Stepping stone craft!

My parents have a beautiful backyard. Its huge, with a big veggie garden in the corner. We have a beautiful wooden swing near the house, a sand box, and lots of room for yard games, and for running. Its a great home to raise children in!

My parents want to start doing some landscaping, and already have lots of cute, quirky, and creative pieces for their house and yard. The last few days we have taken on a project to add to their (soon to be) beautiful landscape project!

STEPPING STONES :)

My aunt recently made a ton, and although I haven't had the opportunity to see them, I heard they were INCREDIBLE. Between the advice we got from her, and those on the Internet, we came up with some pretty cool ideas!

I had a few cool bottles that I had been saving. Two green bottles from a yard sale, and a blue Moscato d'asti wine bottle. My niece was thrifting with my Mom when she spotted a purple glass vase! They snatched it up for a buck, and when they got home we set to breaking it into pieces!

For safety, we wrapped each piece of glass in a towel. Once it was completely covered we smashed it to pieces with a hammer. (tip: You may want to wear safety goggles!) After we got the pieces smashed up (we left some big, and some small) we dumped them into a bucket for later. The colors went together PERFECTLY!

While we were busy smashing glass, my Step-dad mixed the cement. He said that he used 5 parts cement to 1 part water. We took 2 pie (type) plates and sprayed them with cooking oil. Although several sites suggested WD-40. After covering completely we poured in the cement.

We let the cement sit for at least a half an hour. (we waited until it looked like it was getting slightly firm.) Meanwhile I worked with my glass pieces to come up with a design.

When the cement looked right, I started placing my glass pieces into the cement stepping stone. I made sure to push them in (since they were different depths) so that they were level with each other.

I think the piece turned out just the way I wanted :) !!

Now we let them sit for three days to make sure they are strong. Afterwards they'll be placed somewhere in our garden!

This project was perfect for kids of all ages! My niece of 11 pulled of this awesome piece:

and all four kids helped make this large piece:

(Use olive oil on hands before placing in cement!)

We will be making TONS more of these in the upcoming week, and I can't wait! One of the most fun projects I've ever participated in! :))

**Thanks mom for being such an awesome photographer! (ha!)**