Stepping Stone- Mother's Day Gift

 I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day :)

This year, I didn't have the resources to hand make something for every mother in my family. So instead, I purchased a lemon tree for my mom (something she's always talking about and has always wanted). I did decide to make a little something for my husband's grandmother, the matriarch of his family.

We went to Michael's and purchased one of those "make your own stepping stone" type box deals. It came with letters and numbers to press into the cement once it was drying, and some random brightly colored mosaic pieces of glass. I didn't care for the mosaic that came with the package, so I purchased 2 bags of the square glass tiles that Michael's carries separately (in the same section.. pretty much just look for a "mosaic" section).

We decided to do a hand print of our son Gio into the middle, with mosaic glass tiles around the edges. Gio, being very much opinionated at this age, took it upon himself to choose a footprint instead. This is, after all, a "stepping" stone. Smart kid.

We decided to make the stepping stone with Kevin's grandma, to make it a sort of group effort. She likes crafty things as well, so it was fun. After carefully following the directions, we mixed the concrete, poured it into the provided mold, and let it sit for 30 minutes before pressing the tiles around the edges and Gio's foot into the middle. There was a lot of water on the surface, even after letting it set, and after blotting it with paper towels (multiple times.. over multiple hours). We assume the weather affected the cement and would have had better, faster results if we had used less water. Oh well, we let it dry almost overnight before pressing the numbers and letters, and the tiles and footprint held up just fine.

The cement at the bottom started to separate from the tiles, due to moving it and checking on it many times. If it had dried quicker, we wouldn't have had to keep moving the dang thing around! But alas. Once it was dry enough the next day, I used a brass brush to clean the tiles. Brass bristles will not scratch glass, so this was a good option. It also seemed to smooth out the actual top of the cement, which created a nice clean looking surface.

We left before it had sit for 48 hours and we could remove it from the mold. I did, however get a good picture of the finished product. I may update once it is removed and placed in gravel in the yard. This was a fun project to do because everyone could get involved, including Gio (he even helped press the tiles in).