It's that time of year when we look around outside and realize our yard needs a facelift.
For the last several years garden stepping stones have become very popular. Many people enjoyed and still enjoy making the special stone slabs to be scattered throughout the yard. Today's project has a different take on the traditional stepping stone.
Rather than stepping stones, this project is making brick pavers. But not just ordinary brick pavers.
Materials Needed:
- Fine concrete
- Brick molds
- Terra cotta concrete dye
- Stepping stone alphabet letter stamps
- Sand
Instructions:
- Prep the mold as per manufacturer. This step is important to be able to remove the brick from the mold and be able to reuse the mold. Mix up a batch of the concrete using an old plastic bucket or plastic bowl. Dye the concrete with the terra cotta coloring.
- Pour the first batch of concrete into the mold all the way to the top. Allow the concrete enough time to begin the hardening process but don't let it get too hard. This takes some practice and vigilance. As the concrete begins to set, press the alphabet letters into the brick.
- For every brick with a word in it, make ten that are solid with no words.
- Use inspirational words for your bricks. Imagine, dream, and create are just a few ideas you can use. You will need to be diligent. This project requires you to make a large quantity of bricks.
- In your yard dig out the area you are using for the bricks to about a depth of three inches. Lay down a layer of sand before placing any bricks. Stagger the bricks so they are not lined up horizontally and vertically. If you line them up horizontally stagger the verticality. If you want them lined up vertically, stagger them horizontally. This will just add interest and improve the look.
- Lay out the solid bricks in the dug out area in the chosen pattern. When you get several rows done stop. Look at what you have and adjust the bricks as needed. Randomly remove several bricks and replace the solid bricks removed with word bricks. Continue one section at a time until the entire area is filled. Pour the remaining sand on top and sweep it into all of the seams between the bricks.
- If you would like the same look without a lot of the work, purchase the solid bricks and only make the word bricks. Purchase the solid bricks first so you can match you concrete dye up as closely as possible to the purchased bricks. Lay out the bricks as you would above.
Then all that's left is to make a tall glass of ice tea and go strolling in your garden.
The copyright of the article Garden Path Stepping Stones in Crafts is owned by Mary Welling-Bonney. Permission to republish Garden Path Stepping Stones in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
