Driftwood Sailboats {Tutorial}

I am a huge fan of nature-inspired decor and crafts. Honestly, a pretty rock, shell or piece of wood softened by time and the elements is truly a work of art in my eyes. 
 






Recently, I've been seeing some projects online that involved turning a piece of driftwood into a rustic little sailboat. I fell in love with the idea, and knew I wanted to give it a try and this week I got my opportunity!
Last Sunday we were invited to the baptism of a young friend of ours at a local creek.  After the service the kids were playing in the water and I spotted lots of pretty pieces of wood on the banks of the creek and I knew these would be my sailboats. I'm pretty sure I was the only mom there walking around with sandy, wet chunks of wood hanging out of her purse, but what are ya gonna do?  : )

 This was a fun, easy and fairly quick project. Another young friend of mine, Miss Elisabeth Jones, helped me with some of the photos for this post and also some designing of the boats. Thanks, Beth! I always appreciate a helper with a good eye : )

 

We started by choosing three pieces that would be the hulls of our boats, and three driftwood branches to be our masts. 

 We matched up our drill bit size with the branch we would be using, and drilled a hole (with Silas steadying the wood) into each "hull". Don't worry, he held very tightly, and I drilled very slowly :)

 Now, I think if your boats are just going to be sitting on your mantel looking cute, regular hot glue would be fine to put these together. I know mine will likely be played with, so I used Gorilla Glue, hoping that the hold will be tougher. Here are our three boats with masts glued in place. Elisabeth chose the mast in the center that sort of looks like it has a knee. Pretty cute, huh? 
I grabbed a piece of canvas from an old ironing board cover for the sails.

 

 I layed each boat on it's side on the canvas and used a pencil to sketch the shape of each sail, then cut it out with scissors.

I decided for the three different boats I would try three different methods of putting together the sails just for a little variety. 

 

 For this first one, I cut two separate sails and punched holes in the canvas with a nail. 

I used some heavy cotton string to lace through the holes, and tie the sails to the mast. 

Here it is with the sails tied on.

For this one, I added a little flag to the top of the mast (hot glued)

For the second boat, I also cut a sail in two pieces. On this one, though, I simply added a few spots of hot glue to secure it to the mast and hull.

For the third one, I went even simpler than that. I cut a one-piece triangle of canvas for the sail. I ironed this piece with a little spray starch to help it hold it's shape, but I think it probably would have been okay without that step. I simply hot glued the fabric triangle right to the mast.

I wanted a slightly tattered look to all the sails, so I just dragged my fingernail down the edge of the fabric to slightly fray it.

That's all there is to it. Simple, nature-inspired and fun! We'll be in California in a couple of weeks, where I'll try to gather up a few pieces of "authentic" ocean driftwood : )

I plan to give one of these to our young friend who was baptized in the creek where these little pieces of wood also gained a new life. To the bottom I'll add her name and the date that she publicly chose to follow Christ in baptism in a cold creek on a hot summer day in Colorado, surrounded by her church family.

Thanks so much for hanging out with me today, friends!

I hope I've inspired you to maybe give a driftwood sailboat a try-what do you think? 

I'd love to hear what you all are working on over at your place this week!

Blessings-

Jeanette

Sharing over at:

The Scoop at The Farmhouse Porch 

Blissful Whites Wednesday at Timewashed 

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style 

What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants 

Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable 

Share Your Cup Thursday at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson 

Creative Inspirations at Embracing Change 

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage 

All Things Thursday at Posed Perfection 

Be Inspired at Common Ground 

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage 

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home 

Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo 

Party Junk at Funky Junk 

Inspiration Monday at twelveOeight

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm 

Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House 

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch 

Fluster Buster's Creative Muster 

Inspiration Gallery at Design Dining and Diapers