Make Your Own Concrete Stepping Stones

*This blog contains affiliate links

 Do you wear shoes in the summer or do you prefer to go barefoot?

I walk around barefoot.

Because 1. It's cooler and 2. I have better balance. (see my other blog for more) 

What I really don't like is having to walk in wood mulch to tend to my plants. It's so irritating to have wood mulch stick to the bottom of your feet. Try getting the mulch off when you have balance issues. Hopefully, my neighbors don't think I'm tipsy.

 

 What I really needed were some stepping stones.

I was hoping to find the stepping stones, probably 20 years ago, which we placed in some areas in the backyard at our last house. 

Guess, we left them there, because they weren't in our garden storage.

Thankfully, we kept the molds when we moved. and Mr. DIY picked up a bag of concrete at  our local Lowe's Home Improvement. 

He bought an 80 pound bag of Sakrete high-strength concrete mix.

Before mixing the concrete, Mr. DIY coated the plastic stepping stone mold with Crisco.

Next, Mr. DIY mixed the concrete.

The bag of concrete only had directions for mixing the whole bag, so he winged it. He mixed about 22 small trowels full of mix in a bucked and added a few cups of water at a time and mixed it until it looked the right consistency. 

He started scooping the concrete mix into the mold, pressing the concrete into the bottom before he added more concrete

Once filled, he took a scrap piece of wood to level out the top (really, the bottom)

Once the top was leveled , he tapped the mold with the concrete in it several times to get the air bubbles out.

Here are the filled molds.

We let them dry for 24 hours, then popped them out of the molds.

For the rough edges, he used the trowel to knock the concrete off. 

It wasn't quite smooth, but they will be in the mulch and won't be seen. 

If I were going to give them away, we would sand the edges smooth.

They should even out in color as the concrete dries out more, but they are hard enough to use.

This was our first attempt at making stepping stones in a long while. We have enough concrete to make 4 more stepping stones. Next time we will tamp them a bit more and we might even tint the concrete.

This was a pretty easy project and it was a very inexpensive (cost of a bag of concrete).

If you have to buy molds, then that would add to the cost of the project. 

It would be a simple diy project you can do with your kids at home. 

Hope you and your family are well.

Have some fun doing an easy diy projects today!

Pam

*This blog contains affiliate links, which means I'll make a small commission should you purchase something from one of these links. Thanks in advance!

How To Make A Pom Pom Garland

*this post contains affiliate links

There are so many cute pom pom garlands on Pinterest these days, so
I went on Amazon to find one, only the length wasn’t long enough, 
or the pom poms weren’t the right color, 
or the  right size.

Here’s the deal….
That’s the life of a diyer. Seriously.
When you can make things to your specifications,  and it’s a simple and inexpensive project,
then why not make it yourself?
So I did.
And you can too!
Here's how:

Gather your supplies:

Pom Poms (I used 1 1/2")
Thick thread
sewing needle (one that has an eye large enough for your thread to go through)
ruler
pair of scissors.



Cut thread to length 

Cut your threat to the length you desire plus about 10 inches

On one end, fold the end of the thread over (about 3”) and tie a knot.

Sew pom poms on thread

Thread your needle, doubling your thread (because it’s long) and put the needle and thread through the pom pom and pull the thread through to almost the end. 

If your thread is thick and holds the pom pom in place without sliding when you hold up the string, you can skip the next 2 steps(photos)

Going back the opposite way, put the needle and thread through the pom pom again and pull the thread.

Now, put the needle and thread through the pom pom again the opposite way again.

You should be able to slide the pom poms a bit, but they should not be able to slid freely when the garland is hung.

I slid my pom poms so the edges of the pom poms were 2” apart. 

Keep adding pom poms until you fill up your length of thread.

How can you  actually use this?

A pom pom garland would look so cute anywhere...
Over a mirror,
on your mantel,
on a bookcase,
in a doorway,
or hung on a chalkboard,

which is where mine ended up in the foyer.
It may get moved to the mantel in our Family Room, or I might make another one...
Who knows?

Hope you’ll stop by next time to see  how I dressed up this vignette for Valentine’s day.

Pam

*this post contains affiliate links, which means, I'll make a small commission should you purchase something through one of these links.

How To Make A Rosemary Wreath

The  Rosemary plant in our front yard is getting pretty large and bushy, even though I planted in less than 2 years ago. As I was trimming it back a bit, I though the branches would make a fragrant and pretty wreath.




I already had all the supplies:
wire wreath, 24 gauge wire, floral tape, wire cutters, and of course, rosemary branches.









I started by tying the branches on the wire wreath  with a 3” of 24 gauge wire, twisting it on the back of the wreath.




I continued to add branches until the wire wreath was covered.






When it looked like the picture below, I trimmed some of the branches, and then added the small branches I cut off, to the areas that were a little thin.




I added a white ribbon that a Mother’s Day gift was wrapped in.

The wreath turned out pretty!

I think I’ll make some mini rosemary wreaths next

Pam

Galvanized Wall Pocket Floral

Happy Saturday Friends!

Today I’m sharing a galvanized wall pocket floral I put together today. 
It’s an easy project that can be done in 30 minutes if you have all the supplies.

I purchased the large, creamy hydrangeas from Save On Crafts online and found the galvanized wall pocket from one of my trips to HomeGoods.

The galvanized wall pocket sat in the office gathering dust and papers that needed to be filed and today, I claimed it to make a  pretty floral that eventually, will be brought up to the mountain cottage.

Supplies include :
Flowers
Wall Pocket
Ribbon
Floral Tape
Wire 
Wire Cutters



The first thing I did as cut the stems (with wire cutters) on the hydrangeas to where the flowers looked good in the wall pocket.


I tied a bow around one of the cut off stems.

Then I cut about a 12” piece of 24 gauge wire


I poked a hole in the leaf that I cut off when I cut the stems, put the wire in the hole, doubling the wire and twisting it.


I then wrapped the doubled up wire with floral tape.

I made four of these.


This is what the finished product looks like:

 

Hopefully, it will make it to the Mountain Cottage!

Pam

A Simple Fall Wreath

Hello Friends!

Hope your Fall is off to a great start and you are having making some specia Fall memories with your family. We're still busy working on getting the last of our belongings in the right place at our house.
The last of our storage that we previously kept in the basement of our last house was delivered at the end of last month. Last week our high crawl space was encapsulated and this week, Mr. DIY built some platforms so that all the storage totes can be set in there.  Currently,  all that storage is stacked up in our garage and I can't wait to get it moved to the crawl space so we can park 2 cars in there again.

Needless to say, the Fall decorating has been minimal this year. The front porch and the mantel are about all that says it's Fall around here. 

Which brings me to the simple Fall wreath.
I made this simple twig wreath 3 years ago after a windstorm at our last house. If you missed it, you can find it HERE.  I hung the wreath up on one of the posts in the screened porch, but the Command hook showed and it really needed something.

So, I shopped my craft room for a few things that said Fall and here's what I found:

I used my hot glue gun and created this:

I'm slowly working on getting a few more pieces of furniture for the screened porch, but even though it's not finished yet, it has become my favorite outdoor space. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 Let me know what fun things you've been doing this Fall.

Pam

Easy Fall Banner

Hey everyone! 

Hope you're having a good week so far. 

We're working on the cottage this week, so I haven't been around much, but follow me on Instagram as I've been posting some pics of our progress.

Last week I  posted my Fall Mantel and thought I'd share how I made a super easy banner out of burlap.

Since we're saving every penny for the cottage reno, the banner cost me exactly ZERO  because I used leftover burlap and some ribbon I already had. 

This is all you need to make a banner:

Burlap

Ribbon

Sharpie Marker

Glue or Hot Glue Gun

Ruler & Scissors

That's it!!!

First I cut out one triangle about 8 inches high and wide.

Then, I cut out 6 more in this fashion to save fabric. (I only had about a quarter of a yard left over from another project)

After that, I just drew my letters freehand using a ruler. I drew the outline of the letter out, then used the edge of the ruler to fill in.

Finally, I strung the ribbon on the mantel to get the right length and then, hot glued the top 2 corners of the triangles to the ribbon.

Super easy.

So, has it finally gotten cool where you are?

We drove up to Boone yesterday and it was a gorgeous day and some of the leaves were turning.

Can't wait to see that where we are. 

Pam