Must be something in the air. Or maybe it’s because I don’t have any kids that are in a Texas high school and need me to make a homecoming mum. You really must watch this video to understand this state’s fascination with something so ugly, huge and ridiculous:
Yes, I have a glue gun and I recently picked up a laminator. That’s why I decided to make some fancy-ish garden signs so that I remember what plants are which when the seeds I planted on Labor Day start springing from the ground (so far bok choi, snow peas, and mesclun are winning for speed).
First, I grabbed the seed packs (yes, they are all Botanical Interests) and made color copies of their pretty fronts.
lots of seed packs
You may wonder why earthy-crunchy me didn’t just reuse the seed packs. Two reasons: I haven’t necessarily emptied each pack and there’s important growing info on all four sides so I like to keep them for reference. And I suppose the third reason would be that I’m not sure the laminator could take the thickness of multiple layers of seed packet paper.
Second, I fired up the laminator. It’s only the third time I’ve used it. It’s not a very fancy one and cost less than $20 including 100 sheets of laminating plastic. A bargain! It has two settings: cold, which is for fragile items like old photos and hot, which is for paper things like my seed pack fronts.
laminator
The first package going into the laminator
Laminated radish seed pack front right after it came out of the laminator
It was super easy so I just kept feeding the plastic covered seed pack fronts into the laminator. It really didn’t take very long. I trimmed off the excess plastic and was left with the seed pack front signs:
A few laminated seed pack fronts
Third, I wanted a post for each sign so I grabbed my glue gun and fired it up. I picked up some craft sticks, aka popsicle sticks, at Target. They’re inexpensive and I think they’ll be durable enough to stand up for the season. And if they don’t stand up to water and soil well, I bought 60 so I’ll have replacements available.
the sign posts
When the glue was flowing, I made a thin line on a stick:
the thin clear line
Then I slapped on a laminated seed pack front and pressed down for a second or two:
voila: a little seed sign!
Here’s one for the arugula washtub:
the arugula feels special now
It didn’t take very long and I had a lot of fun with this little craft. Best of all, anyone who looks at the washtub, planters, raised beds and stock tanks will know exactly what’s growing there. It was a great Thursday night activity.
lots of seed signs ready to plant
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Sow, Sew, So 
What a clever girl you are. Fabulous idea. You shoukd send it in to Martha Stewart.
LikeLike
Lol. Martha would handpaint the signs using organic homemade paint on vintage tin that she salvaged from the roof of her reclaimed chicken coop at her newest property.
LikeLike
True 🙂
LikeLike
Wow, those mums are scary! Love the girl in the video though. I have recently bought a glue gun at my daughter’s request but have resisted the laminator for years on the basis that I would probably laminate everything in sight… Love those signs, now I just need some crops! (Although I do almost have a cucumber and the tomatoes will hopefully go red before Christmas!).
LikeLike
Yes, Texas can be a scary place for many reasons. This is one! I am resisting the urge to laminate everything too. Last weekend I broke it out to get the Gs emergency info in order. Of course, some of that needed laminating. Then I had to make a sign to put in the window so first responders would know there were 4 dogs inside. That had to be laminated too. I think the seed signs were just an excuse for more lamination fun. Good luck with your crops–I have had no luck with squash or cucumbers and tomatoes are vexing me. Right now the fall plants look a bit brown on the bottom half of the plants, but they have flowers and fruit in some cases. I am so envious of the gardener who produce tons and tons of tomatoes. No matter what I do, it hasn’t happened.
LikeLike