How to Paint a Wood Beach Sign

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The month of July wouldn’t be complete without me sharing a “Christmas in July” craft with you! I’m going to show you how to paint a wood beach sign using the popular “Seas and Greetings.”

Your painting skills don’t have to be perfect to make this beach sign painting, so follow my step-by-step tutorial and get your craft on!

HOW TO PAINT A WOOD BEACH SIGN

competed project for how to paint a wood beach sign post

HOW CAN I PERSONALIZE A BEACH SIGN?

Keep in mind, the wooden beach sign wording can be anything you want. You can make a “welcome” sign or personalize it with a family’s last name. If it’s going to a beach house that’s been named, you can paint the beach house name.

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SUPPLIES NEEDED:

  • Piece of wood (mine is 9 x 22)
  • Seashells (Walmart)
  • Beach sand (Walmart)
  • Acrylic craft paint
  • Artist brush
  • Cheap artist brush to apply Mod Podge
  • 2 skinny foam brushes
  • E-6000 glue
  • Mod Podge
  • Sand paper
  • Painter’s tape (Frog is my favorite)
  • Pencil
  • Pen
  • Ruler
supplies for wooden beach sign
shell, sand, board supplies needed to make the wood beach sign

HOW TO MAKE A “SEAS AND GREETING” WOODEN BEACH SIGN

  1. Prep the Wood for Painting
  2. Paint the Sky and Ocean
  3. Paint the Sand and Wave
  4. Paint the Quote and Paint
  5. Attach the Starfish
  6. Mod Podge the Sand
  7. Attach the Shell

STEP 1: PREP THE WOOD FOR PAINTING

I keep a large piece of wood on hand, from Home Depot, that I cut pieces from for my craft projects, but you can purchase a piece of wood from your local craft store. If you plan to cut your own piece of wood, mine measures 9 X 22.

Sand the entire piece of wood, if needed, then wipe off with a cloth.

Measure and mark with a pencil about 3 1/2 inches down from the top in 3 areas. Use a ruler to line up your reference marks and draw a pencil mark across the wood end to end.

Tear a strip from the painter’s tape and place along the pencil line. You’re painting the sky first so place the tape accordingly. Press the edge tightly to the wood to prevent paint leaking into the water section.

STEP 2: PAINT THE SKY AND OCEAN

You will be using a foam brush to paint the sky and ocean.

These sections do not need to be perfect. There’s no right or wrong. You’re basically just sweeping the paints side-to-side and blending along the way.

Paint a solid base coat for the sky using Whispering Turquoise. When painting at the tape edge, brush away from the tape, then you can do your side-to-side sweeping movement.

Use another foam brush to dry brush Caribbean randomly on the base sky coat to add depth. See example below.

painted sky on the wooden board

Remove the painter’s tape. Once the sky is completely dry, place a strip of painter’s tape at the sky edge to start painting the ocean. Press the tape tightly to the board to prevent paint leaking into the sky.

Paint the horizon using the Laguna color. Brush away from the painter’s tape edge to prevent paint leakage into the sky, then you can do your side-to-side sweeping movement.

Using Sea Green, and a mixture of Snow White and Sea Green to paint the next section of the ocean.

Randomly sweep the colors back and forth until you get a pleasing look with depth. Working while the paint is still wet, you can easily blend your colors at the horizon line (Laguna) and in this section of the ocean. See example below (green is the painter’s tape.)

Remember there’s no right or wrong way to paint this section.

painted water on wood beach sign

Paint the water rolling towards the sand using Whispering Turquoise and a mixture of Snow White and Whispering Turquoise. Use the same sweeping and blending technique you used in the previous step. See example below.

painted water close up on wood beach sign

STEP 3: PAINT THE SAND AND WAVE

I painted the sand base coat with Lichen Grey (now discontinued). Choose a color that matches the stone granules.

Paint the sea foam using your Sand color, Snow White, and a mixture of Snow White and the Sand color. See picture below.

Mix the Sand color and Whispering Turquoise to randomly paint strokes in the sea foam. See final project for an example.

wave close up on the painted wood beach sign

STEP 4: MAKE THE QUOTE AND PAINT

Find a font that you would like to use for “Seas and Greetings” and type it into your favorite program, such as, Word, Canva, or Illustrator.

I used Mascot MVB Adobe font in a 160 size.

If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can use the “old school method,” like I did, to place and mark your words onto your project.

OLD SCHOOL INSTRUCTIONS:

  • print and cut your words out
  • use a pencil to rub graphite and cover the back of each word
  • place the word on the sign, pencil side down
  • tape the word down
  • use an ink pen to trace the outline of each letter
  • your words are now transferred to your sign
old school method for transferring words to sign

Use the good artist brush to paint inside your letters. You will need to paint 2 coats.

OOPS! My spacing between the words is not perfect. They should be a little closer together, so keep that in mind when placing your words.

STEP 5: ATTACH THE STARFISH

Arrange 5 shells into a starfish shape. Use E-6000 glue to attach the shells. After the glue has dried completely, glue on your center shell.

OOPS! My spacing ended up a little off for my starfish placement since I completed this step way too soon in the process. You’ll want to space the starfish evenly between the last letter and wood edge.

starfish made from shells

STEP 6: MOD PODGE THE SAND

Use the foam brush to spread mod podge in the areas where you want to have sand, and sprinkle a good amount of stone granules (sand) on top of the mod podge, then press with your fingers.

Once your areas are covered in granules and pressed in, you’ll need to shake and tap the wood against the top of a table to release loose granules. Messy!

Using a cheap paint brush, pounce and saturate the sand granules with mod podge. The mod podge will dry clear. See example below.

WARNING: Mod Podging the sand on the sign is a very messy step.

mod podge and sand on wood beach sign

STEP 7: ATTACH THE SHELLS

Use E-6000 glue to attach your selected shells.

Yay, you’re all done! Now you know how to paint a wood beach sign. Have fun painting!

graphic for pinning
graphic for beach decor diy painted wood sign

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE TO SEE THESE PROJECTS:

DIY SHELL MIRROR FOR COASTAL DECOR

DIY SEASHELL BASKET CRAFT

DIY PAINTED PINEAPPLE CRAFT

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK TO KEEP UP WITH MY BLOG POSTS, PLUS MORE!

I’ve joined up with 6 talented bloggers this month for a challenge to create a crafty project for a “Christmas in July” theme. After you see how I painted my beach sign, you’ll find their creations, so make sure you view their projects as well!

SEE MORE “CHRISTMAS IN JULY” CRAFTY PROJECTS!

graphic for christmas in july blog hop

Purple Hues & Me | My Pinterventures | Southern Sunflowers | My Slices of Life | Domestic Deadline | Sew Crafty Crochet | Cookies, Coffee & Crafts

Sharing my painted wooden beach sign at these FABULOUS BLOGS!

author of the southern sunflowers blog
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allyson Lauder

Allyson is the founder and content creator of Southern Sunflowers. She shares tutorials for DIY crafts and decor on a budget.

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55 thoughts on “How to Paint a Wood Beach Sign”

  14. Marie-Interior Frugalista

    Gosh I love your sign, Allyson! Thanks for the awesome tutorial on how to make it. Adding the sand texture and seashells makes it even more special. You’ve inspired me to make some art with sand and seashells brought back from Mexico. A great keepsake from that vacation, even more so because it was my son’s destination wedding. Pinned

    Reply
    1. Allyson

      Thank you, Marie! My shells were store bought since I haven’t collected shells in ages. I have tons leftover, so I see more shell projects in my future. The art you make from your shells would make a perfect milestone anniversary gift to your son and wife. Thank you for the pin ~ I need all the pins I can get lol!

      Reply
  15. Marilyn

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    Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too! Please stay safe and healthy. Come party with us at Over The Moon! Catapult your content Over The Moon! @marilyn_lesniak @EclecticRedBarn
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    Reply
    1. Allyson

      I’ll take your compliment proudly since it’s coming from a real artist! I surprised myself coming up with the shell starfish. Thanks for visiting!

      Reply
    1. Allyson

      I’m glad you like my beach sign! I figured since I won’t be going to the beach anytime soon, I might as well paint it. Thanks for visiting!

      Reply
    1. Allyson

      I had fun painting the beach scene and it was quicker to make than I thought it would be. Thank you for pinning ~ I need all the pins I can get. lol 🙂

      Reply
  25. Gail @Purple Hues and Me

    Funny, but I had never heard of or noticed the saying, “seas and greetings” until your awesome holiday sign, Allyson! How adorable and to use actual sand and seashells makes it very creative and interesting with a 3D effect!

    Reply
    1. Allyson

      A beach gift store had that saying on some of their products and I thought it was so clever. I surprised myself with having the 3-D effect work out! I love me some E-6000 lol!

      Reply
    1. Allyson

      Thank you, Jenny! I saw that saying years ago at a beach gift store and thought it’d work out perfectly for the ‘Christmas in July’ theme.

      Reply
  27. Chas Greener

    I have a very similar painting I did at a Paint with Plaid night. I love that you can get sand and shells to stay on the art piece and add texture. Thank you so much for sharing and wonderful hopping with you 🙂

    Reply
    1. Allyson

      Yes, the beach scenes are abundant on Pinterest, but hopefully I gave it a twist with making mine 3-dimensional. The E-6000 glue is a wonder glue! Fun hopping with you, too! 🙂

      Reply

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