Make Decoupage Garden Markers
Reuse Old Wood to Make Beautiful and Useful Garden Decorations
Jul 1, 2009
Easy instructions for creating garden markers with old wood pieces and your favorite images or specialty papers.
Garden markers help you to remember where plants are located. Basic garden markers just have the name of the plant written on a piece of wood or metal. Instead of boring old garden markers, dress them up with some of your favorite images or specialty papers. They'll add visual interest to a pot or bed even before the flowers bloom.
Materials:
- Wood pieces or scraps
- Images cut from magazines or books, pieces of scrapbook or specialty papers, or images printed from your computer
- Small scissors
- Sand paper
- Acrylic or exterior paint or stain
- Paintbrushes
- Decoupage medium like Mod Podge that works as a glue and sealer
- Sponge brushes
- Stamps, ink, embellishments (optional)
- Skewers, popsicle or craft sticks or floral wire.
Instructions
- Making plant markers is a great way to reuse old wood pieces. Look around for things in your home that would make good plant markers. They just need to be large enough to accommodate your image and the name of the plant. Long wooden spoons, old paint stirring sticks, popsicle sticks, broken wooden clothespins and scrap wood are some good choices. If you can’t find any wood to reuse, cut wood shapes from balsa wood, Styrofoam or cardboard or purchase pre-cut shapes.
- Look for images to put on your markers. Some ideas include vintage seed packets (or just pictures of them), magazines and catalogues, scrapbook paper, wrapping paper and old books. Cut the images out or print them on a color printer. You can also create custom labels with graphic editing software or rubber stamps and ink.
- Examine the wood pieces for rough edges. Gently sand any spots that are rough.
- Paint the wood with two layers of acrylic or exterior paint or stain, if desired. Sand before applying each layer of paint.
- While the piece dries, cut out your images. Soak the paper in water for a few moments to reduce curling and wrinkles.
- Brush decoupage medium over the wood shape with a paintbrush or sponge, then apply the cut out images.
- Smooth out bubbles, trim any excess, and wipe with a damp sponge to remove stray glue. If more bubbles appear, pop them with a pin before the medium dries.
- Once the image is dry, add embellishments with paint, glitter, stamps or distressing ink if desired.
- Write the name of the plant with a marker or use alphabet stamps to spell it out.
- The name of the plant can also be printed from your computer. Cut out the words and repeat the decoupage instructions to add the paper piece to the front of the marker.
- For the stake, use skewers, popsicle or craft sticks, or floral wire. Use wood glue or nails to attach the label to the stake.
- Apply at least two coats of acrylic sealer or polyurethane, and allow the marker to dry thoroughly. The sealer will help the images and words to resist fading and water.
Once the markers are dry, push them into the soil in your garden bed or pot. They make a durable, beautiful visual reminder of your plantings.
The copyright of the article Make Decoupage Garden Markers in Scrapbooking & Paper Crafts is owned by Beth Lumadue. Permission to republish Make Decoupage Garden Markers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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