These are a nice touch in the backyard and can be intended as a decorative element in the space or used for more practical purposes (such as arranging around bulbs & seedlings so feet don’t tread on them, etc.). There are a few different ways you can make them using a variety of materials, here are a bunch of diy ideas that provide lots of inspiration and step-by-step directions. At the bottom you’ll find several different resources and ideas for making garden pathways. Enjoy!
Embossed: Made with a mix of masonry sand, Portland cement & water, poured into a plastic dishpan or container (mold).
Mosaic: You’ll find both a written and a video tutorial available for this project. There’s another tutorial here.
NES: I’m not a big gamer but these stones turn out with a neat pattern (uses top half of the case from an old nintendo game system for the mold).
Personalized: For this project you will need a form for the stepping stone, cement, mortar, sand, water, styrofoam or EPS foam (used to make the letters for personalizing) and a hotwire machine.
Cement With Handprints: Offers ideas for getting crafty with the kiddos, make cement garden stones with their handprints and embellish with decorative stones. Great gift idea for grandparents.
Easy Project: Plastic trays/flats are used for the mold, leaves are arranged on top of tray before pouring cement so there’s a leaf design imprinted on block once it hardens.
Tips & Ideas
- myhomeideas.com: Features several different ideas using a variety of materials.
- Affordable Ideas: Featuring mulch and gravel, stepping-stones, borders and edging.
- dannylipford.com: Tutorial for showing how to layout and plan a path using stepping stones.
- Flagstone: Instructions for laying out and installing a flagstone path. They also have another bunch of ideas here: sunset.com.
- Recycle Concrete: Project for reusing old concrete from a driveway or or patio.