the acrylic off. Acrylic paint is water based, after all, and when applied to a non-porous surface will come off with water. If you've ever tried painting on glass, for instance, you can easily get the paint off just by wetting it. You might try wetting a soft cloth and letting that sit on the acrylic painted areas to soften the paint; you might then be able to scrape the paint off after waiting awhile. Use a bit of rubbing alcohol on the cloth to remove any remaining paint. Wood, however, being more porous, might have grabbed that paint and let it sink into the pores of the wood. Which leads to it being much harder to remove. If that is the case, you could try sanding the acrylics down. This would mean that you will need to apply a coat of varnish to the original wood finish of the shelf when you get the acrylic paint removed. The only other ...  more