{free printables & tutorial} Garden Herb Sticks

I've had these wooden craft sticks laying around for quite sometime waiting for them to inspire me. This past week I finally decided to put them to use by making garden herb planter sticks.

{Please ignore my stubby thumbs. I was once told by a little girl at a camp I was working at that they were a Jewish trait called, "Oshinazi Thumbs." Not sure if I should believe her. Whether they're Jewish or not, they're stubby. I've grown to like them.}

Enough about my thumbs. Onto the sticks! Sometimes I get a little ambitious and pot too many herbs to keep track of. I find it difficult to tell the difference between thyme and oregano, so I created these HERB PRINTABLES to give me a hand. It also adds some color to your potted herbs. Living in New Mexico, the landscape here is mostly tints of browns so anything that adds a punch of color I'm all about. PLUS, if you have unique herbs planted in your garden those are sometimes hard to pick out.

First download, print and cut out the FREE printables I provided HERE.

Then, I took a corner rounder because the popsicle sticks I found at my local craft store had rounded square tops to them.

Next, Mod Podged the square tops of the popsicle sticks, adhere the herb label onto the wooden sticks and let them dry for a couple of hours.

Because no two popsicle sticks are ever alike the paper cutouts overhung so I took a nail file and just filed away until the labels fit perfectly.

Now, take an antiquing ink pad and rubbed the sticks back and forth on the edges. I then used a paper towel to give the front face of the label a bit of antique look and the rest of the stick so it matched with the top.

After you're done antiquing, Mod Podge the entire stick making sure to get the sides and corners. This Mod Podge layer helps protect the paper and stick from the outside elements.

Now let them dry before putting them into your plants.

I loved how they turned out and can't wait to make labels for my vegetables plants.

Download the HERB LABEL PRINTABLE HERE!