Woman Turns Wooden Spoons Into Adorable Garden Décor

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From adding rustic charm when on display to protecting cookware from scratches when in use, wooden spoons have much to offer. But, given that you can find them for a bargain at many dollar stores, they don't necessarily strike people as the best gifts. However, a brilliant DIY by TikTok creator hellominibianco might change the way you look at wooden spoons: With just paint, she transformed five wooden spoons into adorable garden label stakes, which she recommends gifting to moms and gardeners. (These aren't the only household items you can repurpose for the garden, by the way.)

She taped off the handle of each spoon (the part that would sit inside the soil) before coating the spoon bowls with Rust-Oleum Low Odor Premium Spray Paint — a water-based formula purporting to produce 40% less odor than traditional spray paint — in appropriately earthy hues such as mossy green and tomato red. Then, she hand-painted the names of plants along with cute illustrations onto the spoon bowls, removed the painter's tape, and sealed the decorated spoons with a coat of Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X Satin Clear. To finish, she added envelopes with seeds and tied them to their corresponding spoon.

If you're interested in trying this DIY for a thoughtful custom gift, you'll need assorted wooden spoons, paints, and a wood sealant. (Read on for more on soil safety.) You'll also need a fine detail brush to label and decorate the spoons. You can also opt to write instead of paint the plant names onto the spoons with specialized garden marker pens, but know that these usually only come in black.

A few caveats: For wood to be partially submerged in soil, the wood needs to be properly sealed. But, unless fully cured, waterproof paints and sealants — even water-based formulas — aren't safe for plant stakes as chemicals and other contents can leech into the soil. Rust-Oleum claims that their paints are nontoxic once fully cured, not just dried, so you can technically use the same products shown in the TikTok video if you allow proper curing time. Or look for other paints (we recommend zero-VOC/nontoxic products) and be sure to follow label instructions to T, letting it cure completely. There's some conflicting information on whether these paints, even fully cured, are safe for soil when it comes to food contact (meaning edible plants such as herbs). If you wish to play it safe, use the following food-safe paints and sealants: genuine milk paint, chalk paint, linseed oil paint, tung oil, or wax. As the TikToker did, you can include seeds with the spoons, or explore other gardening gift ideas to find a great pairing.