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Garden Crafts - Mosaic Stepping Stones

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How to Make Mosaic Stepping Stones for Your Garden

Concrete step stones embedded with mosaic patterns make a beautiful addition to your garden pathway, walk or patio. You can make a single mosaic pattern step stone as an accent piece or you can make many to form a pathway through your garden.

I made this decorative garden step stone with leftover concrete from a sand cast bird bath project. I decorated my little stepping stone with rocks I collected that were shaped like my favorite states, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Mosaic stepping stone kits complete with mold, concrete mix and decorative glass or marbles are available in craft stores, garden shops or from online stores and specialty boutiques. Mosaic stepping stone kits are easy to use, but you might want to design your own stepping stones to use shells or pieces of tile and pottery you have already.

If you want to design your own mosaic step stones and save some money, you can buy a bag of concrete mix, buy or make concrete step stone molds and collect shells, pottery shards, interesting stones, and stained glass mosaic pieces to decorate the surface of your custom garden stepping stones.

Contents at a Glance

Materials to Make a Garden Stepping Ston...
Recycled Pottery Mosaics
Setting up a Step Stone Casting Mold
Precut Stained Glass Tiles
Preparing the Mosaic Step Stone Pattern
Easy Mosaic Stepping Stones

Garden craft stepping stones concrete mix

1 pkg. ready-to-mix vinyl concrete patch mix

Plastic flower pot drain saucer or storage container base, wooden strips nailed together, disposable aluminum pans, or other container in the size you want for your stone. The depth should be 1-3/4 to 2-inches.

Clean Water

Mixing Container

Garden Trowel or Hand Shovel

Plastic Trash Bags or Drop Cloths, or an old plastic shower curtain

Decorative stones, shells, pottery shards, beach glass or marbles

Safety Equipment
Sturdy Rubber Gloves
Shatterproof Safety Goggles
Dust Mask or Respirator

Squid Angel Blessings

Thank You!

Angel Blessings for Garden Stepping Stones Craft

Crafts- and garden-loving Squidoo Angels who've blessed this lens:

Glorkousconfusion
Mamaboo

Recycled Pottery Mosaics

Adventures In Mosaics: Creating Pique Assiette Mosaics from Broken China, Glass, Pottery and Found Treasures

by: Meera Lester, Marsha Janda-Rosenberg

Amazon Price: $18.50 (as of 02/15/2012)

Recycle old bits of pottery, dishes and other fired pieces into decorative mosaic chips.

Setting up a Step Stone Casting Mold

Cover work area with plastic sheeting to protect surface.

Your concrete will need to dry in place in its mold for about 2 days, so choose a location where you can leave your concrete step stone protected from the weather and undisturbed for 2-3 days.

If using a purchased concrete casting mold, prepare it for casting according to manufacturer's instructions.

To make a wooden frame mold, cut 2" strips of thin wood to lengths required to make a shape approximately 12-inches to 16-inches square and 2 inches deep.

Nail the wood strips together, then place the open mold frame on strong surface or on the ground on a bed of smooth sand.

Line the wooden mold with a plastic bag, carefully smoothing our any wrinkles.

Precut Stained Glass Tiles

Ready to Use Mosaic Pieces

School Specialty Stained Glass Mosaic Tiles - 4 lbs. - Assorted Colors

Amazon Price: (as of 02/15/2012)

Preparing the Mosaic Step Stone Pattern

Decide on a design ahead of time, or just go for a free form layout

You can make your mosaic first, then add concrete on top, or you can prepare the concrete slab, then press in your decorative objects. To mold concrete on top of mosaic, follow this process:

Place your decorative glass, shells and other items face down in a pleasing arrangement within the bounds of your mold frame. Leave about 1/2 inch at the edges to allow concrete to fill in and prevent chipping or loss of stones.

Easy Mosaic Stepping Stones

Mosaic Stepping Stones for Beginners

by: Roy Kapp

Amazon Price: (as of 02/15/2012)
List Price:

A how to book on creating beautiful concrete and stained glass stepping stones for your garden. With easy to follow instructions and lots of detailed photos anyone can learn to make stepping stones with this book.

Mixing the Stepping Stone Concrete

Follow Instructions When Mixing Concrete Mix

Concrete mix and cement dust are caustic substances. Be sure to wear a protective dust mask plus eye protection and rubber gloves when working with concrete powder and mixed concrete.

Prepare concrete mix according to package directions. Add coloring powder if desired. Do not add more water than recommended. Your mix should have the consistency of stiff cookie dough; it should not be watery or "pourable".

Mosaic Step Stone Kit

Milestones' Mosaic Stepping Stone Kit

Amazon Price: $13.73 (as of 02/15/2012)

Makes a durable, weather resistant concrete mosaic stone.

This kit contains: 7 lbs. of stepping stone mix, 12" reusable plastic mold, 1 lb. stained glass, 1 wooden paddle,writing tool and instructions and design ideas. Warning: choking hazard. Small parts not for children under 3 years; MIX contains silica sand known to the state of California to cause cancer. Parental supervision is required.

Casting Your Stepping Stone

How to form and pack the stepping stone mold

After you've arranged your mosaic pattern the way you want it, you can begin to pack concrete mix into the mold on top of the pattern. Take care not to disturb stones, and pack concrete tightly along mold edges. Press down and pat to blend concrete together.

Kids Magic Garden Stone Kit

Creativity For Kids Enchanted Garden Stones

Amazon Price: $19.99 (as of 02/15/2012)

Use magic stone mix to make four or more enchanted jeweled stones, or smaller paperweight size stones, Shape any way you like, embed special objects in them. Place butterfly and flower foil pictures in the magic mix and cover them with glass stones to capture the image. Sprinkle glitter dust on your stones so they shimmer. Magic mix hardens in just 10-15 minutes. Includes mix, "jewels," rubber gloves and complete instructions.

Natural Shape Garden Step Stones

If you prefer to make thinner, free form stepping stones, you don't need to use a mold. Instead, you can simply pat out your concrete on the ground on top of a plastic bag to a shape that measures from 8 to 12 inches in diameter, with about a 1.5-inch thickness. Using this method, you will arrange and press your mosaic pieces into the surface of the prepared concrete after you form the stone shape.

Garden Mosaic Project Book

25 fabulous projects that show you just how easy it is to enhance the natural beauty of your home and garden with simple and elegant mosaics. Using stone, tile, china and broken and shaped glass, you can create gorgeous garden art.

Garden Mosaics

by: Becky Paton

Amazon Price: $18.82 (as of 02/15/2012)
List Price: $19.99
Used Price: $8.25

Garden Mosaics Made Easy offers you all the information you need to begin creating your own gorgeous mosaics.

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Featured Gardening Lenses

My Favorite Gardening and Garden Decor Tips on Squidoo

Roll On Weed Control Applicator

Innovative Tool Applies Weed Killer Sparingly - Works with Vinegar, too!

Weed roller herbicide applicator works with organic or traditional weed killer fluids

Weed Roller :: Weed Killer

Apply liquid weed killers and growth inhibitors such as horticultural vinegar or herbicide mixtures with precision to tight spots in walkways, on patios or between stepping stones with this weed killer roller applicator; holds your choice of liquid in the applicator handle - just roll it over the weeds.

Pebble Mosaics for the Garden

Original step-by-step projects and inspirational examples show how to create mosaics using pebbles and other natural materials.

Pebble Mosaics: Step-By-Step Projects for Inside & Out

by: Ann Frith

Amazon Price: $13.95 (as of 02/15/2012)
List Price: $19.99

Although the results may look complicated, the basic technique is easy to master, allowing even beginners to create original decorative pieces for the home. Talented designer Ann Frith has drawn on the ancient tradition of pebble mosaic to devise 12 contemporary projects using pebbles and other natural materials such as broken slate, flint and glass.

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Favorite Garden Decor Sites

These links will take you to my favorite garden decor shops on line and on the road.

Mr. Twitters Garden Emporium - Rutland Vermont: Mr. Twitters at the purple fence is a garden and gift emporium featuring 3 unique shops in one location! You'll find everything from gourmet goodies, bird feeders and feeding supplies, garden gifts, wonderful annual and perennial plants, garden decor and expert planting advice. Plus, there's a decorative tile studio and a natural fibers fashion boutique - The Clothes Line - all in the same shop.
Lull Farm - Hollis and Milford, New Hampshire: Plants, fresh vegetables, garden decor, baked goods, cider and of course APPLES. Voted Best NH Farm stand, 2007.
Black Creek Greenhouses LLC - East Earl, PA: Black Creek Greenhouse LLC is a family owned business started in 1980. We specialize in new and unusual perennials, plus the old and proven ones totaling to over 1000 varieties. Herbs are also a specialty with us from basils, thymes and etc., bringing it to over 130 varieties.
Extensive collection of plants plus water garden supplies, fish and garden art.
Welcome | Wood's Market Garden: Wonderful selection of flowering trees, shrubs, blueberry bushes, roses, planting containers, trellises and garden art for your landscape.

Weed Grabber

No more aching back or sore knees from weeding your garden. Works best in softer soils; 20 inch long aluminum handle with ratchet-action grabber snares and twists out weeds, roots and all.

Did You Enjoy This Garden Crafts Lens- Mosaic Stepping Stones?

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wolfie10 Nov 6, 2011 @ 10:53 pm | delete

very nice lens. i was looking at a couple of the books in the libary. still thinking making some of them myself.
I featured your lens on my own concrete lens. Hope that this is ok.

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Mamaboo Oct 10, 2011 @ 11:24 pm | delete

Thank you soooo much for making something simple that others have made complex. An angels blessing to you!!!

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agalova Sep 5, 2011 @ 9:50 pm | delete

I've never tried to make stepping stones, but I thought they would make a lovely gift for my daughter to give to her grandparents. Thanks for these suggestions.

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ColorPetGifts Aug 11, 2011 @ 4:48 pm | delete

Cool, my mom likes to work with concrete stones in the garden - lovely way to accessorize outside :)