Gone Fishin' : Nautical Christmas Gifts

Since Christmas, I haven’t been too crafty. Hubby just had surgery for a ruptured disc in his neck. He’s recovering nicely but will be out of commission for several weeks. I’ve also been scrambling to get my house clean just in case someone stopped by after Hubby’s surgery. So far, no one has. If I had not cleaned my house, everyone and their mama would have come by. At least my house is clean.

Since I haven’t had time to craft it up lately, I wanted to share a few things I made for Christmas gifts. My mom lives on the river and adores nautical home décor and anything with fish on it. Her neighbors, who have been incredibly kind to my family this year, are the same way. I wanted to make something for them since a homemade gift says, "I'm too cheap to spend money on a real gift, but I think you're great, so I'm taking time out to make something especially for you!" 

I made these fish signs for mom's neighbors out of old barn wood and acrylic paint. I finished them off with some wire and spray sealer, and they were done! These fish paintings were some of the easiest paint projects I have done recently. Everything I had on hand except for the sealer, which was about $5 at Lowe’s. I still have plenty left over for more projects.

 I also made this seashell Christmas tree for my mom. I made a tree form out of cardboard. (Have you seen the price of foam tree forms at the craft store? Ridiculous!) Here’s a tutorial for a cardboard tree form that’s pretty close to what I did.

I then proceeded to hot glue a million tiny seashells onto the tree form. It wasn’t really a million, but it sure felt that way. This project didn’t cost a dime! I collected the shells at a beach trip in October. It was, however, very time consuming. It did turn out very cute, and my mom loved it, which is the important thing!

If only I could quit my job and move to the beach to open up my own tiki hut selling beachy crafts. If only... Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at a few of my crafty Christmas presents!

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