Friday, June 5, 2015

Make Rock Facts For The Garden

You don't have to decide whether garden markers are practical, or just pretty... couldn't they be both? And you don't have to go Over the garden wall for your own rock facts. These rock facts are practical, pretty, and homegrown.

Supplies:

Smooth stones, preferably with a flatter surface.
Acrylic craft paints + Acrylic gloss sealant (optional)
Small brushes

Maria and I first dabbled in rock painting for a Thanksgiving craft. We really enjoyed how easy and gratifying it was to make tiny painted tokens. We kept playing, and soon had a rock farm. Now, we have markers for the sprouts and veg popping up and spreading in the garden.

I don't think this necessarily requires a tutorial, but I can offer a few tips.

#1. You can use a pencil... it helps with spacing, and giving you a base to start from.

#2. Use slim, and small brushes, and start by making your letters, or veg small... so that when mistakes happen, you can layer paint, and correct lines... your painting will get bigger, and if you start big, you might feel like it becomes too big.

#3. Relax and have fun. This is rock art... not masterpieces! Or maybe it is a masterpiece. Just try not to overthink it.

#4. When Maria decided to join me, she went to the garden to look at chard colors, and she picked a basil leaf for inspiration. Visual references are helpful.


Our craft paints are flat, and the finished look was a bit dull, dry. It's not bad, in fact I sort of like the naturalness of it, but I decided to liven it up with the gloss sealant. Maybe it will help them last longer?

Maria didn't get where I was going with this. The end of the cucumber is sliced. Okay, like I said, "Try not to overthink it!"

This is for the Anaheim peppers we are growing, or as Geoff likes to call them, "The chile relleno garden."

Okay, did I overthink this one?

Simple, crafty, fun.

Lettuce agree to play in the garden, to grow something good.

I think it would be fun to be a multilingual gardener... zanahoria, carrote, ninjin, marchew, wortel, morot, karoti, cà rốt, carrot! {Spanish, French, Japanese, Polish, Dutch, Swedish, Swahili, Vietnamese, English}

The basil smells really good.


I'm thinking of recipes, and dinners to come!

Need some sage advice? Make something!

4 comments:

April, Jennifer, Carol said...

on the rainbow chard marker... no way is it overdone. i think it is my favorite! -jennifer

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

These were fun to make. I'm glad you appreciate my picture word play!
How about black-eyed peas? I gotta think of more... any ideas?

April, Jennifer, Carol said...

no other ideas as of yet... but i keep thinking of black-eyed peas. do you go with a picture of fergie and will.i.am? or of peas that have gotten into a fist fight? both thoughts make me laugh!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Hahaha... now you have me thinking of other _rock_ bands, too!
Uh... the Rolling Stones??