I love my garden. When it’s warm outside, I like nothing more than to sit outdoors all day and halfway through the night.
This got me thinking about ways to make my garden area, and my entire landscaping, look better.
I have always wanted to add a lovely walkway up to my porch and throughout my flower garden, mostly so that I won’t step on my flowers when I’m out there.
So, I found 25 beautiful and creative new stepping stones that you can create for your own yard and garden.
These are all lovely stones that can be easily made from things that you may already have on hand, so they’re as cheap as they are beautiful.
Jump to:
- 1. Leaf Imprint Stepping Stones
- 2. Wooden Board Stepping Stones
- 3. Brick Look Heart Shaped Stepping Stones
- 4. Easy DIY Hopscotch Stepping Stones
- 5. DIY Stepping Stones From Broken Dishes
- 6. Simple Textured Stepping Stones
- 7. DIY Stepping Stones With Cake Pan
- 8. Kid Friendly DIY Concrete Stones
- 9. Cheap DIY Custom Stepping Stones
- 10. Elegant DIY Concrete Stones
- 11. DIY Personalized Stepping Stones
- 12. Hand Painted Stepping Stones
- 13. Hummingbird Garden Stepping Stone
- 14. DIY Fairy Garden Stepping Stones
- 15. Whimsical DIY Footprint Stepping Stones
- 16. DIY Leaf Sculpture Stones
- 17. Hypertufa Stepping Stones
- 18. DIY Flower Tray Stones
- 19. Glow In The Dark Garden Stones
- 20. DIY Mosaic Flagstone Stepping Stones
- 21. Faux Brick Walkway Stones
- 22. DIY Pebble Mosaic Walkway Stones
- 23. Rhubarb Leaf Stepping Stone
- 24. Stone Footprint Walkway Stones
- 25. DIY Salt Dough Stepping Stones
- Conclusion
1. Leaf Imprint Stepping Stones
These leaf imprinted stones are perfect for fall gardens. Well, they’re perfect for any time of year actually. You just make the stones from cement and while the cement is still wet, use a leaf from your favorite garden plant to imprint the stones. These are so easy and so beautiful.
Source/Tutorial: gardentherapy
2. Wooden Board Stepping Stones
Okay, so boards are not actually stones, but they do make for a gorgeous walkway. Just take some old boards, repurposing works well here, and lay out your walkway. Then fill in around them with small river rocks or pea gravel and you’ve got a beautiful walking path that will instantly perk up your landscaping.
Source/Tutorial: flickr.com
3. Brick Look Heart Shaped Stepping Stones
These brick look stones are simply wonderful and their heart shapes just add to their charm. These are so easy to make and you don’t need any actual bricks to create them. You’ll create the brick look with paint. These are perfect for adding a loving touch to your garden or they would look just as gorgeous lining the walkway to the front door.
Source/Tutorial: hometalk
4. Easy DIY Hopscotch Stepping Stones
I love the color in these hopscotch stones and you’re little ones are going to love them, too.
Not only are these adorable stepping stones, they double as a game for the kids when the weather allows. If you ever played hopscotch as a child, then you know how fun it is. You just paint concrete pavers, which are pretty cheap by the way, and you’re all set.
Source/Tutorial:readbetweenthelimes
5. DIY Stepping Stones From Broken Dishes
These stepping stones are made from broken china and other glass type dishes and they are absolutely gorgeous. If you have some old china that you can’t use because of chips or breaks and you can’t get rid of it, turn it into these amazing stones for your garden.
You just add the pieces of china to concrete stones that you make yourself and the end result is breathtaking.
Source/Tutorial: overthebigmoon
6. Simple Textured Stepping Stones
If you prefer something a bit more basic and minus the added decorations, you can make these easy textured stepping stones with concrete and a pattern of some sort.
You can use a rubber doormat to make beautiful textures in the concrete that in turn creates these stunning stones. Use a couple of different doormats – with different textures – to mix it up and make your walkway really unique.
Source/Tutorial: nancymizelle
7. DIY Stepping Stones With Cake Pan
You can use an ordinary cake pan to mold your concrete and make amazing – and perfectly proportioned – stepping stones. Just mix the concrete as directed, add your decorative elements like glass stones or other items, and then let the concrete harden.
Your end result is an easy to make yet beautiful stone that will bring beauty to your landscape wherever you lay it.
Source/Tutorial: intimateweddings
8. Kid Friendly DIY Concrete Stones
These little stepping stones are really easy and perfect for kids. You can use an empty cereal box for the mold and then let kids add their own decorative elements to them. They can use glass stones to create all sorts of designs and pictures and you can get glass stones at the Dollar Store for a dollar per bag, so this is an easy and really inexpensive way to get custom stepping stones for your garden.
Source/Tutorial: pinkandgreenmama
9. Cheap DIY Custom Stepping Stones
This one is a really cheap way to get those custom stones. In fact, you’ll only spend about $25 for 20 stones. Buy some inexpensive concrete blocks – the thin ones – which you can find at most home improvement stores and Wal-Mart for about a dollar each. Then just mark off the plain stones with any design you want and use spray paint to customize them.
Source/Tutorial: yeahvintage
10. Elegant DIY Concrete Stones
These elegant stones look like something you would spend a fortune for, but they’re really cheap and very easy to DIY.
You mold the concrete for these in plastic containers – those containers that you get rolls and cakes from in the deli section of your supermarket. The designs come out beautifully and you can use any size and any shape of plastic lid to get the specific stones that you want.
Source/Tutorial: rosyscription
11. DIY Personalized Stepping Stones
I love these personalized stones for Mother’s Day gifts, or any time of the year really. You’ll make a regular cement stone and then personalize it with the name and footprint of your little ones. These would be perfect for grandmothers – a stone for their grandchildren’s individual footprints. Add edging with tiny ceramic tiles and you’ve got a beautiful stone that commemorates your little ones.
Source/Tutorial: onesassyhousewife
12. Hand Painted Stepping Stones
What better way to dress up your walkway than with hand painted stepping stones? You can paint scenery or anything else, if you paint that is, or let the kids paint them. This would be a wonderful rainy afternoon project for the little ones and then once the sun comes out again, you can go out together and place your stones.
Source/Tutorial: craftcorners
13. Hummingbird Garden Stepping Stone
This gorgeous DIY stepping stone uses mosaics to create hummingbirds, which are perfect for your garden. Hummingbirds are my favorites, which is why this project is at the top of my to do list.
Stained glass pieces or even small stones would be perfect for this project. Just create your hummingbird design – or whatever design you want – and then set them in concrete.
Source/Tutorial: merrimentdesign
14. DIY Fairy Garden Stepping Stones
If fairy gardens are your thing, then these fairy stepping stones are a must. Or, you could create these tiny little stones and use them to decorate your larger stones.
Once the smaller ones have set just add them to the concrete when you are creating full sized stones. You can get this great little mold to create fairy stones on Etsy for just over $10.
Source/Tutorial: etsy.com
15. Whimsical DIY Footprint Stepping Stones
You don’t actually have to set your child’s foot in cement to get a footprint stepping stone. You can also use plain concrete stones – that you buy or make yourself – and then just paint those footprints on.
Dip their feet in paint and then press onto the stone. Then, use those footprint stamps to create dragonflies, butterflies or any number of other wonderful footprint creations.
Source/Tutorial: thriftyfun
16. DIY Leaf Sculpture Stones
These stepping stones use leaves for design but not in an imbedded way. Instead, they use leaves as molds to give them a really unique look.
These are a bit more time consuming than others but they are so much worth the extra effort. You’ll need several leaves depending on how many stones you need to make and you could mix it up and do different types of leaves for each stone.
Source/Tutorial: gardenmama
17. Hypertufa Stepping Stones
Hypertufa is an anthropic rock that is made from different materials and bonded together with cement. You can use hypertufa to create beautiful stepping stones and it’s a really easy process.
Use clamshell containers that you get take out in to make the molds and then just add small tiles, glass stones, or other decorative items to make them unique.
Source/Tutorial: thriftyfun.com
18. DIY Flower Tray Stones
You can use those plastic flower trays that you get when you purchase flower pots to mold these stones.
The round shape is gorgeous for stepping stones and you can accent them with marbles, tiles, or glass stones to create all sorts of designs. Adding a bit of oil to the tray helps the concrete to pop out easier when it’s dry.
Source/Tutorial: littlebirdiesecrets
19. Glow In The Dark Garden Stones
These glow in the dark stepping stones are not only unique, they’ll help to light your way when it’s dark outside.
You use solar lights and glow in the dark paint to provide the light function and you can paint any design that you want on the stones so you really get the customize these. Plus, did I mention that they glow in the dark?
Source/Tutorial: theurbanhomestaed
20. DIY Mosaic Flagstone Stepping Stones
If you really don’t want to mix the concrete yourself, you can create these custom stepping stones with flagstone or patio pavers. Just take the flagstone or pavers, and you can break them up if you prefer, and add your decorations. Then cover those with grout and they will set in just as if you had added them to wet concrete.
Source/Tutorial: intimateweddings
21. Faux Brick Walkway Stones
If you’ve always dreamed of having a yellow brick road – or maybe just a brick walkway, these faux brick walkway stones are perfect.
You just mold the concrete using a specialized mold that turns your walkway into a brick road. I found this great mold on Etsy that makes it so easy to create a brick looking walking stone, and it’s less than $50.
Source/Tutorial: etsy.com
22. DIY Pebble Mosaic Walkway Stones
These pebble mosaic stepping stones are beautiful and they have so much dimension. You use the same technique as you would for glass mosaic, except you put in pebbles instead of glass.
When they’re finished, these have a very elegant look and they’re super easy to make. You just have to choose your design and you’re all set.
Source/Tutorial: jeffreygardens
23. Rhubarb Leaf Stepping Stone
Rhubarb leaves are pretty big so making stepping stones out of them is fairly easy. You can use leaves of different sizes to make your walkway more unique and the process is not at all difficult.
Plus, if you don’t have rhubarb leaves from your garden to use, you can buy these at the farmer’s market or hit up friends and neighbors and tell them you need the leaves from their rhubarb plants.
Source/Tutorial: 2-crafty-sisters
24. Stone Footprint Walkway Stones
I love these little stone footprints. They’re so whimsical and cute and pretty easy to put together. You just gather stones of all sizes and then create little feet from them.
How perfect would it be to have little feet on your walkway stones? Plus, if you wanted to really secure them down, you could do this design in a concrete stone. Just add them to the mold before you pour in your concrete and they’ll be set in stone, so to speak.
Source/Tutorial: houzz
25. DIY Salt Dough Stepping Stones
You can turn your vacation treasures and anything else that you want to preserve into a beautiful stepping stone with the salt dough technique.
This is a great project for kids, even younger ones, and they will adore being able to decorate their very own walkway stone. Plus, there’s no mold required for this one so you can do it in whatever size or shape you want and make each one really unique.
Source/Tutorial: ithappensinablink
Conclusion
If you are planning to upgrade your landscaping, you should also check out these 40 DIY stone and pebble crafts.
They will definitely add beauty to your outdoors. They will also go beautifully with some of the DIY garden stepping stones in this list.
From leaf imprinted stones to mosaics using old broken dishes and china, there is a way for you to create gorgeous stones that are sure to complement your home and garden area.
The only problem you may have is deciding which of these stones your favorite is.
From heart shapes to faux brick and a number of other styles, there is definitely a stepping stone in here that will meet your decorating needs.
Stepping stones can be expensive if you buy them at home improvement stores and especially if you want something other than the plain boring cement stones that you see everywhere.
The stones in this list are far from boring and give you the option to customize them. Plus, you make them yourself, so they are really cheap and will instantly add beauty to your outdoors, just like the projects in this list of 20 ways to reuse old bricks.
So, if you’re ready to add some style to your outdoor living spaces, you just have to check out these amazing garden stepping stones.
Grab some cement, or not – some of these don’t even use cement – and let’s get started making some amazing walkway stones to spruce up your outdoors. I know you’re going to love these stones as much as I do and I can’t wait to hear which ones you made.
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