illustrated veggie garden labels

Tired of plain-jane plant labels in your veggie garden? These illustrated plant markers are a fun way to add some colour and pizazz to your garden before your plants ever start to flower and bear fruit!

here’s what you need to get started: 

• wooden plant markers ( possible alternatives: wooden spoons or paint stirring sticks)
• paint brushes
• acrylic paints (suggested: red, yellow, blue, green, black, white)
• pencil & eraser
• matte or gloss sealing spray 
• plate or paint palette
• paint markers (optional)
• paper towel or cloth
• water

step one.

Using pencil, sketch out the basic shapes of the type of plant you want to label: an elongated oval for peppers, rounded triangles for strawberries, circles for tomatoes, and so on. Write out the name of the plant in pencil as well. Use your best handwriting or get creative with different writing styles!

step two.

Pour your desired paint colours onto your plate or palette. Use the colours you have to mix up any colours you’re missing: red and blue make purple, blue and yellow make green, and so on. You can also a tiny amount of black or white to your mixtures to darken or lighten them respectively.

step three.

Time to start painting! Choose a dark or light solid colour for the plant name, depending on the background you’re painting on. To paint the fruits, veggies, and flower illustrations begin with a solid base layer of paint and gradually add in additional layers for opacity and details. A white highlight on a pepper or various shades of red on a tomato go a long way to making your illustrations really pop!

step four.

Let paint dry thoroughly – ideally overnight – before erasing any stray pencil marks. Finish by spraying with sealing spray to preserve your designs through those summer rainstorms.

#easypeasy