Sea Tow Foundation’s DIY Craft Time: Ocean Blue Candle Holders

Memories of summer vacations may include boating or swimming in tropical blue waters on hot sunny days. Whether you’ve planned a summer vacation getaway this year or are waiting for another time, bringing in that ocean blue color to your home décor can be a fun way to remember the water.

These ocean blue candle holders are a fun and easy craft to add some nautical-inspired decorations to your home. Enjoy!

Materials to Make an Ocean Blue Candle Holder:

• Glass Bottles or Jars
• Bottle of Mod Podge
• Blue Food Coloring (or any color of your choice)
• Water
• Pourable Measuring Cup
• Spoon or mixing stick
• Paper Plate
• Aluminum Foil
• Oven-safe baking sheet with sides
• Newspaper to protect work surface
• Access to oven
• Tealight candles

Directions for How to Make an Ocean Blue Candle Holder:

1. Begin by choosing your glass jars and bottles. If they have a label on them, make sure to completely remove the label. Clean them inside and out and allow to dry.

    

2. Cover your work surface with a few layers of newspaper to prevent staining. It is best to work near a sink. Also, cover the paper plate with aluminum foil for a later step so that it is ready. And also cover the oven safe baking sheet with aluminum foil.

    

3. Pour 2/3 cup of Mod Podge into the measuring cup and add 1/3 cup of water. Then, add the food coloring to the mixture until you obtain a deep color. Stir the mixture together.

    

4. Pour a small amount of the mixture into one of the glass jars or bottles and swirl it around so that the mixture cover all of the sides of the glass. Empty out any extra mixture back into the measuring cup.  

    

5. Place the jar or bottle upside down on top of the aluminum foil covered paper plate and wait at least 3 minutes for the extra color mixture to drain out.

    
   

6. Turn the jar or bottle back to an upright position and let it set for at least 60 minutes to allow the color to return to the bottom again.

    

7. Place the jar or bottle on the aluminum foil covered baking sheet and place on the bottom rack of an oven at 170 degrees or the lowest possible temperature. Bake for 20 minutes.

    

8. When you remove the pan, be careful because everything will be hot. Also, the glass should be dry and the color should be transparent. If there is a sticky edge along the top of the glass, you can use hot pads to remove it.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Once the glass is cooled completely, you can place a tealight candle it in and put them on display.

Congratulations on making an Ocean Blue Candle Holder! Share your creations with us on Facebook and Instagram by tagging @SeaTowFoundation and using the #DIYNauticalCraftTime

If you found this article helpful or entertaining, please consider a donation to the Sea Tow Foundation today to help us continue our efforts to educate boaters and keep them safe on the water. You can donate securely online at www.boatingsafety.com/donatetoday or by clicking on the DONATE tab at the top of the page.

The Sea Tow Foundation has created monthly nautical crafts to help bring your boating memories home. These crafts are easy for anyone to make and require limited tools and materials. In fact, all of the tools and materials are available at online retailers, or at a local craft store if you don’t already have the items lying around your house. Younger children may need the help of an adult for some portions of the craft project, but they can help with many aspects of the craft projects. And many of these crafts make great homemade gifts or home décor.

Sea Tow Foundation’s DIY Craft Time: Nautical Wall Art with Toilet Paper Rolls

There is one thing that everyone has – toilet paper. While there may have been some shortages and difficulty in finding this commodity last spring at the beginning of the pandemic, these items are back in stock now. You may need to wait a few months to collect enough empty rolls to do this project, but you can bookmark it and come back when you’re ready. In this month’s craft project, we’ll be making some nautical wall art using toilet paper rolls.

Materials to Make Nautical Wall Art with Toilet Paper Rolls:

• Toilet Paper Rolls
• School Glue
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Clothespins or binder clips
• Paper to cover table
• Spray paint
• Large piece of cardboard (not shown)

Directions for How to Make the Nautical Wall Art with Toilet Paper Rolls :

1. Flatten each of the toilet paper rolls and cut them into 4 equal parts about 1 inch wide using scissors. You don’t need to be exact in your measurements, but you can use the ruler if you really want to.
   
   

   

2. Place the cut rolls onto a flat surface and create a pattern that you like. We decided to create an anchor design. This may take some time as you move the rolls around and experiment with different layouts.

    

3. Glue the rolls together wherever they are touching and hold the rolls together with a clothespin or binder clip until the glue has dried. You may need to do this in shifts if you don’t have enough clothespins or binder clips for all of the spots.

   

    

4. Allow the glue to dry for a few hours before removing the clips. Check connections to ensure that everything stayed together and, if necessary, apply more glue.

    

5. Take the final glued piece outside and lay on a large piece of cardboard. Apply the spray paint evenly across the entire surface. You will need to turn it over and spray both sides once the first side has dried and it is possible that you will need to apply a second coat.

   

    

6. Hang your nautical wall art for all to see!

Congratulations on making Nautical Wall Art with Toilet Paper Rolls! Share your creations with us on Facebook and Instagram by tagging @SeaTowFoundation and using the #DIYNauticalCraftTime

If you found this article helpful or entertaining, please consider a donation to the Sea Tow Foundation today to help us continue our efforts to educate boaters and keep them safe on the water. You can donate securely online at www.boatingsafety.com/donatetoday or by clicking on the DONATE tab at the top of the page.

The Sea Tow Foundation has created a monthly nautical craft to help bring those boating memories home. These crafts are easy for anyone to make and require limited tools and materials. In fact, all of the tools and materials are available at online retailers, or at a local craft store if you don’t already have the items lying around your house. Younger children may need the help of an adult for some portions of the craft project, but they can help with most of the personalization of the crafts. And many of these crafts make great homemade gifts or home décor.

Sea Tow Foundation's DIY Craft Time: Nautical Coasters

Everyone knows that the best boating memories are the ones made out on the water. However, being out on the water isn’t always possible because of the weather, work and school schedules, or millions of other things going on in our lives.

With that in mind, the Sea Tow Foundation has created a monthly nautical craft to help bring those boating memories home. These crafts are easy for anyone to make and require limited tools and materials. In fact, all of the tools and materials are available at online retailers, or at a local craft store if you don’t already have the items lying around your house. Younger children may need the help of an adult for some portions of the craft project, but they can help with most of the personalization of the crafts. And many of these crafts make great homemade gifts!

In this month’s craft project, enjoy your hot or cold beverages at home while remembering the fun you had on the boat!

Materials to Make Nautical Coasters:

• Felt paper
• Sisal rope
• Hot glue
• Nautical stamps
• White stamp pad or white paint
• Black construction paper
• Drinking glass
• Marker
• Scissors

Directions for How to Make Nautical Coasters:

1. Use the drinking glass to trace circles onto the felt paper with the makers and then cut the circles out. The felt will protect your tables from being scratched with the rope coasters and also serve as a guide to the size of the coasters in the next step.
   
   
   
   
2. Take the sisal rope and begin twisting it into a swirling circle using hot glue to secure each new curve.
   Safety Note: An adult should assist with the hot glue to avoid burning fingers.
   
   
   
   
3. When the circle is slightly bigger than the felt circles, cut the sisal rope and secure the lose end to the circle with the hot glue. Allow the glue to dry completely while working on the next step.
   
   
   
   
4. Stamp the nautical stamps onto the black construction paper. As the stamp pad ink is white, it will show up against the dark paper. You can also coat the stamp with white paint and stamp directly onto the sisal rope, if desired.
   
   
   
   
5. Cut the stamped images out of the construction paper and glue these to the tops of the coasters. If you mess up, you can turn the coaster over and glue it to the other side.
   
   
   
   
6. When finished, glue the felt pieces to the back of each coaster using the hot glue. This also hides any mistakes.
   
   
   

Congratulations on making your own Nautical Coasters! Share your creations with us on Facebook and Instagram by tagging @SeaTowFoundation and using the #DIYNauticalCraftTime

If you found this article helpful or entertaining, please consider a donation to the Sea Tow Foundation today to help us continue our efforts to educate boaters and keep them safe on the water. You can donate securely online at www.boatingsafety.com/donatetoday or by clicking on the DONATE tab at the top of the page.

Sea Tow Foundation’s DIY Craft Time: Nautical String Art

Even though our busiest boating season has drawn to a close, boating does not have to end entirely. Now you can bring your on-the-water lifestyle inside your home with the next Sea Tow Foundation boating craft. Bring the entire family to participate in this fun craft.

The Sea Tow Foundation has created a monthly nautical craft to help bring those boating memories home. These crafts are easy for anyone to make and require limited tools and materials. In fact, all of the tools and materials are available at online retailers, or at a local craft store if you don’t already have the items lying around your house. Younger children may need the help of an adult for some portions of the craft project, but they can help with most of the personalization of the crafts. And many of these crafts make great homemade gifts!

In this month’s craft project, find a fun way to bring your boat inside your home!

Materials to Make a Nautical Picture Frame:

• A wooden board (already sanded and stained)
• Various colors of embroidery floss
• Hammer
• Nails (not as long as the board is tall)
• Paper
• Tape
• Pencil
• Marker
• Scissors

Directions for How to Make the Nautical String Art:

1. Find or purchase a wooden board and measure it to determine the size. You will want your design to be slightly smaller than the board to allow for space around the edges.

    

2. Draw a simple boat or other design on your piece of paper and make sure it is slightly smaller than the size of the wooden board. After drawing the photo, mark dots every 4-5 millimeters to note where you’ll place the nails. If you are not a good drawer, you can also search for a drawing online that you like and print that out to use.

    

3. Tape the paper to your wooden board. You don’t need to tape all of the sides, just a few pieces will work to keep it from moving when you first start to insert the nails.

    

4. Hammer in the nails on each of the black dots. Start in one area and work your way around the board to fill in all of the spots. Make sure the nails are all the same height off of the board.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Once all of the nails are in, remove the paper and tape from the board.
   
   

    
   
   

6. Take one of the pieces of embroidery floss and tie a simple knot around one of the nails. Then create a frame by going back and forth around each of the nails. You can work in whatever pattern you would like and even change the color of the embroidery floss for different parts of the picture. At the end, tie another knot around the last nail and cut off any excess string.
   
   
   
   

Congratulations on making Nautical String Art! Share your creations with us on Facebook and Instagram by tagging @SeaTowFoundation and using the #DIYNauticalCraftTime

If you found this article helpful or entertaining, please consider a donation to the Sea Tow Foundation today to help us continue our efforts to educate boaters and keep them safe on the water. You can donate securely online at www.boatingsafety.com/donatetoday or by clicking on the DONATE tab at the top of the page.