Happy 4th of July!

Father's Day Project

This is delayed as I have just begun to blog.

This year is the first year I've done anything much more than a card and/or baked goodies for Dad. He is working so hard these days and deserved a day of rest and something to remind him of how important he is.

I absolutely love doing crafts, but being a SHE (Side-tracked Home Executive) I don't finish much of the great ideas I come up with or find online. So this year I made a commitment to myself and the kiddos to do this project.

Here are the steps to making garden stones (start 3+ days in advance of when you want them ready):

1) We went to Lowe's and bought a bag of Quickcrete Pro Mix for around $5. One month prior we began stopping into various dollar stores to pickup decorative stones to use.

2) Dug out a cake pan, small pizza box and a cookie tin.

3) Lined the items in step 2 with wax paper or plastic wrap (more about that later).

4) Mixed the concrete in small batches in an old litter box. My oldest helped me, but the younger boys wandered off. Use plastic gloves to protect hands.

5) Then scoop the concrete into the molds. You can fill them almost to the top.

6) Jiggle them a little to get the major air bubbles out.

7) Set your kitchen timer for 1 hour (I forgot and it set up a bit too much by the time we got to decorating.)

8) Begin decorating, using hand or footprints (wash right after to avoid burns), beads, buttons, or popsicles sticks to write with. There are a great many internet ideas and I'll add some links soon. Everyone chose something different and they all turned out great.