Repurposed Shelf=DIY Herb Planter *with sign printable

I love the idea of using fresh herbs when cooking.

But have you ever paid for fresh herbs??

One recipe I was making called for fresh basil. This was during the spring, so I knew I would have to pay a “little” more for it being out of season….well….my husband (bless him for going to the grocery store for me) came back and reported the package cost $6! (And let’s be honest….it probably wasn’t all that “fresh.”) You can see why we use primarily dried herbs (because an extra $6 a recipe is a little too “cosmopolitan” for this rice and beans family! Ha!).

Luckily, our cooking is getting some fresh additions in the flavor department because of this bad boy: 

Stick with me, dear reader, because when we saw this wall shelf at Goodwill, I knew it had to come home with us! (There were actually TWO. I have plans for it’s sibling for another project.)

It is supposed to be a shelf that holds wine glasses on the bottom (see those little feet hiding underneath?). But, while wine glasses are an essential part to any mom’s arsenal of survival tools, I had other plans for this shelf. It had “Herb Planter” written all over it. Well, not really, but it soon would (quite literally in fact!). Read on!

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The Plan

This planter was part of a fun Facebook group challenge I participated in called “Thrift Games” (hosted by Charleston Crafted).  Doesn’t that sound fun?! The idea was to spend no more than $15. The second challenge was to find something that would fit the theme of “summertime.” 

I knew I would need to save room in my $15 budget for getting the herbs, so I only spent just over $3 for the shelf/planter.

Once we had scored that, it was onward to Home Depot. I was in luck because they were having a sale on herbs and vegetables, so I got all 4 of these for $12! Here is what we picked:

I used 2 criteria when picking: 

1. (Most important) Did I think I would use it?
2. Did I like the way it looked? (If it was going to be sitting on my counter, I wanted it to look pretty, so I went for varying textures and heights.)

I used mason jars I already had to plant the herbs in (some I had and some my mom gave me- thanks mom!) 

Hmm…Something is Missing….

Once it was all put together, I was really liking it, but it just seemed to be missing something.

And then it hit me-it needed a little sign. (Because who would know it was an herb planter without a sign stating the fact? [Let’s all give a little eye roll here. Wink.] 

I have quite a thing for signs (if you want to be swanky and sound sophisticated, you can call them “textual art”).  

Trust me when I tell you that homemade signs are slowly making their way into every room in my house. I’ve caught the sign bug!

To make this little sign I used an unfinished craft sign I had on hand (you can pick one up at the craft store for less than $1) and also some acrylic craft paint that I had-LOVE this color. (I painted the pig in this post here using it.)

The process to make the sign is SO easy. It literally took 5 minutes to complete it.  Check out the “Cheater Method” I use to make EVERY sign in my house in the tutorial here. (But be warned, you might start a compulsive habit like moi…so read with caution!) 

Once everything was done I just used some little twine to tie it around the shelf.

I like how it looks even more with the little “herb” sign (and who doesn’t love a little pop of turquoise blue?). 

All in all it came to $15.30 (Hopefully that .30 didn’t ruin it for me and I can still play along for the $15 “Thrift Games” Facebook challenge…. Please? I’ll share my herbs with you! Basil anyone?) 

(If you can’t find a shelf like this one, this also works with baskets-I saw several at Goodwill that would look great!)

Check out the neat ideas other bloggers came up with for this new “Thrift Games” challenge here.