Homemade Stepping Stones Using Leaves

Ingredients

• You'll start with a few basic ingredients and tools to make your homemade garden stones. Your list of ingredients: mortar or sand mix or Quikrete; rubber gloves; molds that are 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep, such as pie tins, aluminum baking pans or plastic molds from a craft store; non-stick spray; and decorations. For your homemade leaf motif stepping stones, find several leaves in different shapes that you like. Gardening Coach Susan Harris says on the Sustainable Gardening website that it's very inexpensive to make garden stepping stones because many of the materials you'll use are things you already have, or are inexpensive to buy. Harris recommends using mortar or sand mix concrete because neither sets as quickly as Quikrete, offering you more time to create the stepping stones of your dreams.

  The Family Education website also suggests that you have a plastic sheet or tarp handy for protecting your work area, a wheelbarrow or hefty plastic container for mixing your concrete and a hoe or other sturdy mixing tool.

Making Your Leaf Stepping Stones

• Concrete should be mixed according to the package directions. A 60-pound bag of concrete mix can make about 10 stepping stones, depending on the size of your molds.

  If you find that your concrete seems weepy or wet, put a layer of newspaper or paper towel on the surface and allow the paper to soak up some of the excess moisture.

  You can do your leaf stepping stones in one of two ways: You can mix and spoon the concrete into your molds, and then lay your leaves on the concrete surface, or you can lay the leaves in the bottom of the mold, with the leaf veins pointed up, and spoon your concrete over them.

  Once you've poured the concrete mix into the mold, gently tap the sides of the mold to help release air bubbles, and then smooth the surface.

  If you lay leaves on top of the concrete, wait a few minutes for the wet concrete to set. Then gently press your leaves onto the mixture. You can use one leaf or several leaves, layering them slightly or keeping them separate. If you make a mistake, just take the leaf off, smooth the surface with the back of a spoon and start over.

  Once you've finished decorating your stepping stones, let them dry for three to four days. Then turn your mold over and gently tap or push the stepping stone out. Allow your new homemade leaf stepping stone to sit for another few days to a week before putting it in your garden and stepping on it. When you "plant" your stepping stone in your garden, bury it so that its top is flush to the ground, or no more than 1/2 inch above ground level.