A few weeks ago, whilst browsing the local garden centre, I spotted some rather lovely plant/herb markers. They were very simply, but very lovely - simply worn pebbles with the plant names printed on. They were incredibly gorgeous...until I saw the price. Over £10 for a set of four markers!! Ten quid for four stones!!
Piffle to that, I'll make my own I thought.
Sadly I didn't have any lovely beach pebbles to hand, because of course it's illegal to take stones from the beach. Oh ok, I didn't have any because we live miles and miles from the coast. Instead I bought a bag from another garden centre - £1.99 for a net of about 15.
I selected the lightest coloured ones, and the ones with reasonably flat surfaces.
My handwriting is not all that attractive, so I decided I'd use letter transfers. It would appear however, that these are a thing of my childhood. Nowadays it's all stickers and embellishments. I was looked at with derision by at least two spotty shop assistants in stationery stores who clearly had no idea what I was talking about. But with perseverance, I tracked some down in WHSmiths. Remember these?
I was instantly transported back to my youth. Rubbing a pencil over the front of the sheet and peeling away to leave perfect letters beneath. I happily whiled away 20 minutes or so. Once the wording was on the pebbles I gave them a couple of coats of clear varnish - both to seal and protect the transfers, and to make the stones look 'wet' and shiny.
No they're not perfect. Yes they look a bit wobbly (although I did use a ruler and they are not actually as wobbly as they look - that's the ridges on the stones), but I love them.
Click on the badge to scoot on over to see what other crafty business has been going on.
Also linking up to 'Something for the Weekend' over on Thinly Spread - loads of great fimily activities here.
Fab, I love them. Although having two boys who for some reason are OBSESSED with stones, I imagine they'd end up telling that the dandelion clump was thyme, the mint was rosemary, the sandpit was sage...
ReplyDeleteI've done more crochet - whoop! An actual usable thing this time (proud) x
Gorgeous Liz! I might just have to copy you. I have a two huge books of Letraset which I use at any opportunity :)
ReplyDeleteGreat! Will def try this, our horrible plastic markers we used last yr didn't work, they faded and OH raked them up when trying to clear the beds. This is a beautiful idea.
ReplyDeleteOh wow - I love this idea!!! You are so clever! Thank you for linking up and for the lovely comment :)
ReplyDeleteLove them , they look fab. Such a simple, yet effective idea , I'll definitely give it a go. Perhaps you shpuld start charging commissin lol x
ReplyDeleteoooh theyre lovely :)
ReplyDeleteOooh I like - love the use of the rubbing letters! Fab!
ReplyDeletewhat a good idea. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteFab!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE these, Lizzie - such a brilliant idea, that I might well copy! x
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely idea! Thanks so much for linking to SFTW!x
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