Driftwood Cottages Tutorial

Jake and I are lucky enough to live just a few miles from the beach and when the weather allows (which isn't all that often in Seattle), we like to comb the shores for beach glass, pretty rocks, seashells and driftwood!

Using the Elmer's paint pens I received as part of the Master Crafter series, I turned our beach finds into a bright and cheery village.

These are really easy and fun to make! All you need is some wood and a package of paint pens. I've made other driftwood houses using regular acrylic paints as well to that's another option. If you don't live near a beach, check Etsy for driftwood packages available for purchase.

Before doing any painting, I start by giving the wood a bleach bath and good scrub. Once they are clean, I allow them to dry for a few days to make sure all of the moisture has escaped.

When dry, I draw an outline of the cottage features using simple shapes.

Then I color in each shape. I did one coat, let it dry and then went over the top again to make the colors extra bright!

Once everything is dry (which only takes about 5 minutes) the final step is to outline your shapes with a black marker and add any special details you want. I use a Sharpie marker.

And that's it! Now that you have a cute cottage, or maybe a whole collection of cute cottages, what are you going to do with them? Here are some ideas;

- Leave them around the beach for someone else to discover
- Glue a magnet on the back and use on the fridge
- Add them to potted plants as a home for bugs
- Connect them in a ring to make a wreath
- Line a row of them up on your mantle as a special decoration
- Tie a ribbon around one, hang it over a bottle of wine and give it as a housewarming gift
- What other ideas can you think of?