DIY Garden Markers
Good morning endeavorers! I was thinking, I don’t know if you all actually know this about me, but we are huge gardeners. An evening spent in the yard is the best kind of evening for us. So this year we have planted a lot of new vegetables and are excited to grow more food! Nothing is better than sending the other person to get lettuce from dinner out back.
With all of our plants I quickly realized… I need a marker because I don’t know what is what for each plant. At least at the start, they all look so similar. Just a bunch of little green sprouts. So I set out to find a good marker that is cheap and actually cute. A lot are kinda, eh, but if you know me you know aesthetic is so important.
CLAY GARDEN MARKERS:
ITEMS NEEDED:
Knife
Sharpie
So I actually already had clay sitting around and letter stamps, but you can buy white oven-bake clay really easily at most all craft stores and even Walmart. You also can snag letter stamps many places. If you use a 40% coupon at Hobby lobby you can get these for less than $4 bucks. And you can use them again!
STEPS
First step roll out the clay on a flat surface.
Cut out the rough shape of each one.
Stamp in the letters first
Do the final trimming of the sticks.
Place them in the oven and bake according to the packaging.
Let them cool.
Optional: color in the letters with sharpie.
Viola! G
Make sure the surface you are rolling/shaping the dough on is clean!
This might of been the most difficult. Again, I’m a very down to earth person so I wasn’t trying to have perfectly smooth markers, but you can make them as nice as you would like them. i didn’t want to invest too many tools into this project so I just used the roller that came with the kit. You also could use the end of a spoon as a roller or something else to get it smoothed out.
Cut out the shapes
I was thinking of doing a printable or something like that, but you can kind of cut out the shapes on how you envision them. I also would recommend cutting them out on a height depending on the container you are putting them in. I made mind around 4 inches. I used the little tool that came with my clay kit but you could use really any knife/edged object to cut it out. I just rounded the tops of the markers with my fingers.
Try to make sure the letters are big enough that you can fit a sharpie/paintbrush in them!
Again, just use the letter stamps to stamp into the clay. I tried to kind of wiggle it to make sure the letter was put in there well, but not so hard that you get the square indent from the shape of the stamp!
Follow the instructions on baking the clay! Make sure to get bake-able clay though!
Color in the letter’s after they are baked!
(Again, I am a very real blogger and so my projects never turn quite out like Pinterest but it means if I can do it, you can too! So I actually had some trouble with this, but I encourage you to make sure to make sure the indents are large enough to get a paintbrush in them. i also used Sharpie, and it is holding up okay but I would recommend using outdoor grade acrilyc paint. Not only might it fit better in the indents but it also might stay better!)
Voila!
As you know, I’m so big on being very authentic and simple so as you can tell these are not the perfect Pinterest garden markers! But they are practical and really cute! And fun to make with friends.
Let me know how your endeavoring goes!
PIN IT TO DO LATER:
BONUS OTHER OPTION:
POPSICLE STICKS
ITEMS NEEDED:
Popscicle stick/ Paint stirrers
Black paint (you can get some at Walmart for like $0.60)
White marker (this can be a sharpie or other materials)
I originally just was gonna do paint sticks but I realized we only had a few around our house and I didn’t have the guts to take a bunch from Menards, so I decided on Popsicle sticks. These also go better in our herb garden.
STEPS:
Choose which stick you want for which plant
Paint the sticks
Let the paint dry
Write on top
Optional: spray with clear spraypaint to lock in paint/writing
