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Whenever someone mentions DIY stepping stones, the idea that many people think of is a path lined up with stones of various shapes, sizes, colors, and designs. But there’s more to stepping stones than what meets the eye or comes to your mind. Here are the 7 beautiful DIY stepping stones ideas to decorate your garden.
Other than the natural-looking concrete stepping stones that usually go dull soon after installation, you can try out hundreds of intriguing stepping stones designs and ideas for your next DIY project.
Other than using them on a path, did you know that you can use stepping stones for decorative purposes in your garden or backyard? Well, you can install them at strategic positions throughout your garden to add a pop of color.
They are particularly suitable for flower gardens, vegetable gardens, and lush green lawns for extra beauty.
This article explores seven creative and beautiful DIY stepping stone ideas to try for garden decoration. And you only have to spend a few dollars if you have the materials already or can find them easily.
Let’s step up here!
1. Sea Glass Stepping Stones
Sea glass stepping stones are a creative idea to try if you can find enough sea glass from the beach or a store near you.
Image and Tutorial Credit: Lovelygreens
You only need a handful of materials and tools for this project, and you can complete it in a couple of hours. You will need round molds, portland cement, and sea glass. Can’t find sea glass? Use aquarium glass, river rock, shells, old ceramics, or marble as substitutes.
Be sure also to find some white paint to apply on one side of some of the stones for color variety.
Lovelygreens.com has a step-by-step tutorial for making sea glass stepping stones, including instructions on coloring, mixing cement, arranging the sea glass, and curing the complete stone.
2. Round Hopscotch Concrete Stepping Stones
Hopscotch stepping stones are one of the easiest cement and concrete crafts to try as a DIY project.
Image and Tutorial Credit: Gardentherapy
To make round hopscotch stepping stones out of concrete, you will need pebbles for the numbers, tape measure, cement, round molds, cement mixer, running water supply from a garden hose, rubber gloves for hand protection, among others.
The round molds are for pouring the cement mix into to make the cement molds into which you will pin the pebbles.
While the pebbles are optional, they are great for marking the stones to bring out an interesting and uniform pattern. They add color to the otherwise dull concrete mix.
Ensure you always wear protective gear like rubber gloves when working with cement. The gloves help you avoid the corrosive effect of wet cement. If you are allergic to dust, consider mixing the cement in an outdoor space where air circulation is high.
3. Giant Pebble Mosaic Stepping Stones
It’s incredible how versatile pebbles can be for DIY projects. DIYers find all sorts of creative things to do with them, and mosaic stepping stones are just the tip of the iceberg.
Image and Tutorial Credit: Finegardening
You can try various patterns, shapes, designs, and color combinations with pebbles to make large stepping stones for a walkway or DIY patio.
Fine Gardening shares the complete step-by-step instructions for making this type of stepping stone with or without creating a concrete slab for holding them.
4. Stenciled Square Stepping Stones
You can add a modern touch to concrete stepping stones by adding a colorful and intricate stencil design on the surface of each stone. The stencil allows you to use different colors for the boxes to achieve your preferred color palette.
Image and Tutorial Credit: Designimprovised
Only a handful of items will be needed for the project, including foam brushes, acrylic craft paints, purchased or DIY concrete pavers, and a honey bee stencil (you can choose any stencil design you prefer.)
Haeley of Designimprovised shares comprehensive tutorial steps that you can follow to make your own stepping stones with a similar design.
5. Embossed Stepping Stones
Allison Murray of Dream A Little Bigger has detailed assembly steps for making embossed stepping stones using concrete, a geometric design, and a rubber doormat.
Image and Tutorial Credit: Dreamalittlebigger
While cutting the casting stamps may seem like a huge challenge, the results will psych you up to carry through with the project to the end.
The one major plus for the embossed stepping stones is that the final pattern with protruding bumps offers a non-slip surface for added safety when you walk on the stones. You may place them along a path or in a garden.
If you have plenty of time, this is a project to consider since you need to take a lot of care not to damage the casting stamps with out-of-proportion cuts.
6. DIY Broken Crockery Stepping Stones
Here’s yet another creative and inexpensive DIY stepping stones idea to try with concrete and old or broken crockery. You start by collecting the crockery and breaking it into small pieces in a small bag using a hammer.
Image and Tutorial Credit: Overthebigmoon
You can then use a batch of cement molds as the holding surface for the broken pieces. Drive the pieces into each stone mold to create an interesting pattern with alternative crockery colors and shapes.
Let each stone dry for 14-16 hours before transferring it into your amazing garden. You can choose any suitable stone location pattern, and it is advisable to make adjustments over time to alter the scenery.
7. Square Leaf Print Stepping Stones
To make a beautiful stone out of a bland concrete block, consider an intricate leaf imprint on the stone using leaves of various sizes and shapes.
Image and Tutorial Credit: Gardentherapy
The resultant stone blends well with the green scenery of your garden, especially when you place it close to plants with the imprinted leaf pattern.
Bottom Line
There are countless designs and ideas for DIY stepping stones to try when you have the time and psyche for a new DIY project. You can transform your garden into a beautiful outdoor space with any of these seven ideas by using the stepping stones as decorative pieces.
Get your protective gear on and try your hand at any of these creative concrete stepping stones that take the bore out of the dull, natural-look concrete you find in many poorly decorated gardens. And there’s no limit to how many different designs you can try!
