Summer is here, and we’re all getting our yards in to tip-top shape! How about adding some pizazz with custom garden stepping stones? Fun to make and easy too, the whole family will enjoy taking on this project together!
Materials needed:
- Quickset concrete (I got a 50lb bag at Lowes for $5)
- Water (from the tap… free, ish)
- Flower pot trays (from the $1 store, came in packs of 3 or 4, got 3 – $3)
- Oil and Basting brush… I had these, in my kitchen, might be buying a new basting brush now, (FYI they have them at the $1 store too)
- Stones, Marbles, or tiles (can find lots of places! My favorites were the flat marbles from, you guessed it, the $1 store)
- Old rag
- Buckets
Step 1:
First things first, prep work. Collect all your materials.
Brush some oil into the one of the plastic trays
Step 2:
Mix your concrete. Add some concrete powder to a old bucket, and add water slowly until you get to the right consistency.
You are going for Malt o meal, or cream of wheat – NOT oatmeal!
Step 3:
Place your stones in any pattern you want! You want them to sink down a little bit, so they close to flush with the top of the concrete, this will keep them from falling out as they are outside being weathered.
Don’t worry about the tops having concrete on them, once they are relatively dry, the concrete will wash off with that old rag you have on hand.
We made some stones for my mom and mother-in-law for mothers day, with the girls hand prints in them, also decorated with stones.
After a little trial and error, we discovered it DOES need to be a little thicker and more set up to preserve a hand print over put in stones. SO do what you can to decorate the stone, then add the hand prints.
Step 4:
A few hours later, or the next day, you can pop them out of the plastic, and wipe the tops down with a damp rag, they shine up sooo nice!
With our 50 lb. bag of quick set, we made 10 stones! 5 – 10″ and 5 – 8″
This is a very fun project, and perfect for those of us that are monetarily challenged!
I think I need like 27 to do around my yard!
so you don’t miss a single thing!