These DIY clay vegetable garden markers are fun to make and perfect for identifying seeds that you have planted in the garden this spring.
Add some charm to your vegetable garden with DIY clay markers! This step-by-step guide will show you how to make unique markers for each of your little seedlings.
How cute are these clay vegetables?!
Too busy to make them right away? Pin this post for later! Pin this project to your favorite craft board on Pinterest and it will be there when you’re ready.
Life has been all about gardening lately. Be sure to check out my How to Plant a Salsa Garden post or How to Make a Bee Friendly Planter for more!
When planting seeds in the spring it’s super easy to forget what you’ve planted once the seeds are under the soil. So we created these darling little vegetables to act as our plant markers.
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Supplies that you will need:
- parchment paper
- baking sheet
- polymer clay in green, dark green, orange, red, yellow and black
- clay cutting and shaping tools
- toothpicks
- black sharpie fine tip marker
- white glue
- white paint
- mod podge
- paint brush
How to make clay vegetable garden markers:
- Begin by forming the clay into a soft, malleable ball.
2. For the corn: form a 2 cm yellow ball into a cylinder shape and form a ½ cm yellow ball into a thin rope.
3. Form two 1 cm green balls. Shape the balls into teardrops about 3 cm long.
4. Wrap the yellow rope around the yellow cylinder. Score with a clay tool to make kernels.
5. Press the green leaves to wrap around half of the yellow corn. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
6. For the peas: form a 1 1/2 cm dark green ball and press it into a teardrop shape about 5cm long. Form 5 – ½ cm green balls.
7. Place the balls in a line and wrap the dark green leaf behind them to form a pod.
8. Form two indents for eyes into each of the peas with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
These might be my favorite!
9. For the broccoli: form a 2 cm green ball into a cylinder shape, form ten ½-1 cm dark green balls.
10. Press the dark green balls to the top of lighter green cylinder.
11. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
12. For the pepper: form a 1 ½ cm dark green ball into a cylinder shape about 1 ½ cm long and score lines with a clay tool. Form ¼ cm dark green ball and attach it to the top as a stem. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
13. For the carrot: form a 2 cm orange ball into a cone shape and form three 1/4 cm green balls into teardrop shapes. Attach the green leaves to the top of the carrot. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
14. For the pumpkin: form a 2 cm orange ball into a circle shape and press it slightly to squash the shape to look like a pumpkin. Score lines with a clay tool. Form two ¼ cm green balls. Roll one into a green rope.
15. Loop the rope into a gentle coil and attach it to the top of the orange pumpkin. Place second green ball on top for a stem. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
More clay details…
16. For the hot pepper: form a 1 ½ cm red ball into a cylinder shape about 2 cm long. Form ¼ cm dark green ball and attach it to the top for a stem. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
17. For the tomato: form a 1 ½ cm red ball into a circle shape. Form a ¼ cm dark green ball into a tear drop shape.
18. Attach the green leaf to the top of the tomato. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus and pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
19. For the cucumber: form a 2 cm dark green ball into a long cylinder shape about 4 cm long. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
20. Form 26 tiny black balls for eyes. Tip: make more of these than needed as they can get lost or be the wrong size.
21. Place the clay vegetables on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake as directed on the package. For me this was 20 minutes at 220 degrees.
Almost done!
22. Once cooled draw a smile on each vegetable with a sharpie.
23. Glue the tiny black balls into each indent for eyes on each of the vegetables.
24. Paint a white dot onto each eye to create a pupil. Tip: using a toothpick to paint dots on the eyes makes it easy!
25. Coat each vegetable with mod podge.
26. Finally, insert a toothpick into each vegetable to use as a garden marker.
These clay vegetable garden markers are adorable!
My essentials for clay crafts:
- We love using this Sculpey Polymer Oven Bake Clay for all of our projects.
- This clay shaping tool kit is a must have for clay crafting!
- These paint brushes are ideal for most craft surfaces and a great price!
- This rolling storage cart helps to keep our craft supplies organized.
All of our darling clay vegetables! I can’t get over how cute these turned out and how fun they were to create.
Polymer clay crafting tips:
- Work with a high quality product like sculpey clay.
- Use plastic wrap in an air tight container to store clay.
- Score where you want two pieces of clay to stick together.
- Shape cutters work best on a flat, solid work surface.
- A craft oven is not needed.
- Bake at low temperatures to allow the clay to set slowly and prevent cracking.
- You can find clay of all kinds of different colors at Michaels stores.
If you love these DIY clay vegetable garden markers, please help me share them on Facebook and Pinterest so that others can enjoy them too!
DIY Clay Vegetable Garden Markers
These DIY clay vegetable garden markers are fun to make and perfect for identifying seeds that you have planted in the garden this spring.
Materials
- parchment paper
- baking sheet
- polymer clay in green, dark green, orange, red, yellow and black
- clay cutting and shaping tools
- toothpicks
- black sharpie fine tip marker
- white glue
- white paint
- mod podge
- paint brush
Instructions
1. Begin by forming the clay into a soft, malleable ball.
2. For the corn: form a 2 cm yellow ball into a cylinder shape and form a ½ cm yellow ball into a thin rope.
3. Form two 1 cm green balls. Shape the balls into teardrops about 3 cm long.
5. Press the green leaves to wrap around half of the yellow corn. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
6. For the peas: form a 1 1/2 cm dark green ball and press it into a teardrop shape about 5cm long. Form 5 – ½ cm green balls.
8. Form two indents for eyes into each of the peas with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
10. Press the dark green balls to the top of lighter green cylinder.
11. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
12. For the pepper: form a 1 ½ cm dark green ball into a cylinder shape about 1 ½ cm long and score lines with a clay tool. Form ¼ cm dark green ball and attach it to the top as a stem. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
13. For the carrot: form a 2 cm orange ball into a cone shape and form three 1/4 cm green balls into teardrop shapes. Attach the green leaves to the top of the carrot. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
14. For the pumpkin: form a 2 cm orange ball into a circle shape and press it slightly to squash the shape to look like a pumpkin. Score lines with a clay tool. Form two ¼ cm green balls. Roll one into a green rope.
15. Loop the rope into a gentle coil and attach it to the top of the orange pumpkin. Place second green ball on top for a stem. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
16. For the hot pepper: form a 1 ½ cm red ball into a cylinder shape about 2 cm long. Form ¼ cm dark green ball and attach it to the top for a stem. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick
17. For the tomato: form a 1 ½ cm red ball into a circle shape. Form a ¼ cm dark green ball into a tear drop shape.
18. Attach the green leaf to the top of the tomato. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus and pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
19. For the cucumber: form a 2 cm dark green ball into a long cylinder shape about 4 cm long. Form two indents for eyes with the stylus. Pierce a hole in the bottom with a toothpick.
20. Form 26 tiny black balls for eyes. Tip: make more of these than needed as they can get lost or be the wrong size.
21. Place the clay vegetables on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake as directed on the package. For me this was 20 minutes at 220 degrees.
22. Once cooled draw a smile on each vegetable with a sharpie.
23. Glue the tiny black balls into each indent for eyes on each of the vegetables.
24. Paint a white dot onto each eye to create a pupil. Tip: using a toothpick to paint dots on the eyes makes it easy!
25. Coat each vegetable with mod podge.
26. Finally, insert a toothpick into each vegetable to use as a garden marker.
We LOVE these Clay Vegetable Garden Markers, Heather, and will be featuring them this week on the Creative Crafts Linky Party. Creatively, Beth
Thank you so much Beth!!
These are the most ADORABLE garden markers I’ve seen this year!
Awww thank you so much!!