written by marieann

My boyfriend’s mom and I made these cute little stepping stones as yard art pieces for her friend. They are simple to mix up as long as you have good weather and an outdoor space to work in. It’s also a great way to use up your old plastic toys or broken plates.

Materials:
Cement that is for making stepping stones; ask your hardware guy for help choosing the right cement. It must be the really fine grain kind and not the large rocky kind. It doesn’t have to set as hard, it must be small grain. I know from experience (and a lot of tossed out cement) that the rockier kind will NOT work
Stepping stone molds — they are also at the hardware store and come in round or shapes
Broken plates and other ceramics
Toys, try barbie, plastic small McDonald’s things, shells, etc.
Cooking spray oil

Tools
Big bucket to mix the cement and water in

Directions:
1. Make the cement according to the package instructions.
2. Spray the mold with cooking oil (this makes it easier to remove later). Pour cement into the mold.
3. Be sure to smooth the top of the cement carefully as this will be the top of your stone (usually, if you were making blank ones, the part you see would be the bottom of the stepping stone, but you have to reverse it to put stuff in it).
3. Let it harden a bit (just like ten or so minutes) then push things into the cement. Let the blocks dry over night in the molds.
4. When the cement is totally hard, gently pull the cement blocks out, and put onto the ground. You have to be careful in this step so as to not break them.

Hula girl (they live in Hawai’i)

Hibiscus

Cat in the hat