Yes, another driftwood post. I can’t help myself!

Every time I go to our family’s lake house on Seneca Lake, my dad will drive the boat to the other side where he and the hubby do a little fishing while I hop into the freezing water and make my way to the shore. With a large blue Ikea bag in hand, I scour for awesome driftwood pieces.

I love using it for DIY projects! What’s not to like? It’s free, beautiful and extremely versatile.

We were up there last month and I returned with another large bag full of different sizes. While I was looking for a piece of scrap wood for a sign to put above our pass thru in the living room, I couldn’t find one that was long enough. Then, I nearly tripped over the bag of driftwood that was conveniently sitting in the middle of my office. I took a quick peek and found a piece that was long enough, flat and had a great surface.

driftwoodsignbefore

I knew I wanted the phrase “Live Simply” and I wanted it to be simple to go along with the the meaning.

I figured it would look nice if I just wrote on it freehand using a Sharpie paint pen. I wrote it out and it was okay. I’m not a real fan of my handwriting at times, but this seemed to work.

driftwoodsigneek

I attached a picture hanging bar to the back and hung it up. It looked nice!

Until the next day.

I was sitting on our couch just staring at it and I started hating it more and more. It looked really amateur, like something my 21 month old would write. Down it came and out came the sandpaper.

I sanded off the writing and started a different process.

Using PicMonkey, I found a font that I wanted, mirrored the image and printed it out.

driftwoodsignmirror

I cut the words out and taped it to the wood. I then took a pen and traced out the letters making sure I was applying enough pressure. Since driftwood is really soft it’s really easy to put an impression in the wood.

driftwoodsigntransfer

I removed the paper and traced the indent with my Sharpie paint pen again. Perfect! It was exactly what I was looking for. I sanded it down a little more just to dull the brightness of the white paint.

driftwoodcloseup

I love it. What do you think?

driftwoodafter

If you would like to purchase one of my handmade driftwood signs please visit my Etsy shop or contact me for a custom piece.

10 Comments

  1. I love it
    The simplicity is great

  2. I love it too. I would buy one 🙂

    1. Thanks Debbie! I’m actually going to add a few to my Etsy store this week!

  3. Alicia Becerra Mendoza says:

    does the lettering come in black? also, where does one buy it –

  4. Awesome post, now I need to letter mine as well. One question though, how did you hang this up?

    1. I just used a regular picture hanging hardware attached to the back.

  5. mariann m seyfferth says:

    Hello…could you please explain the mirror imaging? In the picture showing you tracing the words, it looks like the letters are reading normally.

    Thanks so much…great work.

    Mariann

    1. Hmm…this post is 3 years old, I don’t know why I mirrored the text. If you are applying pressure to the wood for your stencil, then you can just print it out normal. I usually use the mirroring technique on a different type of sign. You can check out all the simple ways to make a sign here: https://justcallmehomegirl.com/7-ways-to-make-sign/

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