Hello Squirrelly Minds readers, Colleen here from Lemon Thistle (home to DIY, parties, home decor, and babies). I’m so thrilled to be sharing a simple DIY with you today while Tan gets to enjoy new baby snuggles! I thought it would be fitting to share a DIY that would be a perfect addition to a new nursery.

This fall we welcomed our newest nephew to the family and his momma decorated his nursery with nautical touches. For his baby shower, I decided to take the nautical theme and run with it. But I didn’t want it to be tacky nautical, so I stuck with rope, driftwood, some anchors, and lots of navy (but I like navy with everything). This driftwood name sign was centre of the party decor along with my driftwood garland, but it also made an awesome gift, fit for a nautical nursery!
One thing that you’ll learn about me after reading one or two of my DIYs is… I’m not a patient crafter. I’m a little bit lazy and although I love things to look fabulous, I don’t want it to take all day so short-cuts are my friend. I had originally planned to hand paint this sign but after practicing the perfect anchor for five minutes, I threw in the towel and did a quick google search. I am so happy to tell you that vinyl sticks to driftwood like a champ and you can get a hand painted look without pulling out paint.

To make your own driftwood sign, you’ll need:

Before we get started, if this sign is going to go in a nursery or anywhere indoors and you’ve collected your driftwood on a beach… you might want to give it a good clean. I like to do this in the bathtub with a stiff scrub brush. Next, you’ll want to measure up your wood and decide on the font and text you’d like to use. The font I chose is called Fetching and it can be purchased right here at Creative Market, but there are lots of beautiful free fonts you can find at DaFont.
When you’ve decided on your design, load it into your cutting machine’s design suite or print off a template to cut your vinyl out. When your vinyl is cut out STOP before reaching for your transfer paper. I didn’t use it. And the reason is that driftwood is SO bumpy and irregular that I wanted to make sure the vinyl dipped into every crack and split just like paint would have. So I applied the letters by hand. This only works because each letter was separate, if I were using a script font I would have used transfer paper.
Now it’s time to hang it! I am a huge fan of sawtooth hangers for any crafty wall decor because you don’t have to make them totally centred or level for them to hang perfectly. Just eyeball it and gently nail it in place.
Ta-da! I’m really thrilled with the way it turned out. And it made my day when my hubby walked in and said, ‘Woah, it’s really impressive you painted that!’. I let him in on my secret though. So tell me, what would you put on your sign? Are you a fan of driftwood like me?

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