Ship's Ahoy: Bring a Nautical Touch to Crafting With Maritime-Inspired Ideas

Bring a nautical touch to crafts, gifts, and your home this spring. Try some fun and festive ideas that will give your home a touch of the maritime and that friends will enjoy receiving as gifts, too. Check out online crafting and hobby merchants to find the perfect supplies, embellishments, and nautical flags to complete your projects.

Some fun, maritime-inspired ideas include:

Easy wall-hangings. Buy cotton maritime flags and use stretched canvas to create an easy wall-hanging. Place the flag over the face of the canvas, wrap around to the back and staple to the frame. 

Welcoming wreath. Buy a foam wreath ring and wrap in white, sailor's rope; glue or pin to secure the rope to your ring. Decorate with a few nautical embellishments, such as shells, starfish, or tiny anchor cut-outs, and hang on the door to welcome guests.

Window treatment. Paint and brighten-up old oars to hang over window sashes for a unique spin on the traditional cornice. Mount over the top sash of your window and allow opaque panels to flow down from the oar; look for old or damaged oars in thrift stores or antique shops.

Perfect painting. Stencil nautical motifs on your walls, or for a less-permanent idea, stencil on crisp, white, stretched canvas and paint in bold acrylic paint for a vibrant wall-hanging. These make great gifts for any yachtsman, too.

Marine lanterns. Invest in simple lanterns and fill with tea lights to create a cool accent in any space of the home. Consider wrapping the base with twine or setting the lantern on a rope-coaster for a nautical effect.

Framed art. Frame pennants or flags to hang on a wall, or for a gift that is always welcome at a housewarming party. Choose brightly colored flags that will coordinate with the other shades in the home.

Pillow covers. Buy larger maritime flags to use as pillow covers. Place two flags back-to-back and stitch up three sides to create a sleeve; slide your pillow or form in, and secure the fourth side with Velcro tabs, a button, or snap. Pile these high on a couch, bed, or patio for a quick and clever touch of the maritime.

Visit online vendors and crafting stores like Say It With Glass to find the perfect nautical accompaniments for your projects and to buy items like flags and rope to give crafts a true nautical touch. Try these ideas this spring for a fresh, summery touch to your spaces all year-long!

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