Hello! It’s Roberta…again. This is me and my little 5 yr. old bundle of love. I love to cook, run, and be a Mom! My husband is the greatest Dad, and husband EVER and well life couldn’t get much better. Since life is so great, let’s preserve a little of that happiness by making memories with stepping stones!
Home made stepping stones are a great way to personalize your garden, walkway, or anywhere! These stepping stones make great gifts and are also great keepsakes if they are made using kid’s hand prints or footprints.
While you can run to a craft store and buy a kit for around $20.00, if you gather together your own supplies you will save money on your stepping stone projects! The main supplies you need to make a stepping stone is a mold, cement or concrete, and items to decorate or embellish it.The first thing you should do is to protect your work surface. Lay down some newspaper, or an old tablecloth. Weather permitting, you can make these outside!
Set your mold on your work surface. I used clear, plastic planter saucers, and they worked perfect! If you are brave enough to try a cake pan or other household item, you should try coating them with a heavy coat of cooking spray or petroleum jelly.
Now, you are ready to mix up the concrete. Follow the manufacturers directions on the bag of concrete you are using. I used a bag of Quikrete, which really had no specific directions. I discovered that a mixture of 5 parts concrete to 1 part water worked well. Your mixture will vary depending on what kind of concrete you use, but the wet mixture should have the consistency of thick brownie batter.
Once your concrete is mixed, you can start spooning it into the mold. Fill until it is full to top of mold.
Gently tap around the outside of your mold to help remove any air bubbles and also to help even out the top. Now leave your stepping stone alone to set up for 30 to 60 minutes before you add any embellishments or decorations, this is especially important if you are making hand prints or other prints in the cement.
Once the cement has been given some time to set up, you can start decorating it. If you make a mistake, you can simply remove the items, flatten out the top with the side of a craft stick or spoon, tap the sides to smooth, and start over again!
Your stepping stone must now sit for 2 – 3 days without being disturbed – do not move it. Once it is dry, you can gently pop it out of the mold. Voila!
Now, you can finish decorating it if you are planning on doing any painting. You can seal the top of your stepping stone with a clear acrylic sealer if you paint it.
I would suggest letting your stepping stone sit for another week before putting it outside. When you place the stones outside they should not be raised above ground more than about 1/2-inch so people don’t trip on them and also so the stone doesn’t break.
Stepping stones are a great way to preserve memories and they are fun to make! They also make great gifts for grandparents or other loved ones!
– Roberta
*For gift ideas for everyone on your list, check out the Gift Ideas tab and be sure to pin Gift Idea Central, to keep the whole collection in one place.
What a great idea- and it’s not even difficult!
We’ll have to do this! Thanks for the money-saving tip!
We actually made these once for my dad’s Father’s Day present. He’s totally into gardening, and such. But, they are such a cute way to preserve a memory…and they’re functional & look great!
WOW! Love that. Might have to make some of those or find a supplier and sell them at the garden centre.
gordonrigg-gardencentres.co.uk
PLEASE PLEASE TAKE NOTE
If you are going to get cement on your skin, WASH IT OFF IMMEDIATELY. Cement is highly alkaline and can burn like an acid, deeply and give burns which nearly always require grafting.
I take photographs in a local burns unit, for patient records, and in the summer we get at least one person through a week with cement burns.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cement+burns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GzXMU-KSMeOV7AbZpYGACQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=600
Glenys
Sheffield UK
What if you wear gloves? Will it burn through? Or not that bad?